1. The Imaginary Invalid by Moliere
By Kai, Katy, Maddie, Libby, and Ryan P. Stone

2. Publication and Notable Facts - Kai
Date of Publication: 1673
Moliere’s final play.
Written to entertain Louis XIV.
Moliere coughed up blood while playing Argan.
It's believed the doctors are an allusion to religion because of the power they hold over someone's life even if not everything they said was true.

3. About Moliere - Katy
Moliere, otherwise known as Jean Baptiste Poquelin, was a French Neoclassic playwright. He’s considered the creator of modern French comedy and the most popular playwright of this era in theatre.
He’s best known for his comedic satirical plays The Misanthrope, Tartuffe, and The School for Wives. These plays were intended to be performed for the upper class, but also primarily targeted and satirized the upper class.
While he was writing this play, he increasingly became ill. Many believe that the hypochondriac protagonist, Argan, was Moliere poking fun at himself.
He ironically died of tuberculosis while on stage, performing The Imaginary Invalid as Argan.

4. Setting - Maddie
The play is in three Acts and takes place in the second half of the 17th century in Paris. It follows a hypochondriac (Argan) who goes to rather extreme and silly measures to make himself healthy. In this time period, many physicians still relied on blood-letting and enemas to get illnesses out of the body, which, in reality, often worsened the condition of the patient. Doctors also gave patients very strange medicines made of a random assortment of plants, chemicals, and minerals with unpredictable results. Moliere pokes a lot of fun at physicians throughout the play in many ways. These instances imply that Moliere probably believed many doctors in his time to be quacks, or at least that he didn’t take their suggestions and assessments very seriously.

5. Summary - Katy
Argan is a hypochondriac that has to deal with several monthly medical expenses. We find out that his daughter, Angelique, is in love with Cleante, but Argan wishes to marry her off to Thomas Diafoirus, a doctor’s son who studies medicine (whom she has no feelings for) in order to receive free medical care.
Beline, Argan’s wife, plans on sending Angelique to a convent to prevent her from receiving inheritance from Argan. Toinette, the clever maid, convinces Argan to fake his death to see Beline’s true colors. This reveals her to be selfish and that she despises Argan. After this, he fakes his death for the second time, and Angelique says that she’ll fulfill his dying wish by joining a convent. This causes him to wake back up and tell the lovers that they can get married under the condition that Cleante becomes a doctor. (cont.)

6. Summary II
(cont.) Beralde, Argan’s brother, says it would be easier for Argan to become a doctor himself. He tells Argan that all he has to do is wear a doctor’s cap and gown and then stand in the middle of a ceremonial dance, which will miraculously give him the knowledge and the degree he needs to become a doctor. In reality, Berald hires a group of gypsies who then perform an exotic dance around Argan. It does nothing, but Beralde claims this turns Argan into a doctor and Argan believes him, so they all live happily ever after!

7. Characters - Maddie
Argan: The Imaginary Invalid himself. A hypochondriac with a “loving” wife and a loving daughter. He is the protagonist; the play centers around his desire to marry his daughter to a doctor so that he will have limitless access to the treatments he needs. In the end he solves the problem by becoming a doctor himself.
Beline: Argan’s wife. She stays with and treats Argan adoringly so that he will leave her his estate when he dies. In reality, she finds him repulsive and a nuisance. The antagonist (though it may also be argued that Angelique is the antagonist -- see Ryan’s “Central Conflict” slide).

8. Characters II
Angelique: Argan’s loving daughter. She opposes Argan’s wishes because she wants to marry Cleante, the man who she really loves. Her love for her father is proved when he fakes his death and she agrees to live out his “dying wish” and become a nun.
Louison: Angelique’s younger sister. Argan forces her to tell him about a conversation she heard between Cleante and Angelique.
Beralde: Argan’s brother. He assists Toinette in her scheming by telling Argan that he isn’t really sick, and that Beline doesn’t really love him.

9. Characters III
Cleante: Angelique’s love interest. Disguises himself as a music teacher so that he can speak with Angelique. He’s kind of just the pretty boy of the play.
Monsieur Diafoirus: The father of Thomas (who is the guy that Angelique is supposed to marry). He is the physician of a friend.
Thomas Diafoirus: Angelique’s betrothed. He’s clumsy and not very intelligent. Both he and his father aren’t very good doctors, either.

10. Characters IV: Monsieur Fleurant: Argan’s apothecary.
Monsieur Bonnefoy (or Bonnefoi): Notary who tells Argan how to pass down his assets to Beline.
Toinette: The maidservant. Comparable to Dorine from Tartuffe, she is very cunning and schemes to reveal Beline’s ill intentions as well as help her friend Angelique. In the process, she dresses up as a doctor and later gets Argan to play dead. Twice.
FUN FACT: The characters’ names in this play are suggestive, the English equivalents would be Diafoirus = Diarrheus; Fleurant = Sniffer or Smeller; and Bonnefoy = Good Faith.

