MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, The ((Le Manage de Beaumarchais' most pop ular play, possibly the wittiest and politically the most effective of all dramas, was ready for the stage in 1778, three years after the success of The Barber of Seville) (q.v.), to which it was a sequel. But even while in manuscript it became the centre of intensely active and com plicated political intrigue. Louis XVI rightly discerned in it danger to his throne, and it was not publicly presented till 1784, when it achieved a success till then unparalleled, being by strange irony most applauded by the aristo cratic class whose ruin it portended. To Napo leon, after the event, it seemed "the Revolu tion already in action,x' and it certainly con tributed greatly to hasten and provoke by its leveling tendencies the disintegration of the conventions and even the foundations of the old social regime, though this seems the result rather of Beaumarchais delight in his own wit, of mere wantonness, than of a realization whither his work was tending or of any delib erate revolutionary purpose. Figaro in 'The Marriage' is still the light-hearted, versatile, philosophic scapegrace of 'The Barber' ; Al maviva and Rosine are what that play would lead one to expect They would be after some matrimonial disillusion. Of the new characters
Suzanne, on whom Almaviva has set his vagrant fancy and Figaro his heart, is genially conceived, and Chertibin, the page and disquiet ingly precocious gallant, was a daring creation, provoking reprobation and inviting controversy. Figaro is successful in defending his beloved from the wiles of Almaviva, but it has been not unjustly said that if the object of comedy is to make vice ridiculous or odious or contemptible 'The Marriage) can hardly claim to attain it. Universal mockery, supremely vivacious, a wit whose brilliancy puts morality off its guard, mar ethically a drama whose sustained excellence in dialogue had been hardly attained even by Moliere. The best edition of 'Le Mariage de Figaro' is in 'Theatre de Beaumarchias,> edited by d'Heyli and Marescot (Vol. III). For the circumstances of its writ ing, prohibition, reception and contemporary criticism, consult Lomenie, 'Beaumarchais and His Times' (Vols. III and IV), also 'Le Cen tenaire du Mariage de Figaro,' edited by A. Paer (Brussels 1884). The play furnished the text for 'Le Nozze di Figaro,' a popular opera by Mozart (1786).