For the amusement of the courtiers at the court of her brother, King François I of France, Marguerite composed and produced several (11?) plays.
The first four were "biblical plays" (collected in Margarites de la margarite de princesses [Pearls of the pearl of a princess]:
Later Marguerite wrote and produced seven secular plays, These were mostly farces, written in verse of varied METER: decasyllabic, octosyllabic, pentasyllabic in three of the farces, and the last entirely in decasyllabic lines.
- Comedy of The Nativity.
- Comedy of The Adoration of The Three Kings.
- Comedy of The Innocents.
- Comedy on the Desert.
These seven plays were been collected, with Notes, in 1963 by V. I. Saulnier under the title, Théàtre Profane. In 1992 appeared an English translation, under the same title, by Régine Reynolds-Cottrell , published in the series, Carleton Renaissance Plays in Translation.
The plays are listed below (with titles given by others) and synopses adapted from Reynolds-Cottrell:
- The Patient and the Cure (La Malade): 1535. Synopsis: A man suffers from extreme pain for which his suggests various rememdies, but he asks for a doctor. While the wife is fetching a physician, the serving-girl tells the man that the only secret of good health is faith in God as the only salvation. Upon arrrival, the doctor is surprised to find the man rested and healthy. However, the physician writes a prescription, during which the simple evangelical message of the girl wreaks a miraculous, instantaneous cure by conversion. Seeing he is no longer needed, the doctor accuses the gril of witchcraft, pockets his fees, and leaves with offer of help if a relapse occurs. The play ends with the recovered man's joyful praise of God. (Saulnier interpretats the sick man as the Roman Catholic Church, and the serving-girl's counsel as Reformist.)
- The Inquisitor (L'inquisitor): 1536. Synopsis: A cunning inquisitor complains about those who complains about his work and those who criticize the Church without knowledge of The Scriptures. The inquisitor goes outside, with his manservant, in hope of spying upon other "miscreants". Instead, he finds a group of children happily playing in the snow. The inquisitor repreoaches the children for wasting their time instead of learning the teachings of The Church. Their laughter infuriates the inquisitor. But, gradually, the simple and pure profession of fain in song converts the inquisitor and his manservant, and the play ends. (Saulnier interprets the names of the children as those of French Reformers: Janot = Calvin; Clérot = Clément Marot; Thiénot = Dolet; Jacot = Lefèvre, Others have suggested Thierrot = Luther and Pérot = Bonaventure des Périers.)
- Comedy for Four Women (Comédie de quatre femmes): 1542. Synopsis: Two of the women are very young and happily unmarried, the other two wretched in their unhapphy marriages. They debate the subject of marriage, asking a old woman to hear their stories and arbitrate. The women are only referred to as "first""and "second girl"; "first"and "second woman"; amd "old woman". One holds freedom so dear that she refuses to love; the second, loved and in love, says chaste love is true and lasting; the (married) third, remaining faithful despite an ardurous suitor, is mistreated by her jealous husband; the fourth idolizes her husband but suffers because he loves another.
The old woman counsels the first girl that, like it or not, she will fall in love. To the second girl, the old woman advises that love is fickle, happiness short-lived. The old women gives the virtous wife two choices: Be patient; eventually ypour husband's love for you will cease and he'll no longer be jealous; but since he'll mistreat you whether guilty of infidelity or not, why not enjoy what you're falsely accused of doing?" To the wife whose husband loves another, the old woman says an unfaithful husband is preferable to one not interested in sex, and "he can't come home contrite and pregnant". If she is patient enough, he'll tire of his new love; but, meanwhile, she could herself take a lover.
The two girls reject the pessimism of the old woman; and the wives reject the old woman's bizarre advice. But as the old woman is leaving, an old man begins conversation with her. Tehen four young men arrive. And the five men leade the five women in a dance, with the old man boasting he can outlast the young.
(Five court ladies are said to have played the roles of the women in the court production of this play. One was Marguerite's neice, also named Marguerite, the future duchess of Berry; another, Marguerite de Bourbon, duchess of Nevers; also, Jacquine de Long, a.k.a.Mme de Montpesier; and Louise de Clermont-Taillard, a.k.a. Mme du Bellay; and the duchess of Estampes. a favorite of the king.)
- Most, Much, Less, Little (Trop, Prou, Peu, Moins): 1554-5. Synopsis: In opening soliloqies, two wealthy, powerful men (Most and Much) tease the audience with enigmas (a favorite artifice of medieval dramaturgy), ostensibly to reveal who they are. Their complexity of riddles prevent easy identification, The men try, but sadly fail, to hide their donkey-ears under elaborate headgear. The men encounter a peasant and a shepherd (Less and Little), both with sheepshorns through their hats. The paupers suggest how the others might cure their ear-problem. Fearing the cure too painful, the powerful men go off in one direction, and the paupers in another. (Most is thought to represent the corrupt Church and Much a temporal Ruler, perhaps the Emperor. The peasant and shepherd represent the simple, often suffering Christian laity. The commentary finds this a problem presented, with no solution.)