11. Central Conflict - Ryan
Argan is trying to marry off Angelique to a doctor, Diafoirus, whom she has no feelings for, but she defies her father’s wishes and attempts to marry Cléante.
Meanwhile, Beline is trying to influence Argan’s will so that he will leave everything to his wife when he dies.

12. Protagonist and Antagonist - Ryan
The protagonist is Argan, despite him being an awful person and the antagonist is his wife, Beline, who attempts to steal everything of his.
However, it could be argued that Angelique directly opposes Argan more than Beline, but his wife is the main opposition in that she wants him to die and give her all his money. In other words, her character specifically opposes Argan.

13. Themes - Katy
Greed - Purgon and Fleurant overcharge Argan for fake healing agents and take advantage of Argan’s hypochondria. Béline also pretends to love Argan only for his money.
Selfishness - Coinciding with the theme of greed, selfishness also affects Argan’s family dynamic; he tries to marry his daughter to Diafoirus, whom she did not love, in order to benefit from his easily accessible medical care. This is selfish because he has no regard for her feelings or prosperity and is acting entirely out of selfishness.

14. Themes II
Family Ties - Angelique has to go along with her parents’ plans for her, though she opposes them.
Showing one’s true colors - This play deals with deception and the true intentions of characters being masked. At the end of the play when Argan fakes his death, the true colors of Beline are revealed, exposing her as greedy, self-serving, and contemptful.

15. Churches and Enemas
It’s no secret that Moliére was not a fan of religion. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries thousands of Huguenots were exiled from France due to their beliefs. Now, by this time France was fairly Protestant (not-Catholic), and the Huguenots in had very little effect on the Catholic’s so stop thinking about Notré Dame. A Huguenot is a follower of John Calvin. John Calvin is a guy many denominations still argue over to this day, he paved the way for predestination. The idea that since God is omniscient, what does it matter what we do here now? He’ll save who He wants to, He’ll still allow the same sins to happen regardless of how I act now. Obviously this idea is extremely controversial and even started promoting crimes within the churchgoers. Moliére’s alluding to God and the church leaders through the hierarchy of doctors, as though some of them are just chanted in by gypsies, they still get to decide who lives and dies. In a sense, Moliére is saying that he’s tired of the Churches enemas. They could be doing what God says by helping the poor, but instead they are just exiling people left and right. The Edict of Nantes had given the Protestants in general some religious freedom in 1598, to end the slaughters and religious war on these Huguenots. But alas, in 1685 King Louis XIV revoked this law and it was illegal yet again until 1787 under the Edict of Toleration. When Moliére wrote this play the Huguenots were just restarting to fight for their rights.

16. Important Quotes I
“All right, ten sous. ‘Plus a cordial and preservative potion, compounded with twelve grains of bezoar, lemon and pomegranate syrups, etc., according to the prescription, five francs.’ Ah! Monsieur Fleurant, gently, if you please; if you treat people like that, they won’t want to be sick anymore; content yourself with four francs. Twenty… and forty sous. Three and two makes five, and five makes ten, and ten makes twenty. Sixty- three francs four sous six denier. So this month I’ve taken one, two, three, four five, six, seven, eight doses of medicine and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve enemas; and last month there were twelve doses of medicine and twenty enemas. I don’t wonder that I’m not as well this month as last. I’ll tell Monsieur Purgon this, so that he’ll set this right. Come on, have all this taken away!... There’s nobody here. No matter what I say, they always leave me here alone; there’s no way to keep them here. (He rings a bell to summon his servants.) They don’t hear a thing, and my bell doesn’t make enough noise. (Ringing and calling out at the same time, more and more loudly and angrily) Ting-a-ling, ting-a-ling, ting-a- ling: nothing doing.”
-Argan, Act 1 Scene 1

17. Important Quotes II
“Good Lord, dear boy! There are no servants, men or women, who don’t have their faults. Sometimes one is forced to put up with their bad qualities on account of the good ones. This one is adroit, careful, diligent, and above all faithful; and you know that nowadays you need great precautions about the people you take on. Her now! Toinette!!”
Béline, Act I Scene 6

18. Important Quotes III
“Ah, Cléante, let’s not talk any more about any of that. Let’s leave behind all thoughts of marriage. After the loss of my father, I want no part of the world any more, and I give it up forever. Yes, father if I resisted your wishes just now, I want to follow at least one of your intentions, and thereby make amends for the unhappiness I blame myself for having given you. Allow me, father, to give you my word for this here and now, and to kiss you to testify my feeling to you.”
Angélique, Act III Scene 14

19. Unusual Words and References - Kai
Edulcorate- (to make something pleasant or acceptable.) Argan is pleased by how understanding the doctor was about his inability to pay his fees at the moment.
Hypochondriac- (someone who always believes they are sick) Argan was one of these.
Catholicon- (cure-all medicine) was supposed to heal Argan of his “ailments”.

20. in·va·lid1
ˈinvələd/
noun
noun: invalid; plural noun: invalids
a person made weak or disabled by illness or injury.
"an invalid husband"
verb
verb: invalid 1.
remove (someone) from active service in the armed forces because of injury or illness.
"he was badly wounded and invalided out of the infantry"
im·ag·i·nar·y
iˈmajəˌnerē/
adjective
adjective: imaginary
1.existing only in the imagination.
"Chris had imaginary conversations with her"
synonyms:
The title
exposes
Argan’s fraud from the very beginning, and also alludes to all of Angelique’s unfit suitors.

