How the moliere died. Moliere was born and died on stage. The last days of life and death

Not a single doctor began to help him.

Funny doctor

Moliere's fame began with the role of a funny doctor. Moliere considered only tragedy to be art, although comedy was easier for him. On October 24, 1658, Moliere's troupe had a unique chance to play in front of the king himself. And Jean-Baptiste staked the future of his and his comrades, choosing the tragedy "Nicomedes".

For 2 hours he tormented the audience gathered in the Guards Hall of the Louvre. When there was liquid applause, Moliere realized that now everything was over, and boldly invited the king to watch a little farce. "It seems to be a trifle, but for some reason the province laughed a lot." And the king signaled to play.

This is how Mikhail Bulgakov described this scene in his biography of Moliere:

“... swimming in sweat, behind a closed curtain, in a few minutes the workers and actors reequipped the stage and put on the farce The Doctor in Love, composed by Monsieur Moliere himself during his sleepless nights in wanderings. The solemn and proud heroes of Corneille's tragedy left the stage, and they were replaced by Gorjibus, Gros-René, Sganarelle and other characters of the farce. As soon as the enamored doctor ran out onto the stage, in whom, with great difficulty, it was only possible to recognize the recent Nicomedes, the audience smiled. At his first grimace, they laughed. After the first remark, they began to laugh. A few minutes later - the laughter turned into a roar. And one could see how the haughty man in the chair [the king] fell back on his back and began, sobbing, wiping away his tears ...

The eyes of the enamored doctor suddenly brightened. He realized that he was hearing something familiar. Making the usual pauses before remarks in order to let the waves of laughter pass, he realized that he was hearing the famous, inexpressible, telling about the complete success of the comedy collapse in the hall, which in Moliere's troupe was called “bru-ha-ha!”. Then the great comic actor felt a sweet chill in the back of his head. He thought: "Victory!" - and added some tricks. "

Moliere as Argan in the final scene of the play "The Imaginary Sick" (sitting on an armchair in the middle).
He is surrounded by doctors singing the glory of medicine, an enema bearer is coming up from behind.
The armchair in which Moliere sat at the last performance of The Imaginary Sick stands under glass at the Comédie Française.

Prints published in Paris at the end of the 17th century. From the fund National Library France.

From the king's pet to depression

The king liked The Doctor in Love so much that Moliere's itinerant troupe was allowed to stay in Paris and perform at the Palais Petit Bourbon. To be successful in the capital, you need an original repertoire. Moliere found himself on a monstrous assembly line. It was necessary to write, stage and perform two plays a year. The performances were held every other day, and in the summer every day. There were no days off and vacations. Molière was often ill from overwork, but this is still half the trouble: although each new play I liked it even more, and the offended multiplied - those who recognized themselves in comic characters. "Ridiculous prudes" were banned for 2 weeks, "Tartuffe" for mockery of a priest - for 5 years. The author himself removed the beloved play "Don Juan" from the repertoire: the offended nobles could well have stabbed the writer. He became depressed and went to bed.

Since Moliere had money, they invited the most eminent doctors, and several at once. They found themselves in a delicate position - it is difficult to deal with psychosomatic diseases with a large team. And the patient-playwright observed conflict situations with professional interest, and sometimes deliberately created them.

How Moliere was diagnosed

When four doctors examined the dying Cardinal Mazarin in 1661, they made 4 different diagnoses. The same thing happened in the case of Moliere in 1665. Yes, doctors are still arguing what he had - pulmonary tuberculosis, pneumonia or purulent pleurisy. The then choice of diagnostic tools is very modest - pulse and urinalysis. Tubes and phonendoscopes had not yet been invented, they had not yet thought of tapping, a thermometer was known only in Italy, and Robert Boyle had not yet come up with the idea of ​​a blood test.

In therapy, two irreconcilable schools fought - the Galenian and the chemical doctors. The first prescribed extracts from plants and animal organs. The latter preferred mineral salts and mercury. Each school demanded that the patient strictly follow its own rules. Having looked at this bickering, Moliere understood who to write comedies about. After all, the Parisians loved him because he always bites someone. A person likes it when his neighbor is ridiculed. Doctors were a convenient target, less dangerous than other classes. This is how the play "Healer Love" appeared. There are as many as 5 doctors working in it, who insist that it is better for the patient to die, observing the appointment, than to recover against the rules.

