Psyche

by Molière, Philippe Quinault (Contributor), Pierre Corneille (Contributor)

Psyche is a tragedy-ballet in five acts and in verse, written by Molière, Pierre Corneille and Philippe Quinault.

The subject is taken from Apuleius’s Metamorphoses. The story of Psyche and Cupid is told by an old woman to a young girl who has been kidnapped by brigands. Apuleius's version was far too bold and too charged sexually for the 17th century stage, and the story had been adapted to the morals of the time on several occasions.

Molière did not versify the entire play. The plot is his; he versified the prologue, the first act and the first scene of acts two and three. Pierre Corneille versified the rest of the play. Philippe Quinault wrote all of the poetry that was set to music.


The book has no illustrations or index. Subjects: Drama / General; Drama / Continental European;

Genres: Plays, Classics

46 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1671

About the author

Sophisticated comedies of French playwright Molière, pen name of Jean Baptiste Poquelin, include Tartuffe (1664), The Misanthrope (1666), and The Bourgeois Gentleman (1670).

French literary figures, including Molière and Jean de la Fontaine, gathered at Auteuil, a favorite place.

People know and consider Molière, stage of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, also an actor of the greatest masters in western literature. People best know l'Ecole des femmes (The School for Wives), l'Avare ou l'École du mensonge (The Miser), and le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid) among dramas of Molière.

From a prosperous family, Molière studied at the Jesuit Clermont college (now lycée Louis-le-Grand) and well suited to begin a life in the theater. While 13 years as an itinerant actor helped to polish his abilities, he also began to combine the more refined elements with ccommedia dell'arte.

Through the patronage of the brother of Louis XIV and a few aristocrats, Molière procured a command performance before the king at the Louvre. Molière performed a classic of [authore:Pierre Corneille] and le Docteur amoureux (The Doctor in Love), a farce of his own; people granted him the use of Salle du Petit-Bourbon, a spacious room, appointed for theater at the Louvre. Later, people granted the use of the Palais-Royal to Molière. In both locations, he found success among the Parisians with les Précieuses ridicules (The Affected Ladies), l'École des maris</i> (<i>The School for Husbands</i>), and <i>[book:l'École des femmes (The School for Wives). This royal favor brought a pension and the title "Troupe du Roi" (the troupe of the king). Molière continued as the official author of court entertainments.

Molière received the adulation of the court and Parisians, but from moralists and the Church, his satires attracted criticisms. From the Church, his attack on religious hypocrisy roundly received condemnations, while people banned performance of Don Juan . From the stage, hard work of Molière in so many theatrical capacities began to take its toll on his health and forced him to take a break before 1667.

From pulmonary tuberculosis, Molière suffered. In 1673 during his final production of le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid), a coughing fit and a haemorrhage seized him as Argan, the hypochondriac. He finished the performance but collapsed again quickly and died a few hours later. In time in Paris, Molière completely reformed.

Reviews

[AllisonWonder · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Si quelquefois,
Suivant nos douces Lois,
La raison se perd et s'oublie,
Ce que le Vin nous cause de folie
Commence et finit en un jour ;
Mais quand un coeur est enivré d'Amour,
Souvent c'est pour toute la vie."

(v. 2078-2084)

