Literature Network » Jean Baptiste Poquelin Moliere » The Middle Class Gentleman » Scene XVI

Scene XVI

(Monsieur Jourdain, Dorimène, Dorante, Lackey)

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN
(After having made two bows, finding himself too near Dorimène) A little farther, Madame.

DORIMÈNE
What?

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN
One step, if you please.

DORIMÈNE
What is it?

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN
Step back a little for the third.

DORANTE
Madame, Monsieur Jourdain is very knowledgeable.

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN
Madame, it is a very great honor to me to be fortunate enough to be so happy as to have the joy that you should have had the goodness to accord me the graciousness of doing me the honor of honoring me with the favor of your presence; and, if I also had the merit to merit a merit such as yours, and if Heaven . . . envious of my luck . . . should have accorded me . . . the advantage of seeing me worthy . . . of the . . .

DORANTE
Monsieur Jourdain, that is enough. Madame doesn't like grand compliments, and she knows that you are a man of wit. (Aside to Dorimène) As you can see, this good bourgeois is ridiculous enough in all his manners.

DORIMÈNE
It isn't difficult to see it.

DORANTE
Madame, he is the best of my friends.

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN
You do me too much honor.

DORANTE
A completely gallant man.

DORIMÈNE
I have great esteem for him.

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN
I have done nothing yet, Madame, to merit this favor.

DORANTE
(Aside to Monsieur Jourdain) Take care, nonetheless, to say absolutely nothing to her about the diamond that you gave her.

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN
Can't I even ask her how she likes it?

DORANTE
What? Take care that you don't. That would be loutish of you; and, to act as a gallant man, you must act as though it were not you who made her this present. (Aloud) Monsieur Jourdain, Madame, says he is delighted to see you in his home.

DORIMÈNE
He honors me greatly.

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN
How obliged I am to you, sir, for speaking thus to her for me!

DORANTE
I have had frightful trouble getting her to come here.

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN
I don't know how to thank you enough.

DORANTE
He says, Madame, that he finds you the most beautiful woman in the world.

DORIMÈNE
He does me a great favor.

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN
Madame, it is you who does the favors, and . . .

DORANTE
Let's consider eating.

LACKEY
Everything is ready, sir.

DORANTE
Come then let us sit at the table. And bring on the musicians. (Six cooks, who have prepared the feast, dance together and make the third interlude; after which, they carry in a table covered with many dishes.)

Literature Network » Jean Baptiste Poquelin Moliere » The Middle Class Gentleman » Scene XVI