Self-repetitions in Molière’s comedies

The article examines self-repetitions in Molière’s comedies in terms of their thematic focus. The research material were two late comedies by the French playwright — “Les Femmes savantes” (The Learned Ladies, 1672) and “Le Malade imaginaire” (The Imaginary Invalid, 1673), as well as other plays based on Molière’s original version of a love story related to a forced marriage. Analysis of the reuse of images, techniques, and dialog schemes showed that the playwright was constantly transforming them. This helped him to shift the love affair away from the center of the plot and focus it on the character of one of the parent protagonists, whose obsessive manias reflected significant components of French culture of the 17th century — erudition and gallantry. Supporting this new theme with the help of repetitions, Molière gradually moved away from the reduced farcical comedy towards strengthening the satirical treatment of those manifestations of erudition and gallantry that gave rise to ridiculous imitations and turned into their opposite. The results of the study allow us to conclude that self-repetitions, being connected with rhetorical canons and theatrical pragmatics, largely manifested Moliere’s constant reflection concerning the tasks of comedy and contributed to the transformation of the genre towards a greater determination of his images by the manners and mores of the epoch.