Imaginary sick

The playwright took his soul away, the audience shared his feelings, and as a result, Moliere's troupe was named Royal. But the king's grace is not eternal. In those days, high-ranking spectators were not sitting in the first row, but right on the stage - in special chairs. And they were often eager to play to arouse admiration, like Moliere. The king could not boast of an acting talent, but he danced well. He fell in love with ballets and himself performed some parts - either Neptune or Apollo.

By 1672, Moliere felt that Louis XIV was losing interest in comedy. I needed a percussion musical, with songs and dances. Once again, a proven medical theme came into play. Only now there were not just five funny doctors, but a whole crowd: in the play "The Imaginary Patient", 8 klystyrene bearers, 6 pharmacists, 22 doctors, 8 surgeons were dancing on the stage, and two more surgeons were singing.

Evolution of the image of a doctor in Moliere's plays, from left to right:

1) Doctor in love from the farce of the same name. One of the characters in the Italian commedia dell'arte: a wealthy bore who graduated from the Faculty of Law or Medicine in Bologna / Padua. His mask comes from the plague "beaks" of medieval doctors.
Colored lithograph by Maurice Sand, 1860.
2) Three doctors are trying in vain to diagnose Lucinda in the play "Healer Love", and the pharmacist is already at the ready with an enema syringe.
Engraving by Hubert Schoute, circa 1760.
3) A doctor and a pharmacist with an enema syringe at Argan's bedside in the play "The Imaginary Patient". Painter Honore Daumier, 1857.

Last role

The author himself spoke at starring Argan, to whom all the time it seems that he is sick with something. He trusts doctors too much and is going to forcibly marry his daughter to the son of one of them, so that there is a doctor in the family. But on the advice of smart people, Argan pretends to be dead in order to check the feelings of others, and learns a lot of interesting things.

The king did not want to see the medical ballet, he was more interested in the war with Holland. "The Imaginary Sick" was shown not in the palace, but in the theater "Palais Royal", but with a full house. At the end of the fourth performance, Moliere felt sharp pain in heart. He groaned loudly and collapsed into a chair. The audience considered that this was a new trick - after all, Argan was only pretending - and they laughed even louder.

Moliere played to the end with the last of his strength. After sitting in the dressing room, he asked the assistant, who was watching the performance from the audience, how the audience laughed, was it “bru-ha-ha”. It worried him as the cough ripped open his lungs and his mouth filled with blood. They sent for doctors - they did not come. There were some medicines at home that had been prescribed earlier, but Moliere was afraid of everything that needed to be taken and asked for a piece of Parmesan instead. Those were his last words.

Mikhail Shifrin

Jean-Baptiste was born on January 15, 1622 in Paris, in a respected bourgeois family, in which all men worked as upholsterers for many generations.

The boy's mother died when he was barely 10 years old, and the father sent his son to a prestigious college, where Jean-Baptiste diligently studied Latin. classic literature, philosophy and natural sciences.

Having passed the exam with dignity, young Poquelin received a teaching diploma with the right to lecture. By that time, his father had already prepared a place for an upholsterer in the royal palace, but Jean-Baptiste was not destined to become either a teacher or a upholsterer - fate prepared for him a much more interesting fate.

The beginning of the creative path

Taking advantage of his share of the maternal inheritance, Jean-Baptiste began to completely new life... He was attracted by the theatrical stage and the opportunity to play tragic roles.

At the age of 21, Jean-Baptiste, who by that time had already chosen his stage name - Moliere, headed a small theater called "Brilliant". The troupe consisted of only 10 people, the theater's repertoire was rather meager and uninteresting, and he simply could not compete with strong Parisian troupes.

The actors had no choice but to perform in the provinces. After spending 13 years in wanderings, Jean-Baptiste did not change his desire to serve the theater. Moreover, he managed to write many plays, which significantly diversified the troupe's repertoire. Among his early works"Jealousy of Barboulya", "Flying Healer", "Three Doctors" and others.

Working in the provinces not only revealed the talent of a screenwriter in Moliere, but also forced him to radically change his acting role. Seeing the great interest of the public in comedies and farces, Jean-Baptiste decided to retrain from a tragedian to a comedian.

Paris period

Thanks to Molière's comedy plays, the troupe quickly achieved fame and recognition, and in 1658, at the invitation of the king's brother, found itself in Paris. The actors had an unprecedented honor - to perform at the Louvre in the presence of Louis XIV himself.

The comedy "Doctor in Love" caused an incredible sensation among the Parisian aristocracy, predetermining the fate of the comedians. The king gave them the full disposal of the court theater, on the stage of which they performed for three years, and then moved on to the Palais Royal theater.

Having settled in Paris, Moliere set to work with a vengeance. His passion for drama sounded like an obsession at times, but it paid off. Over the course of 15 years, he wrote his best plays: "Ridiculous Cutie", "Tartuffe, or the Deceiver", "The Misanthrope", "Don Juan, or the Stone Guest".

Personal life

Moliere tied the knot at the age of 40. His chosen one was Armanda Bejart, who was half her husband's age. The wedding ceremony took place in 1662, and only the closest relatives of the newlyweds attended.

Armanda gave her husband three children, but their marriage was not happy: there was a big difference in age, habits, characters.

Death

On the stage where Jean-Baptiste played in the play "The Imaginary Sick", he suddenly felt bad. Relatives managed to bring him home, where he died a couple of hours later, on February 17, 1673.

• Moliere's works, distinguished by their great relaxedness and free-thinking, caused great irritation among the representatives of the Church. short biography Moliere is unable to accommodate the attacks and threats that he was forced to endure from the clergy. However, the brave playwright was under the tacit protection of Louis, and his literary audacity always got away with him.
• The godfather of Moliere's firstborn was King Louis XIV himself.
• One of the playwright's most cheerful and funny comedies - "The Imaginary Sick" - was written by him before his death, during a serious illness.
• The archbishop of Paris categorically refused to bury Jean-Baptiste, since he had been known as a sinner all his life and did not have time to repent before his death. And only the intervention of the king influenced the outcome of the case: Moliere was buried at night outside the fence of the cemetery of St. Peter, like a robber or a suicide.

Moliere's biography ( real surname Poquelin) is shrouded in many legends and secrets. The most daring of these is the assumption that he was not the author of his plays. But many writers, from Shakespeare to Sholokhov, were accused of this sin. And serious literary criticism has long turned a blind eye to such unfounded statements. But it is known for certain that the plays of the playwright influenced the development of theatrical art throughout Europe, including Russia. Therefore, we will not denigrate the name of the great master and doubt his talent.

J. B. Moliere: biography. Origins and early years

The playwright was born on January 13, 1622 into an ancient bourgeois Parisian family, which for centuries was famous for its artisans-draperies. Jean Baptiste's father served as valet and upholsterer at the court of Louis XIII. The place was very profitable, so the family did not live in poverty.

Little Moliere was educated in a Jesuit school called Clermont College. This institution was extremely popular in those years. Here Jean Baptiste perfectly mastered Latin and studied quite well in other disciplines.

In 1639, the young man graduated from college and passed the Orleans examination for the title of licentiate in law. However, he had no desire to make a legal career, as well as to continue the family business. Then Jean Baptiste decided to try himself as an actor. In this field, luck smiled at him, and in 1643 he already headed the "Brilliant Theater". At the same time, he adopted the pseudonym Moliere. But soon the troupe broke up, and the actor decided to try his luck with itinerant comedians.

First plays

Moliere's biography during the years of wandering around the country (1645-1658) was filled with adversity and dangers, since at that time there was Civil War... From 1650 Jean Baptiste became the head of the troupe with which he traveled. The actor quickly realized that his theater needed new plays, and this prompted him to take up the pen. He began to write farcical plays, which practically did not reach us. However, many of the tendencies of similar classic comedies continued in Moliere's mature works.

The popularity of the playwright began to grow with these small works. Two comedies brought him wide popularity in the capital: "Annoyance for Love" and "Shaly". The main emphasis in them was placed on intrigue and comic provisions, and the characters themselves were practically not developed by the author.

King's attention

On October 24, 1658, Molière made his debut on the stage of the Louvre in the presence of Louis XIV. A brief biography was not complete without a description of this fateful event. The playwright presented to the monarch the farce "The Beloved Doctor", the text of which, unfortunately, has not survived. The play was an extraordinary success and in many ways predetermined the fate of the author and his troupe - Louis allowed the actors to perform at the Petit Bourbon court theater. Here Molière worked until 1661, until he went to the Teatro Paul-Royal, to which he remained faithful until the end of his days.

After the incredible Parisian success, Moliere begins to work hard and hard. The passion for writing did not leave him until his death. For almost 15 years, he staged his new plays, which evoked public admiration and criticism from colleagues and ill-wishers. But envious attacks could not extinguish the fame of the playwright.

Parisian stage of creativity

Moliere's biography of this period focuses on his theatrical activities. Opens new stage creativity comedy "Ridiculous Cutie", which is considered the first original work of the writer. In this play, the author makes an attack on the mannerism and pretentiousness of speech, which was popular in aristocratic society. The comedy was an incredible success, but it seriously hurt the mincers. The playwright immediately found enemies who secured a two-week ban on showing the play. This only increased the interest in the work. After the ban was lifted, the number of people wishing to see the comedy tripled.

Moliere, whose biography is presented in this article, as we can see, has not yet moved away from farce techniques, which gives his plays areal brightness and richness. However, this also made his works popular among the common people.

Educational comedy

However, Moliere was not a simple entertainer of the crowd for long. The biography of the writer says that in 1661 he abruptly changed the direction of his works. Now Jean Baptiste began to write socio-psychological comedies of education. He raises questions of marriage, love, the problem of relations with a woman. Now all his attention is focused on the character of the characters, they lose their monosyllables and become psychological. Moliere (a short biography confirms this) takes a huge step from the primitive schematism of farce to a play of a new level. Examples of such comedies are "School of Women", "School of Husbands", "Impromptu Versailles".

Family life

The writer made the decision to marry in 1622. Jean Baptiste Moliere (a biography that has come down to us has retained little information about his personal life) chose Amanda Bejart as his wife. This girl was the sister of the comedian Madeleine, whom the playwright met at the beginning of his career. It was the husband of this woman who helped him become the head of the theater.

The age difference between the spouses was 20 years. That is, Moliere was forty at the time of the marriage, and his beloved was only twenty. The celebration was not given much publicity, and only relatives and closest friends attended the wedding. The girl's parents were generally against this marriage and until the last tried to dissuade their daughter. Soon after her marriage, Amanda ended all relations with them.

In the marriage, Moliere had three children. However, there is a lot of evidence that both spouses were unhappy in this union. There was too much difference between them. And here not only age affected, but also interests. Moliere literally "breathed" theater, while Amanda could not fully share his passions.

Comedy-ballet

Moliere's biography is the story of an actor and writer, for whom there was nothing more important in life than a profession. Not surprisingly, his fame grew. It was also important that he was increasingly invited to the court for holidays and celebrations. It was for such cases that Moliere created a unique genre - comedy-ballet.

Ballet was a court art form, and even members of the royal family took part in such performances, but for a long time it did not change. Therefore, the idea to slightly transform the usual action had dizzying success... Moliere subordinated the dance sketches to the plot, framing them with small satirical verses. These plays include:

• "Obnoxious";
• "Involuntary Marriage";
• "Princess of Elis";
• "Imaginary Sick";
• "Comic Pastoral";
• "Psyche", etc.

At the same time, the playwright was not afraid to choose the top of aristocratic society, including the clergy, as the object of his satire.

The last stage of creativity

With age, Jean Baptiste Moliere begins to turn to more and more serious topics. A short biography is impossible without mentioning the play "The Misanthrope". The comedy turned out to be too serious for viewers looking only for entertainment, so it was not successful. To save the day, the writer combined this work with the farce "The Reluctant Healer". Surprisingly, the more complex and serious Moliere's comedies became, the more often he had to return to the original simplicity in order to attract the audience. Socio-psychological plays were too difficult for the common people who usually attended the theater.

For such a return to buffoonery, Jean Baptiste Moliere (his biography confirms this for certain) was ridiculed by contemporary critics, including Boileau, who believed that it was impossible to indulge the crowd to the detriment of art. Nevertheless, it was these "low" comedies that were later highly appreciated by literary critics and became classics of the genre.

Originality

Jean Moliere's biography speaks of him as amazing person, who never considered theater to be mere plebs' fun. Therefore, he wrote both serious social plays and farces with equal passion. This speaks of him as one of the most advanced representatives of his era, who saw the meaning of life in one thing - to know reality as much as possible in order to strengthen the domination of man on earth. Moliere was a classical materialist. He did not recognize God, but believed that in the world there is a kind of consciousness of material reality, which forms the human outlook and is a source of goodness and truth for people. Those who thought otherwise, he mercilessly ridiculed in his plays. All these pedants, literary scholars, mincents, charlatan doctors, saints look at the world too subjectively and believe that they have cognized it. This is their comic character.

