INTRODUCTION

The principal source of le Médecin malgré lui is a widespread taie of the Middle Ages which found its best expression in p. French fabliau (short taie in verse) of the thirteenth century. le Vilain Mire (The Peasant Doctor). In ^\^ fabliau^ a rich though miserly peasant, heeding the entreaties of his friends, weds the daughter of a poor noblçman. The peasant soon f éars that he has made a mistake in marrying above his station, and that suitors of a rank higher than his riiay win his wife^s affections while he is at work in the fields. In order to make his wif e as unattractive as possible he hits upon the plan of thrashing her every moming, thinking that she will weep ail day, and that her woeful face will repel ail admirers. As he plans he does. The next moming the wife, left alone, laments her wretched plight. In the evenîng the husband retums, and with honeyed words wins his wif e^s pardon. The following moming he beats her again. Sorrowiiig she says : <* Was my husband ever beaten ? Nay, he knows not what blows are : if he knew, for ail the world he would not give me so many." Two of the king's messengers

1 Biography . Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, called Molière, son of Jean Poquelin, tapissier valet de chambre du roi (Louis XIII), was born in Paris, Jan. 15, 1622. Studies in the Jesuit Collège de Clermont (1636-41). With Joseph, Madeleine, and Geneviève Béjart, and other friends, he organizes at Paris the company of the Illustre Théâtre (June 30, 1643). Imprisoned for debt (Aug., 1645). Illustre Théâtre fails and closes. Molière and his friends organize a troupe de campagne which, for twelve years (1646-58), plays ef pecially in Guyenne, Gascony, Languedoc, and neighboring provinces. By 1650 Molière becomes manager of the troupe. In order to vary the regular repertory, Molière begins writing plays, at first short and coarsQ farces, U "Docteur amoureux^ Us Trois Docteurs rivaux, le Maître d^ccole, Gorgibus dans le sac y U Fagotier^ la Jalousie du barbouillé y and /» Médecin volant y