[Blog_Océane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Molière fait partie de mes dramaturges préférés, il est même le premier et il fait partie de ceux que j'affectionne particulièrement surtout que c'est lui qui m'a donné le goût de la lecture. J'ai découvert récemment cette comédie-ballet en collaboration avec Corneille. J'étais intéressée à la fois pour mon mémoire mais aussi parce qu'il s'agit d'une pièce que je n'ai encore lu de Molière.
Cette pièce est une réécriture du mythe de Amour et Psyché dans L'Ane d'or ou Les Métamorphoses d'Apulée. C'est pourquoi je ne suis guère surprise de l'intrigue, tout me semblait prévisible car j'étudie ce mythe depuis 1 an. J'apprécie en tout cas le fait que Molière soit resté le plus fidèle au mythe tout en accentuant sur certains aspects notamment la présence des sœurs jalouses et ingrates et la présence d'amants pour montrer l'amour. Effectivement, le théâtre est aussi fait pour montrer l'exemple à suivre, ce qu'il faut faire et ne pas faire. Cela se constate à travers l'opposition entre Psyché et ses sœurs. Outre cela, j'ai apprécié l'humanité de Vénus car elle ne semble plus la déesse de la beauté et de l'amour mais une femme jalouse. Va-t-elle céder à sa fureur ou se contrôler ? C'est une bonne question qui traîne tout le long de la pièce. Certes, nous n'avons pas toutes les scènes mémorables à cause de la dramaturgie classique avec ses règles de bienséance et les contraintes du théâtre mais le résultat est intéressant.
Au niveau de l'écriture, je n'ai rien à dire mais je trouve la collaboration entre Molière et Corneille juste géniale. L'un a rédigé le prologue, l'acte I et la première scène de l'acte II tandis que l'autre a fait le reste (c'était une question de temps).
Enfin, les protagonistes sont géniaux. Ils sont fidèles à ceux dans la version d'Apulée. J'adore, j'adhère !

Pour conclure, c'est une belle pépite qui mérite d'être plus connue en littérature classique.

[Isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short play about the myth about Psyche falling in love with Eros, Aphrodite's son. It reminded me of Beauty and the Beast (I know the myth was created before Beauty and the Beast) but with a lot more red flags. If a person tells you that they are so jealous of anyone or anything that comes in contact with you and that you can not hang out with anyone but them, run away. That is a toxic relationship and I don't like it when authors romanticize that. I found this was even more jarring since right before the jealousy bit, Eros was talking about how he wanted Psyche to love him for his personality and not his looks or powers, which I thought was very sweet.

Though while what I mentioned before is part of the original myth, the real gem of the play is the sister's dialogue. During the first act, the sisters are shit-talking Psyche and it is hysterical. At the end of the conversation, they agree that Psyche is most likely a slut and they should be more slutty. Then right after agreeing to flirt with some guys and they both get rejected by some guys so badly that the guys basically said that they rather die. Also, the sisters are so fake and obviously two-faced that they are my favorite part of the entire play.

[T.J. Burns]

Audio Book:
https://librivox.org/psyche-by-moliere/

Cast list:
Jupiter: alanmapstone
Venus: Eva Davis
Love; Cupid in Prologue: Tomas Peter
Zephyr: alanmapstone
Aegiale, a Grace: Crln Yldz Ksr
Phaëne, a Grace: Sandra Schmit
The King: alanmapstone
Psyche: Leanne Yau
Aglaura: TJ Burns
Cidippe: Sonia
Cleomenes, a prince, Psyche's lover: MajorToast
Agenor, a prince, Psyche's lover: Rob Marland
Lycas, captain of the guards: Zames Curran
River God: alanmapstone
Cupid: Eva Davis
Flora: Foon
Nymph, chorus of divinities: Availle
Palemon, god of streams: alanmapstone
Vertumnus, god of trees and fruit: Nemo
Vulcan: Nemo
First Man: Nemo
Second Man: Stefan Von Blon
Woman: April6090
Stage Directions and Editing: ToddHW

[Matt Stucky · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting change to an Ancient story. I'll have to read the Golden Asse by Apuleius to see how they compare. The 18th century poets/writers seemed to have a bit of a different take on the Roman/Greek Gods, so I'm curious as to how this has been changed.

[Emma Bradford · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning had me laughing with its serpent/genitalia & death/sex innuendoes, but things got pretty boring after that. Unsurprisingly, the first half of the play that Molière write is greatly superior to the end

[Lily McKeefry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally read the context for “A Collaboration (Molière and Corneille)” 1873 🙌🤩

[Marti Martinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Pretty dramatic for Moliere, but he did have Corneille's help in writing this play. More dancing and music than in his strictly comical/satirical plays.....which is good, because the long speeches DO get a bit tedious. This must have been an amazing spectacle when staged. I just hope they used an androgynous actor for Love (Eros). That would have been hot.

[Katerina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well nothing spacial to say about this play of Moliere. Semms like a fast improvisation for Louis XIV with a lot of dansers and fanfars. You can almost feel the presence of this old-stype pompous speaking ...

Interesting to read to feel that. Did not find a lot of interesting things to say.