Artistic method

J. Moliere possessed his own unique artistic method. The biography of the writer convinces us that even a person of low birth and work (actors at that time were belittled in high society) can leave their mark on history and change the world if he is endowed with talent and perseverance.

Our article is coming to an end, but in the end I would like to list specific traits artistic method writer:

• Schematization of images, especially in early plays. This trait was inherited by Moliere from the comedy Dell'arte. However, in his later works, he increasingly pays attention to the psychological component of his characters.
• A clear line between negative and goodies, the constant opposition of vices and virtues.
• The conflict of his plays was based on the clash of active external forces with passive internal ones, that is, circumstances with the moral principles of the heroes.
• The high dynamism of comedy manifests itself only externally, the characters remain unchanged and are not able to evolve.

Death of an actor

Moliere's biography ( summary can't help but remember) ends on February 17, 1673. It was on this day that the great comedian died. Shortly before his death, already ill, Jean Baptiste wrote the comedy "The Imaginary Sick". And so, when the play was staged for the fourth time, and Moliere played one of the main roles, the playwright felt bad, and he could not finish the performance.

Relatives took the patient home, where he died a few hours later. The archbishop of Paris at first completely forbade the burial of Moliere, since the actor was a great sinner and had to repent before his death. Only the intervention of the king made it possible to correct the situation. And then the great writer was buried at night behind the fence of the cemetery, as only suicides were buried. This is how Jean Baptiste Moliere ended his life. A short biography of the writer must necessarily contain this moment of his life history.

IN THE DEATH OF MOLIER

“On this day, after the performance, at ten o'clock in the evening, Monsieur de Moliere died at his home on the Rue Richelieu; playing his role in the aforementioned comedy about the Imaginary Sick, he felt ill due to a cold and fever, which caused him such a strong cough that, trying to cough up with great difficulty, he tore his chest vein, after which he lived no more than half or three quarters of an hour. His body was buried in the cemetery of St. Joseph, which is adjacent to the parish of St. Eustachius. The grave mound rises one foot above the ground. "

Lagrange writes out these lines with his diligent pen, and in the margins, as usual, draws a large black rhombus and paints it with ink to make it even more noticeable: this is a sign of mourning. How sensitive and bitter this loss will be for the troupe! The actors of the Palais-Royal are losing not just a leader, but their best friend, an unselfish protector.

The Baron considers it good to hurry to Saint-Germain to Louis XIV and inform him of the death of Moliere. His Majesty seems to be agitated and deigns not to hide it. Of course, Moliere was "a decent man with feelings that are rarely found among people of his origin", not to mention the "unchanging loyalty that he had for the person of the king: he always tried to please His Majesty."

However, this is where the conversation ends, and the church authorities, notified by Armanda, make it clear that they will not allow the comedian to be buried according to the rite. The refusal is dishonorable - after all, according to the then Trebnik (from 1654), only “those who are blasphemed, desecrated and dishonored in public, what are the excommunicated, harlots, fornicators, comedians, covetous people, sorcerers”, as well as “pagans , Jews and all heretics ... inveterate sinners who died without repentance. "

The author of Tartuffe is denied on the pretext that he died without repentance. But it is known that two priests did not want to go to the Rue de Richelieu, and the third came too late; that Molière died with Christian feelings, and not as an atheist - the Franciscan nuns can testify to this. Of course, it is impossible to prove that the priests received a direct order to do this. But it is obvious that the holy party did not lay down its arms. Was it not her handiwork - the appearance of a libel even more disgusting than "Elomir the hypochondriac"? This libel is called "Burlesque Hell", and Moliere is bred in it under the name of Belphegor - an ominous pagan deity. The indignation of Parisians knows no limits. "Libertine" Chapelle, beside himself with grief, writes a furious epigram:

“In Paris, everyone crawls out of their skin:

“The ravine is good for comedians.

What? Are they in the cemetery? God save us!

It's not good to bury comedians! "

But then - think and understand -

Should be left in a landfill too

The saints who break the comedy ”.

