Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Semester of Degree Completion
1990
Thesis Director
Frank McCormick
Abstract
In the summer of 1705, as Sir John Vanbrugh was casting about for dramatic source material which might play successfully at the new Haymarket theatre, he rediscovered Florent Dancourt's Les Bourgeoises à la Mode and, in the manner of Restoration theatre playwrights, created an adapted version in many respects quite different from the original. This adaptation, known as The Confederacy, is considered by many Vanbrugh scholars to be one of the English author's best works.
This paper is essentially a comparative study of the two plays. It begins with a plot summary of the play Vanbrugh used as the basis of his adaptation, and which he may have seen following his release from the Bastille in 1692. I have included excerpts from Les Bourgeoises à la Mode which illustrate the French author’s characteristic style and indicate the type of material Vanbrugh was adapting for English tastes. Next follows a brief look at Vanbrugh's England, especially aspects of theatre tradition, audiences and culture which would have been most likely to influence Vanbrugh as he reworked Dancourt’s material.
Finally, I offer a comparative analysis of the two plays. Among the major differences distinguishing Vanbrugh's play are: 1) distinctly English prologue and epilogue; 2) extensive restructuring including the addition of three new scenes or scene segments; 3) disregard for or "remodeling" of the French theatre tradition of règles and bienséances (unities of time, place, action, and propriety of language in drama); 4) more individualized (if exaggerated) character portrayal in contrast to relatively stereotypical French characters; 5) greater reliance on stage action and farcical elements; and 6) a coarser, more lively language, closer to the vernacular.
In this section I present the changes Vanbrugh made and illustrate stylistic differences of the two authors. I also trace many distinctions between the plays to divergent French and English linguistic, theatrical and cultural traditions, as well as authorial predilections.
Recommended Citation
Harris, Diane T., ""For Though It Swam in France, It Might Have Sunk in England": A Comparison of John Vanbrugh’s The Confederacy with Its French Source, Les Bourgeoises à la mode" (1990). Masters Theses. 2266.
https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/2266
Included in
Comparative Literature Commons, Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons
