Beaumarchais The Marriage of Figaro

Plot Summary
Act I:
The curtain opens on the bedroom of Figaro, the king’s valet and his fiancée, Suzanne. Figaro measures the dimensions of the room while Suzanne notes that the Count Almaviva has placed their new room conspicuously close to his own. She believes this to be indicative of his intentions to “take her virtue” before her husband, as is his right by nobility. Figaro, a trickster in the first play of the trilogy, resolves to prevent this by tricking the count somehow using his wit.
Suzanne and Figaro go out, enter Dr. Bartholo and the housekeeper Marceline. The doctor holds a grudge against Figaro for tricking him in the previous play. Marceline is in love with Figaro and has a document which would force him into marrying her should he fail to repay a sum of money that he owes her (she is considerably older than Figaro). Enter Suzanne (the doctor exits), who has a short “argument of manners” with Marceline before Marceline exits.
Enter the Page Cherubin, who the audience soon discovers is in love with basically all the women in the palace. After professing this love verbosely, he reveals that this infatuation has gotten him into trouble as the Count caught him in bed with the gardener’s daughter (Fanchette) and has resolved to dismiss him. As he finishes telling her this, Enter the Count.
Upon the Counts entrance, Page goes and hides behind a large chair. The count propositions Suzanne for sex, but she refuses and he is interrupted by Bazile, who comes noisily down the hallway. The count hides behind the chair where the page is hid, and the page moves quickly to the front of the chair and hides underneath one of the countesses gowns. Enter Bazile who tells Suzanne of the Page’s love for the countess, enraging the count who reveals himself. The Count resolves again to dismiss the Page and, in reenacting the scene in which he discovered the page the previous night, accidentally reveals the page hidden underneath the gown. Angered, he resolves to send the Page into military service.
Figaro enters with the countess and wedding guests from the village in “holiday attire.” Figaro says that he wants to begin the wedding ceremony immediately “in praise of the count’s virtue” in agreeing to dismiss his right to have sex with Suzanne. The Count convinces them to delay the ceremony and privately resolves to help Marceline to marry Figaro.
Act II:
In the Countess’ bedroom, Suzanne informs the Countess of the Count having solicited her for sex. Enter Figaro who informs them of a new plan to prevent the Count’s intentions: he will hatch a rumor that the Countess has taken a secret lover who will attend the wedding, meaning that the count will have to allow the wedding so that he can confront her lover. He leaves, the Countess and Suzanne hatch a plan in which they will tell the count that Suzanne has agreed to his suggestions. They would then dress the Page in one of the Countesses’ dresses and send him out to meet the count as Suzanne. Enter the count while they are dressing the Page in a gown, they hide him in a closet and the Count is immediately suspicious. Discovering the closet is locked, the Count demands to know who is inside of it and when he turns to get a hammer to break the door down Suzanne sneaks into the closet and the Page jumps out of the window. The Count discovers Suzanne in the closet and momentarily believes them until the gardener comes up to tell the Count that he saw a half-naked man jump out of the Countesses’ window and into the bushes. Figaro says that he was that man, revealing to the count his plan to start a rumor about his wife’s fidelity. At this point, Marceline and the doctor enter with the Judge Don Guzman and inform Figaro that his trial is set to begin.
Act III:
At this point, the Countess urges Suzanne to inform the Count that she will agree to have sex with him. The Countess says to tell him that she will meet him after the wedding, and then the Countess will go disguised as Suzanne. This pleases the Count, but he then overhears her saying to Figaro that she is only agreeing to his advances so that Figaro will have a better chance in the upcoming trial.
The trial begins, and Figaro is forced to explain that the reason he has no surname is that he was kidnapped as a young child. After the Count has ruled in favor of Marceline, she recognizes a birthmark on Figaro, revealing to her that Figaro is actually her son. Then, Enter Suzanne, carrying enough money to pay back all of Figaro’s debt (a gift to her from the Countess). The gardener, who is Suzanne’s wife, reveals that he will no longer approve of Figaro and Suzanne’s marriage because he is illegitimate.
ACT IV:

Figaro asks Suzanne not to meet the Count on the night of their wedding, and she agrees. When Suzanne tells the Count's wife that she does not plan to meet the Count, the Countess points out that she needs Suzanne's help so she can try to win back her husband's love and loyalty. Both Suzanne and the Countess write a note to the Count called "A New Song on the Breeze." The note asks the Count to meet Suzanne under the elm trees. The note is sealed with a pin from the Countess' dress. During the double wedding ceremony, Suzanne passes her note to the Count. When Figaro sees the Count reading the note, he does not know it is from Suzanne. After the wedding ceremony, Figaro notices Fanchette is upset and realizes she is upset because she lost the pin used to seal the letter (written by Suzanne and the Countess) that the Count asked her to give Suzanne. Figaro becomes very upset and thinks that this letter means Suzanne has already slept with the Count. He decides to go to the elm trees to secretly spy on the Count and Suzanne.

ACT V:

When Figaro arrives at the meeting place of Suzanne and the Count, he gathers a large group of men and plans to expose Suzanne and the Count in order to shame the pair and have good reason for a divorce. Suzanne and the Countess enter disguised as each other. Suzanne knows Figaro is watching and she is saddened that he would doubt her loyalty. When the Count enters, he and the Countess (in Suzanne's disguise) go off. Figaro, thinking the Count just escorted Suzanne away, goes to Suzanne (who is disguised as the Countess). When Figaro recognizes his own wife's voice, he is very much relieved. Suzanne is upset that Figaro would think she would cheat on him, and Figaro agrees that he was being ignorant and he and Suzanne kiss. When the Count re-enters, he thinks Figaro is kissing the Countess (because Suzanne is still in her disguise). When the Count takes control and arrests Figaro, Figaro goes along and pretends he was going to have an affair with the Countess. At this, the Count plans to force his wife to come out of the pavilion and make her admit her guilt in front of everyone. Instead of the Countess coming out, Fanchette, Marceline and Cherubino come out. When the real Suzanne (still wearing the Countess' clothes, but her face is no longer concealed) comes out, the Count still believes it is his wife. The "audience" (consisting of Fanchette, Marceline and Cherubino) begs the Count to forgive his wife. When he refuses to cooperate, the real Countess and Suzanne reveal their true identities. This is when the Count realizes he has been horribly tricked. The Count begs for his wife's forgiveness, and she agrees. The play ends with Suzanne and Figaro happily married and very wealthy.


Authorial Biography
Born Pierre-Augustin Caron on January 24, 1732, his name was later changed to Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais when he married his first wife, Madeleine-Catherine Franquet. Beaumarchais was the son of bourgeois watchmaker Charles Caron and became an apprentice to him at the age of 13. Beaumarchais mastered his father’s craft so well that, at the age of 21, he invented a new mechanical device for pocket watches that permitted the construction of small, flat timepieces in place of the bulky, spherical ones. The invention made him famous in the scientific community, earned for him the title of “Watchmaker to the King,” and assured the prosperity of his father’s watch making business for years to come. From that notoriety, he was able to establish himself as a personage of consequence at the court of Louis XV, even becoming music teacher to the king’s daughters.

His first wife, Madeleine-Catherine Franquet, was met in his father’s shop. He acquired his title as well as some wealth from her estate in Beaumarchais, Brie after her death. By now he had bought himself into power, as was customary.

Much mystery shrouded his first and second wife’s death, as they were sudden and shortly after marriage, yielding wealth.

He was taken to court after the death of his business partner, too whom he had accumulated a debt of 15,000 francs. His partner, however, had signed a written document releasing the debt. The heir, however, challenged Beaumarchais and the legitimacy of the document. Beaumarchais was stripped of his title, but because he had so aptly outwitted the court from taking his money he drew the attention of the king, Louis XV. Beaumarchais then became a spy, revealing traitorous activity in the country.

He was involved in both the American and French Revolution as an arms dealer. Though his deal with the now “United States of America”, his deal with France was less successful. He had arranged for 60,000 muskets to be acquired from Holland for the French Revolution. The deal fell through, Beaumarchais was exiled to Germany, but returned to die a fulfilled Frenchmen in Paris on May 17th, 1799.

He was married three times: 1) Madeleine-Catherine Franquet in 1756 (died 1757), 2) Genevieve-Madeleine Warebled in 1768 (died 1770), one son (died at the age of three in 1772), and 3) Marie-Therese Willermwlas in 1786 (divorced 1794; remarried 1797).


