Produced by David Moynihan, D Garcia, Charles Franks and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
[Proofreader's Note: The scenes in Act III are misnumbered in theoriginal, they are labeled I, II, III, VI, and VII. This has beenretained in the text.]
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Nothing can be more unlike The Pretentious Young Ladies orSganarelle than Molière's Don Garcia of Navarre. The Théâtre duPalais-Royal had opened on the 20th January, 1661, with The Love-Tiffand Sganarelle, but as the young wife of Louis XIV., Maria Theresa,daughter of Philip IV., King of Spain, had only lately arrived, and as ataste for the Spanish drama appeared to spring up anew in France,Molière thought perhaps that a heroic comedy in that style might meetwith some success, the more so as a company of Spanish actors had beenperforming in Paris the plays of Lope de Vega and Calderon, since the24th of July, 1660. Therefore, he brought out, on the 4th of February,1661, his new play of Don Garcia of Navarre. It is said that thereexists a Spanish play of the same name, of which the author is unknown;Molière seems to have partly followed an Italian comedy, written byGiacinto Andrea Cicognini, under the name of Le Gelosie fortunata delprincipe Rodrigo; the style, loftiness and delicacy of expression arepeculiar to the French dramatist.
Don Garcia of Navarre met with no favourable reception, though theauthor played the part of the hero. He withdrew it after fiverepresentations, but still did not think its condemnation final, for heplayed it again before the King on the 29th of September, 1662, inOctober, 1663, at Chantilly, and twice at Versailles. He attempted itanew on the theatre of the Palace-Royal in the month of November, 1663;but as it was everywhere unfavourably received, he resolved never toplay it more, and even would not print it, for it was only publishedafter his death in 1682. He inserted some parts of this comedy in theMisanthrope, the Femmes Savantes, Amphitryon, Tartuffe and _LesFâcheux, where they produced great effect.
Though it has not gained a place on the French stage, it neverthelesspossesses some fine passages. Molière wished to create a counterpart ofSganarelle, the type of ridiculous jealousy, and to delineatepassionate jealousy, its doubts, fears, perplexities and anxieties, andin this he has succeeded admirably. However noble-minded Don Garcia maybe, there rages within his soul a mean passion which tortures anddegrades him incessantly. When at last he is banished from the presenceof the fair object of his love, he resolves to brave death by devotinghimself to the destruction of her foe; but he is forestalled by hispresumed rival, Don Alphonso, who turns out to be the brother of hismistress, and she receives him once again and for ever in her favour.The delineation of all these passions is too fine-spun, tooargumentative to please the general public; the style is sometimesstilted, yet passages of great beauty may be found in it. Moreover thejealousy expressed by Don Garcia is neither sufficiently terrible tofrighten, nor ridiculo