Whatever reproaches Armanda deserved as a wife, no matter how unworthy she was to belong to a great man, justice must be given to her: she became an exemplary widow. She bravely takes up her pen and composes a petition to the Archbishop of Paris (since 1671, this is François de Arles de Chanvalon, known for his love affairs). Aubrey, husband of Genevieve Bejart, son-in-law of Armanda, affixes the petition with his signature:

"To the Most Reverend and Most Reverend Monsignor Archbishop of Paris

Humbly prays Elizabeth-Clara-Grezinda Bejart, widow of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin de Moliere, during the lifetime of the king's valet and upholsterer and one of the actors of the royal troupe, and in her absence, her son-in-law, Jean Aubrison, notifying that last Friday, the seventeenth of this February one thousand six hundred and seventy-three, at nine o'clock in the evening, the aforementioned late sier de Moliere, who fell ill with an illness from which he died an hour later, wished to confess his sins and die as befits a good Christian; for which he urgently asked to bring the priest, that he would perform all the sacraments over him, and then repeatedly sent a lackey and a servant to his parish church of St. sier Jean Aubry himself to go after the priest and raise the priest of Pézan, also the priest of the above parish, to his feet; and since all these walks took more than an hour and a half, during this time the late sier de Moliere died, and the aforementioned sier Pezan came when he had already expired; and since the aforementioned sière de Moliere passed away without receiving absolution, shortly after presenting the comedy, the mister curé of the Church of St. Eustachius refused to grant him burial, which prompted the petitioner to present you with a real petition to be allowed to do so.

In view of the above, monsignor, and in view of the fact that the deceased before his death called the priest to confess, and that he died with good Christian feelings, as witnessed by two ladies of the monastic rank living in the same house, a nobleman named B. Couton, in whose arms he died, and many other persons, and that Monsieur Bernard, priest of the Church of St. Eustachius, allowed him to take communion last Easter, may it please you to show special mercy to the petitioner so that her late husband may be buried and buried in the cemetery the aforementioned church of St. Eustachius, with all appropriate and established rituals, and the aforementioned petitioner will eternally offer prayers to the Lord for your welfare. "

The Archbishop, having received this petition, on February 20 hands it over to his official, Abbot de Benjamin, to check the circumstances outlined by Mademoiselle Moliere. Armanda has every reason not to pin special hopes on the archbishop's decision. She asks for the direct intervention of the king during the audience that His Majesty deigns to give her. There are several stories about this audience. Armanda allegedly declared: "If my husband was a criminal, Your Majesty at least allowed him these crimes."

A phrase like this is absolutely incredible. Armanda is smart enough to understand that if she allowed herself to say such words, she would irreparably lose the king's favor. On the contrary, it is natural to think that, as an actress, she rather fell into pathos, pressed sensitive strings.

Another anecdote, just as implausible. Louis XIV allegedly summoned the abbot of the Church of St. Eustachius and ordered him to bury Moliere according to the rite. The priest refused: you cannot bury an unrepentant comedian in consecrated ground. Then the king asked:

To what depth is the earth consecrated?

Four feet deep, sire.

Well, bury him six feet deep and be done with it.

There is no need to prove that this conversation was conveyed inaccurately, and most likely did not take place at all. We have talked enough about the king's respect for religion, about his caution in such things.

Louis XIV understands perfectly well that this last episode in the struggle for Tartuffe, in which he is undoubtedly involved to some extent. And above all, he does not want the funeral of an actor, even a great one, to disturb the order and cause different rumors. And so many nobles - for example, Marshal de Vivon - are worried, asking what the matter is. The king orders the archbishop of Paris to end the scandal. Monsignor de Chanvalon reluctantly signs the permit and accompanies it with petty, malicious reservations:

“... We allow the rector of the Church of St. Eustachius to bury the body of the late Moliere according to the church rite in the parish cemetery, however, with the proviso that this should be done in the most humble manner, with the participation of no more than two priests and not during daylight hours; and that no solemn funeral service be performed on him, neither in the above-mentioned parish of St. Eustachius, nor in any other place ... ".

Chapter 21. May Thunder Strike Moliere! He immersed himself in the study of Spanish legends. Quarreling with his wife, grumbling and coughing, he sat in his study over the folios and smeared the paper. The image of the charming seducer, Don Juan Tenorio, weaved before him during the night vigils and beckoned him.