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Can’t marry
- Figaro replies that he can’t marry without the consent of his parents for whom he’s been searching for years.
neworleansopera.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Figaro-Study-Guide.pdf
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Can Figaro marry without his parents' permission?
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Figaro argues that he cannot get married without his parents' permission, and that he does not know who his parents are, because he was stolen from them when he was a baby. The ensuing discussion reveals that Figaro is Raffaello, the long-lost illegitimate son of Bartolo and Marcellina.
But Figaro says he can't marry someone without his parents’ permission. The Count says let's see these parents, and Figaro replies that he has been looking for them for ten years. All he knows is he was stolen as a child, and he has a mysterious birthmark.
- Author Biography
- Plot Summary
- Characters
- Themes
- Style
- Historical Context
- Critical Overview
- Criticism
- Sources
- Further Reading
Beaumarchais was born in Paris, France, on January 24, 1732. In 1753, working as an apprentice to his watchmaker father, Beaumarchais devised a mechanism that was recognized by the Academy of Sciences. Two years later, he was appointed watchmaker to the royal court of Louis XV. Upon marrying a widow, he became Clerk Controller and also inherited th...
Act 1
The Marriage of Figaroopens on the day of Figaro and Suzanne’s marriage. Suzanne informs her fiance that the Count has offered her a dowry if she spends the first night with him. Figaro realizes that he must take quick action to thwart the Count’s desires. He vows to mislead the Count by moving ahead the time the wedding will take place. At the same time, he must ward off Marceline, who wants to marry him. Marceline has involved Bartholo in her plans to win Figaro, which include encouraging t...
Act 2
The Countess, Suzanne, and Figaro agree upon a two-fold plan to thwart the Count and return his affections to his wife: Figaro provokes the Count’s jealousy by giving him an anonymous note warning that the Countess has a lover; Figaro also proposes that they send Cherubino, disguised as Suzanne, to meet the Count that evening. Cherubino arrives, but when the Count knocks on the door, he hides in the closet. The Count is upset by the note he has just received, and his suspicions are raised fur...
Act 3
At the beginning of act 3, the Count wavers back and forth over whether he will rule in Marceline’s favor or in Figaro’s. Although Suzanne agrees to meet him that night, the Count does not trust her motivation because he realizes that she has told Figaro of his seduction plan. He decides instead to champion Marceline’s cause. At the trial, a blot over a crucial word renders unclear the exact meaning of the contract between Marceline and Figaro. After numerous readings, the Count decides that...
Count Almaviva
The Count’s main interest in the play is fulfilling his amorous desires, and intrigue surrounds his efforts to seduce Suzanne. To this end, he promises her money if she will spend her first night as a married woman with him. Although he places a monetary figure on the situation and also holds the power to prevent Suzanne and Figaro’s marriage, the Count views his designs as merry and light-hearted; as Beaumarchais describes the character of the Count in the playscript, “In keeping with the mo...
Countess Almaviva
The Countess is the Count’s wife. She is torn between two conflicting feelings for her husband:
MEDIA ADAPTATIONS
1. Mozart wrote a four-act opera, Le Nozze di Figaro, based on The Marriage of Figaro. It was first performed in 1786. Numerous recordings of it are available. anger and love. She seeks to regain his affections and, to this end, secretly hatches a plan with Suzanne. Unlike her husband, the Countess is a very human, likable figure. She is clever enough to devise the plot that ends in success for her, Suzanne, and Figaro. She is a good friend to Suzanne, despite the vast difference in their cla...
Social Classes
From its earliest readings in France, The Marriage of Figaro raised concerns over Beaumarchais’s criticism of the social class system. This system, in place since the Middle Ages, put members of the aristocracy in positions of governmental and military power even if they did not merit it. It also allowed for little upward mobility. Figaro’s plotting against his master is a usurpation of aristocratic authority. His actions literally demonstrate several bold assertions: that such authority is d...
TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY
1. Beaumarchais originally set The Marriage of Figaroin France in the 1780s. Do you think changing the setting to Spain lessens any of the issues he raises about social classes and rebellion against it? Write a paper comparing the social and political environments of these two countries. 2. Critics disagree as to whether Figaro’s monologue in act 5, in which he chronicles the abuses of the nobility against the lower classes, forecasts the French Revolution and the end of the French aristocrac...
Fidelity and Adultery
The play’s intrigue centers around the Count’s adulterous desire for Suzanne. Bored with his wife, the Count has set his sights on Figaro’s betrothed. That she is the fianceé of his loyal servant does not divert him in the slightest, which clearly depicts how noblemen such as himself regarded affairs with their underlings. Indeed, this experienced philanderer pursues other young, attractive women on his estate in addition to Suzanne. Despite his own lapse of fidelity, the Count becomes furiou...
Monologue
Figaro’s lengthy monologue in act 5 breaks up the quick pace of the comedy. In the first part of the monologue, Figaro reflects upon Suzanne’s faithlessness and deceit as well as the arbitrary nature of the aristocracy’s power. In the second part, he recounts the numerous jobs he has held as a means of exploring his future. In the third and final part, Figaro reflects upon the course his life has taken. While Figaro’s monologue slows down the pace of the play at a crucial juncture, it serves...
