“The criminal mother” Beaumarchais in summary
Paris, the end of 1790
From the conversation of Figaro, the valet of the Spanish nobleman, Count Almaviva, and his wife Suzanne, the Countess’s first maid, it is clear that since the eldest son of the count died, a scoundrel raving, a black shadow fell on the whole family. The count is gloomy and gloomy all the time, his youngest son, Leon, he hates, and the Countess can hardly stand it. Moreover, he is going to exchange all his possessions.
To all the guilt of Bejars, an insidious Irishman, who was a secretary when he was acting as ambassador. This cunning schemer “mastered all family secrets,” lured the count from Spain to France, where “everything is upside down,” hoping to quarrel with his wife, marry their Florestine pupil and take possession of the count’s condition. Honoré Bejars is a “low-soul man, a hypocrite who pretends to be honest and noble,” Figaro calls him “Honore-Tartuffe.” Bejars is masterly
But Figaro, a Sevillian barber who has passed through a harsh school of life, a man endowed with an acute mind and a strong character, knows the true value of the deceiver and is determined to bring it to the surface. Knowing that Bejars has a certain propensity for Suzanne, he tells her to “coax him, not to deny him anything” and report on every step he takes. To increase Bejars’ confidence in Suzanne, Figaro and his wife act out a scene of a violent quarrel with him.
What are the plans for the new Tartuffe and what are the obstacles to their implementation? The main obstacle is love. The Count still loves his wife, Rosina, and she still has influence over him. And Leon and Florestine love each other, and the Countess encourages this affection. So, you need to remove the countess, finally quarreling with her husband, and make it impossible to marry Leon and Florestina, and so that everything happens as if without Bezhars. Earl suspects that the countess, who has always “been
Now the Countess remains, who must not only reconcile with the marriage of Bejars to Florestine, but also persuade the girl to marry. The Countess, who is accustomed to seeing a faithful friend in Bejars, complains of her husband’s cruelty towards her son. Twenty years she spent “in tears and repentance,” and now the son suffers for her sin. Bejars assures the countess that the mystery of the birth of Leon is unknown to her husband, that he is so gloomy and wants to remove his son only because he sees how love blossoms, which he can not bless, for Florestina is his daughter. The countess on her knees thanks God for her unexpected mercy. Now she has something to forgive her husband, Florestina becomes even more expensive, and her marriage to Bejars is the best way out. Bejars forces the Countess to burn Cherubino’s letters so that she does not notice the loss of one of them,
How he triumphs, left alone! It seems to him that he is already “half-count of Almaviva.” But one more step is necessary. The scoundrel is afraid that the count is too vulnerable to the influence of his wife to dispose of the state, as Bezhars would have liked. To remove the countess, you need to quickly provoke a major scandal, especially since the count, delighted by the “spiritual greatness” with which the countess accepted the news about the marriage of Florestine and Bejars, is inclined to reconciliation with his wife. Bejars pushes Leon to ask his mother to intercede for him before his father. Florestina does not want to marry Bezhars at all, but she is ready to sacrifice herself for the good of “brother”. Leon resigned himself to the idea that Florestine is lost to him, and tries to love her with brotherly love, but has not reconciled himself to the injustice that his father is showing him.
As Bezhars expected, the countess, out of love for her son, starts a conversation with her husband, who in anger reproaches her for treason, shows a letter she considered burnt, and mentions a bracelet with her portrait. The Countess is in such a state of complete emotional turmoil that when she sees the portrait of Cherubino, it seems to her that a dead accomplice of sin has come after her from the other world, and she frenziedly calls for death, accusing herself of a crime against her husband and son. The Count bitterly regrets his cruelty, and Leon, who has heard the whole conversation, rushes to his mother and says that he does not need any titles or fortune, he wants to leave the house together with Count Graf in despair, keeps Rosina, there is a stormy scene, during the which turns out that Bejars deceived everyone.
The main proof of his heinous atrocities is in the hands of Figaro. Without effort, having outsmarted the stupid servant Bezhars, Wilhelm, Figaro made him open, through whom Bejars’ correspondence goes. Several luids to a servant, in charge of mail, to open letters written in the handwriting of Honore-Tartuffe, and a round sum for the letter itself. But this document completely exposes the villain. There is universal reconciliation, everyone embraces each other. “Both of them are our children!” – enthusiastically declares the count, pointing to Leon and Florestine.
When Bejars appears, Figaro, who at the same time managed to save all the master money from the swindler, exposes him. Then he declares that Florestine and Leon “by birth and by law can not be considered relatives”, and the affectionate count urges the household to “forgive each other mistakes and previous weaknesses.”
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