36 pages • 1 hour read
MolièreLe Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1670A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Money
In Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, money and greed spur much of the action. Without money, M. Jourdain would not have the means to pretend to be a gentleman. Money motivates his “friendship” with Count Duranté. Money brings in leeches who compliment him and promise to teach him. M. Jourdain places the greatest importance in money, believing that he can buy his way into elite society. In a way, M. Jourdain’s money does purchase a place in the upper circle. He throws parties that Nicole hates to clean up after, in which members of the nobility come over and destroy his home. Count Duranté invites Mme. Jourdain and Lucile to the entertainments at the court, implying that their wealth gives them access. And although the marchioness has no interest in a romantic relationship with M. Jourdain, his money provides a house where she deigns to spend time.
However, as Mme. Jourdain notes when discussing her daughter’s marriage prospects, money does not buy acceptance or respect from the nobility. In fact, placing too much stock in the power of money often acts as a road block in the play. For instance, the marchioness only agrees to marry Doranté if he stops spending so much money on her, not knowing, of course, that he is spending M. Jourdain’s money, and not his own. The men that M. Jourdain hires to make him a gentleman see his excessive spending as an opportunity, offering more and more ridiculous extravagances that take him further away from being a gentleman, rather than closer. M. Jourdain’s money makes him arrogant, as the greed of those around him leads them to reinforce his silliness.
Clothing
In the first act, M. Jourdain arrives in a dressing gown, wearing stockings that are so tight he could barely put them on. He imagines that expensive clothing makes the gentleman. Since he clearly has exposure to members of the nobility, such as Count Duranté, and sees what they wear, he seems to have concluded that the key to impressing the nobility is not to blend in, but to stand out. He places great importance in clothing. M. Jourdain commissions a new suit from the tailor in expectation of wooing the marchioness. He buys into the idea that he must be dressed with ceremony, rather than simply putting the suit on himself. The suit serves as an outer manifestation of M. Jourdain’s pursuit of gentility. It is garish and gaudy, but because it cost a lot of money, he believes that it is more gentlemanly than a more modest suit.
The tailor demonstrates, however, that the suit does not make the man. He has made himself a suit from the material he ordered for M. Jourdain’s last getup, and he has not become noble. M. Jourdain’s family and servants laugh at Jourdain’s costume, recognizing it as embarrassingly over-the-top. When, at the end of the play, Covielle and Cléonte convince M. Jourdain that they have bestowed upon him a Turkish title, the outfit is what makes M. Jourdain believe that he has become something different. After the faux ceremony, M. Jourdain puts on the ridiculous suit and suddenly believes that he has been endowed with knowing Turkish culture. He speaks in fake Turkish, as if a change of costume gives him the ability to speak a new language. When his wife laughs at his outfit, he insists that what he is wearing demands respect, since it symbolizes the title he thinks he has acquired.
Marriage
The action of the play leads ultimately to three marriages. The marriage between Cléonte and Lucile is the ultimate goal, but as with many comedies, the other two sets of lovers are thrown in to be married as well. But marriage in this play has multiple meanings. Certainly, for Cléonte and Lucile, as well as Nicole and Covielle, marriage is about love. But marriage is also about status. M. Jourdain understands that marriage is one of very few ways to acquire a title. If he marries his daughter to a marquis, she will become a marchioness. But if he marries her to Cléonte, she will never rise above her class. Since M. Jourdain places his pursuit of noble status above everything else, he decides to court Dorimène, despite the fact that he is already married. Of course, at this point in 17th-century France, divorce was non-existent. Although the play does not broach the question of what M. Jourdain planned to do with the marchioness if he successfully wooed her, the situation certainly would not bode well for Mme. Jourdain. In the marriage of Dorimène and Doranté, the count’s motives are not entirely clear. He seems to be courting her out of love, and the eventual marriage in the happy ending of the play suggests that he is. But as a titled member of the nobility with no money, he is likely also marrying into financial security.