Satire
A satirical play is one that uses humor and wit to criticize human nature, society, and institutions. Beaumarchais’s play, though comic, never shies away from pressing social issues. However, he uses indirect satire, relying upon the ridiculous behavior of his characters to make his point. An example of indirect satire is when the Count is forced to hide behind the chair in Suzanne’s room. Beaumarchais’s main objects of satire are the members of the aristocracy. Embodied in the person of the...
Trilogy
Beaumarchais’s plays The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro, and A Mother’s Guilt comprise his trilogy about Count Almaviva. The Barber of Seville, the first play of the trilogy, focuses on Figaro’s successful plan to win Rosine (the Countess Almaviva) for the Count. A Mother’s Guiltfinds the Count and Countess, and their loyal servants Figaro and Suzanne, living in France. Beaumarchais makes use of the first play in his second. For instance, he neglected to write new descriptions for...
France on the Brink of Revolution
Throughout the 1700s, France was the largest and most powerful nation in Europe. French society was divided into three estates. The First Estate consisted of the clergy of the Roman Catholic Churchand made up less than one percent of the population. The Second Estate, the nobility, made up less than two percent of the population. People were born into the Second Estate, but they could also purchase titles. Neither the First nor the Second Estate paid any significant taxes. The Third Estate co...
The American Revolution
The American Revolution started in 1776 with the American Declaration of Independence. For several years, colonists were angry over the fact that they were forced to pay increasingly higher taxes without having representation in the British Parliament. France, Britain’s longtime enemy, was pleased to see the Revolution start. France formed an alliance with the patriots, signing a treaty in 1778, and French emissaries such as Beaumarchais supplied the American forces with weapons. Individual F...
The French Theatre
French drama developed greatly in the 1600s and 1700s. The seventeenth century was France’s neoclassical period. Pierre Corneillewrote more than thirty plays, most of which followed Aristotle’s precept of unity of time, place, and action. Jean Racine introduced a simpler style and more realistic characters and plot structures. The comic genius of Moliere explored social, psychological, and metaphysical questions. The works of these playwrights remain mainstays of the French theatre. Other pla...
Beaumarchais first completed The Marriage of Figaro in 1780. Although the Comedié Française accepted it for production in September 1781, the play took several years to gain the approval of the official censors because of its theme of rebellion. During this period, however, it was played in salons and at court, where it brought out conflicting opin...
Rena Korb
Korb has a master’s degree in English literature and creative writing and has written for a wide variety of educational publishers. In the following essay, she explores how Beaumarchais uses comedy to raise social issues. The subtitle of The Marriage of Figaro, “A Single Mad Day,” indicates the complexity of the intriguethat faces Figaro and the other characters on the day of his proposed marriage. What neither the title nor the subtitle indicate, however, are the more serious issues that Bea...
Elizabeth J. MacArthur
In the following essay, MacArthur discusses how the body and its desires contribute to the publicsphere in theMarriage of Figaro. [Text Not Available] [Text Not Available] [Text Not Available] [Text Not Available] [Text Not Available] [Text Not Available] [Text Not Available] [Text Not Available] [Text Not Available] [Text Not Available] Source: Elizabeth J. MacArthur, “Embodying the Public Sphere: Censorship and the Reading Subject in Beaumarchais’s Mariage de Figaro,” in Representations, Vo...
Walter E. Rex
In the following excerpt, Rex discusses the idea of games and the convention of the monologue inThe Marriage of Figaro. [Text Not Available] [Text Not Available] [Text Not Available] [Text Not Available] [Text Not Available] [Text Not Available] [Text Not Available] Source: Walter E. Rex, “The Marriage of Figaro,” in The Attraction of the Contrary, Cambridge UniversityPress, 1987, pp. 184-96.
Brereton, Geoffrey, French Comic Drama from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century, Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1977, pp. 237-55. Campan, Mme., Mémoires, quoted in Joseph Sungolowsky, Beaumarchais, Twayne Publishers, 1974. Cox, Cynthia, The Real Figaro: The Extraordinary Career of Caron de Beaumarchais, Longmans, 1962, quoted in Joseph Sungolowsky, Beauma...
Hayes, Julie C., “Rewriting Bourgeois Drama: Beaumarchais’s Double Plan,” in The Age of Theatre in France, edited by David Trott and Nicole Boursier, Academic Printing & Publishing, 1988, pp. 41-51. Howarth, William D., Beaumarchais and the Theatre, Routledge, 1995. Lally, Carolyn Gascoigne, “Beaumarchais’s Le Mariage de Figaro,” in The Explicator,...
Figaro attempts to evade this decision by claiming he cannot marry without his parents' consent. He explains that he was kidnapped by gypsies as a child and thus does not know who his...
Figaro argues that he cannot get married without his parents' permission, and that he does not know who his parents are, because he was stolen from them when he was a baby. The ensuing discussion reveals that Figaro is Raffaello, the long-lost illegitimate son of Bartolo and Marcellina.
Curzio, the magistrate, agrees that Figaro must marry Marcellina, but Figaro protests that he cannot without his parents’ permission, which cannot be obtained since he was stolen as an infant and does not know who they are.
Figaro argues that he cannot get married without his parents' permission, and that he does not know who his parents are, because he was stolen from them when he was a baby. The ensuing discussion reveals that Figaro is Rafaello, the long-lost illegitimate son of Bartolo and Marcellina.