21. Why is this play an ITS play for 2017?
The Imaginary Invalid is considered a classic play because it was both one of the most popular plays and written by one of the most popular playwrights of the French Neoclassic era in theatre.
This play has comedic elements that are still relevant to today’s audiences, like bathroom humor and bumbling idiots, but still reflects the life of those in the 17th century. The witty humor has subtext that makes fun of doctors and rich people, which can be relevant to both today and back then.
Contrasting with Shakespeare’s dark tragedy Hamlet, the other classical choice, it has a light and comedic feel that gently pokes fun at French society.
Theme: “Good on the outside, but dark on the inside.”

22. Ryan’s Reaction
The Imaginary Invalid has a unique position in my head. While reading this play I was intrigued by the tone and the characters. I believe this play represents two distinct aspects of literature, satire (the literary art of ridiculing a folly or vice in order to expose or correct it) and burlesque (a work of literature meant to ridicule a subject, a grotesque imitation) the play itself is a satire that has elements of a burlesque. Satire because the entire play focuses on the upper class and the dealings of Argan, his obsessive hypochondria, and what he wants for his family. The burlesque aspect is the gross imitation of things such as the doctors treating him and the strange going on’s of the story such as his crazy noises and the chanting at the end. Essentially this play makes fun of both the broadness of upper-class citizens and the specificity of things such as doctors, religion, gypsies, etc.

23. Katy’s Reaction
The aspect of this play that stood out to me was the witty, often situational humor. I was quite surprised at how… gross… some of the jokes were? There was a lot of bathroom humor, with Argan’s claims of illness and some of the names translating into gross words in French (such as Diafoirus - Diarrheus). Although, I thoroughly enjoyed most aspects of this play! Plays from this era are interesting to read because there was a big focus on satirizing the upper class, and a lot of the issues are relevant to today’s issues. I also love how everyone in this play is some ridiculous, exaggerated version of someone in society.
The only part I dislike about this play, or plays from this era in general, is that some of the lines get lost in translation and it becomes awkward to read. However, with skilled actors, the lines could be delivered in a natural way and the performance would be a hoot!

24. Kai’s reaction
I found that The Imaginary Invalid seemed sporadic and grotesque with juvenalian humor at first. But after reading further and learning about Moliere’s condition at the time he wrote it seemed he was being comical about his own unfortunate health through Argan, and making fun of people of influence through the doctors all while telling a story to please Louis XIV. Then, I thought that it was an entertaining play, and I did enjoy its deus ex machina ending due to how random it was.

25. Libby’s Reaction
From the first scene of Argan’s babbling I was in love. Everyone has fallen for a story before, but the characters in this play had me falling head over heels. Moliére once said that “The duty of comedy is to correct men by amusing them.” I wholeheartedly agree with that statement and love the way that Moliere states his opinions through some off color things (ie. enema’s being a “jolly gay old time”). Although The Imaginary Invalid was a dialed back version of his true opinions, his idea of integrity being above all shines through even the most minor characters. A person can’t help but relate to Angélique’s need for love, Argan’s overreactions, or how tired Toinette is tired of being the only sane person there. Even if the ending is, for lack of better words, cheesy. We all learn that life can always be good, if you choose to make it good.

26. Maddie’s Reaction
Overall I have good feelings about this play. I love the witty characters and the light-heartedness of Moliere’s writing. The scene where Toinette pretends to be a doctor is excellent: it’s fast-paced, humorous, and clever. I also really liked how smoothly Moliere criticized hypocrisy and religion with the possible biblical allusion (Matthew 5:30) in that scene. Unfortunately, I do feel that much of the beauty and subtle humor of this text may have been lost in the translation, or that some of it is lost as our language evolves and we stop speaking quite so eloquently. Kind of like Shakespeare in the 16th century and other European writers in the 17th century, the occasionally long monologues and convoluted dialogue might be difficult to decipher for the general audience -- which is why acting it out on the stage, not just reading it, is crucial for comprehension.

27. Bibliography - MLA
Cummings, Michael J. "The Imaginary Invalid (Le Malade Imaginaire)." Moliere’s Imaginary Invalid: A Study Guide. N.p., Web. 11 Sept
"The Imaginary Invalid - AUTHOR: MOLIERE." Book Reports. N.p., Web. 11 Sept
Ian C. Mills. "Biography of Moliere - French Dramatist." Biography of Moliere - French Dramatist. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept
"French Neoclassicism." Art History Unstuffed. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept
"Death of Moliere." Death of Moliere. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept
Cummings, Michael J. “Allusions in The Imaginary Invalid.” Moliere’s Imaginary Invalid: a Study Guide, Cummings Study Guides, 2010,
NetNation. “Huguenots.” Netnation.com, Netnation, 2008.

28. Bibliography (links)