Historical Period/Playwriting Movement that Produced the Play
The Marriage of Figaro was written in 1775-1778 but was not staged until 1783. The script is an attack on aristocracy and is based loosely on Beaumarchais’ life. The playwright uses slight deviations of names to comment on his enemies, and the ending monologue was censored because of its affront to aristocracy.
Figaro mirrors Beaumarchais in that he is a lower class individual, triumphing over the lords and aristocracy.
Beaumarchais re-introduced laughter to French comedy and the stage after a long absence. The Marriage of Figaro has its roots in vaudeville and drame bourgeois and could be categorized as “comedy of intrigue;” the use of satirical observation and traditional comic stereotypes are the things which give this play its lasting presence. It was considered a revival because something like this hadn’t been done since Shakespeare.
Dramatis Personae
Count Almaviva: Governor of Andalusia
The Countess: his wife
Figaro: Count’s valet and steward of the castle
Suzanne: Countess’s principal maid and engaged to Figaro
Marceline: Housekeeper
Antonio: Head gardener uncle of Suzanne and father of Fnachette
Fanchette: daughter of Antonio
Cherubin: Count’s principle page
Bartholo: doctor from Seville
Bazile: music master to the Countess
Don Guzman Brid’Oison: a judge
Double-Main “Clawfingers”: lawyer’s clerk secretary to Don Guzman
An Officer of the Law and Clerk of the Court
Gripe-Soleil: young shepherd
A Young Shepherdess
Pedrillo: Count’s huntsman
Servants, Peasants, Women and Girls from the Count’s estates

Production History
The Marriage of Figaro opened March of 1784 at the Comédie-Française, where it ran for one hundred performances, but it wasn’t accepted with open arms at first. Beaumarchais completed the first text in 1778, and, when Louis XVI read the manuscript in 1782, he banned it from being performed on the stage because it “mocks everything which ought to be respected in a Government,” said the king. Luckily, Marie-Antoinette and the Comte d’Artois persuaded the king to allow a private performance; this performance took place in 1783 in Gennevilliers, France. But, before the play could be opened to the public, the king demanded that it be censored.
In 1786, Mozart adapted the play into a four act opera entitled Le Nozze di Figaro, and, since then, the opera has been performed innumerable times. LSU’s School of Music performed the adaptation in April of 2011.
When performed in 1803, Madame de Hausset criticized it as a “replete with indecorous and slanderous allusions to the Royal Family.” Another comment said that it “spread the prejudices against the Queen through the whole kingdom and every rank of France.”

Annotated Bibliography




Citations:
Beaudmarchais. The Figaro Plays: The barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro, The Guilty
Mother. Trans. Graham Anderson. Bristol: The Longdunn Press Ltd, 1993.
• The text for the play The Marriage of Figaro and the other plays in the “Figaro trilogy.” Original text by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, translated from its original French by Graham Anderson, former Head of Modern Languages at the University College School, Hampstead.
Cox, Cynthia. The Real Figaro. London and Southampton: The Camelot Press Ltd, 1962.
• Biography of Figaro, told in the narrative style by Cynthia Cox. It includes details of his life from his early life, his life and involvement with the French aristocracy, his life as a writer, his involvement in both the American and French revolutions, His work for the French crown as a spy, and his work as an arms dealer to the American colonies and his demise following being declared an enemy of the Revolution.

"The Marriage of Figaro." The Oxford Dictionary of Plays. Ed. Michael Patterson. Oxford University Press,
2005. eNotes.com. 2006. 2 May, 2011
http://www.enotes.com/odp-encyclopedia/marriage-figaro
- Production History Information. Lists notable performances




"Pierre August Caron de Beaumarchais." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Gale
Biography In Context. Web. 4 May. 2011.
- Biographical excerpt containing highlights of Beaumarchais’s life. Used to reference and perspective.

“Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais.” International Dictionary of Theatre. Vol. 2. Gale, 1993. Gale
Biography in Context. Web. 29 Apr. 2011
- Biographical excerpt used for extracting years, and life in context of Beaumarchais’s plays.

Brucknew, D.J.R.J.R. “Figaro outwits the count, but without a single aria.” New York Tiimes 1
May 2005: E5. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 29 Apr. 2011
- Review of “Marriage of Figaro” performance in Florida; commenting on the how the original format of the story still wows audiences without song. Also praises cuts to the script.