- Comedy on the Passing of a King (Comédie sur le trespas de roy): 1548. Synopsis: Amarissima weeps alone the news of Pan's death. Securus, her grieving husband, joins her and tries to assuage her tears. Agape, a second shepherd who had been with Pan at his dying, laments his loss. They sings songs of sorrow. Paraclesis, sent by Pan, brings a message of consolation. So the mourners offer a paen to Pan's eternal life. (The play was written after the death of Marguerite's brother, King François, the "king" of the title. Amarissima is thought to be Marguerite; Securus, Marguerite's husband, King Henri de Navarre. Agape, according to Saulnier, was Marguerite's nephew, Henri II, new ruler of France. Among the songs sung by the mourners were the secular tunes which Marguerite's verse turned into hymns, collected in Chanson Spirituelle, said to have been sung by Huguenot congregations.)
- Comedy of Mont de Marsan (Comédie de Mont de Marsan): 1548. Synopsis: A young, elegant woman proclaims love for her own body and nothing else. A woman pilgrim reproaches her. Saying that only the soul matters, the pilgrim boasts of her own flewgellation to earn eternal salvation. A third woman, as arbiter, faults both of them, since the person is one whole, and abusing the body is as bad as neglecting its spiritual nature. She gives each woman a Bible, to read earnestly.
The three women are interrupted by the laughter of a woman shepherd, enraptured by the love of God. But the three women mistakenly assume that she is neglecting her sheep for love of another shepherd. They question her and give advice which the woman shepherd finds nonsensical. Deciding she is a fool, the three women leave her to her mystical ecstasy. (The "Mont de Marsan" is a region which Marguerite visited around the time suggested for this play. The mystic ecstasy of the woman shepherd the third, ultimate step in Christian progress toward: Gratia Praeveniebs, Gratia Excitans Atque Adjuvans, Libere Assentiendo et Cooperando. But the play seems to indicate that Marguerite considered this an ideal, not reality. In this play, more than in any other, Marguerite uses silence as a rhetorical device. Silence of the woman shepherd in response to questioning. Songs, modeled on the Chanson Spirituelle, that preclude dialogue. And the play ends with a song followed by a long silence. Some scholars praise Marguerite's skill as playwright in this play, which they consider her best.)
- Comedy on Perfect Love (Comédie du parfait amant): 1549. Synopsis: A very old woman has wandered the world over for centuries to give, to the most deserving, a crown of flowers symbolizing perfect love. She gives a hearing to three young women who claim the crown. Fickle, selfish, or unfaithful, they fail the test. A young man presents his lover as candidate, but she refuses the honor and proposes him. Jeanne d'Albret and Antoine de Vendˆome are invited to decide which of the two deserves the honor. (Saulnier dismisses this play as written only as a courtesy to Marguerite's daughter and her new husband.)
PASSAGES FROM MARGUERITE'S PLAYS[From "Comedy for Four Women," performed at Francis' court in about 1542 (the title is not Navarre's; she simply called it "a farce"). In the play, two married women and two girls discuss love; here the girls sing, respectively rejecting and praising love:]
First girl:
Virtuous liberty
I guard readily
With no distraction.
For love and folly
From melancholy
Cannot be parted.When I hear talking,
Coming and going,
These foolish lovers,
I end up laughing.
And I tell myself
That they are wretched.Away with affection:
Away with passion
That can break one's heart
My heart is my own;
My faith is not meant
To be given or sold....I shall remain free,
Not taking the risk
Of falling in love.
Let love who so wants;
We shall in the end
Turn away from them. [ll.262-79, 334-39; pp.100-102]-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"For the servitude, the care, and the pains of love mean to me joy and liberty."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Second girl:
A virtuous love
(Not at all sinful)
I want to defend;
'Tis no less seemly
Than fair and pleasant,
As one must keep it....Without love, a man
Is very much like
A lifeless image.
Without love, woman
Is sullen, odious,
Unpleasant and foolish.For love, in tourneys,
Lances are tilted,
Horses are spurred,
High leaps must be jumped,
And dance performed.For the servitude
The care, and the pains
Of love mean to me
Joy and liberty,
As long as I see
My sweet friend always. [ll.340-45, 352-63, 412-17; pp.102104]
DO YOU WISH TO SEE THE FRONTPAGE OF THIS FILE?