Le Mariage de Figaro by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Be...

This trip gave him the opportunity to observe Spanish life and culture, including the wastefulness of the nobility and the abuses of the government. He became wealthy through business associations and purchased the title of Secretary of the King, which made him a member of the French nobility.īeaumarchais traveled to Spain in 1764, after his sister’s fiancé refused to marry her, where he revealed the fiancé’s treachery. Upon marrying a widow, he became Clerk Controller and also inherited the property of Beaumarchais, from where he took his name. Two years later, he was appointed watchmaker to the royal court of Louis XV. In 1753, working as an apprentice to his watchmaker father, Beaumarchais devised a mechanism that was recognized by the Academy of Sciences. AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYīeaumarchais was born in Paris, France, on January 24, 1732. As such, Beaumarchais presages the tumultuous events of 1789, the year that brought the French Revolution and the downfall of France’s established class system. The triumph of Figaro, valet to a nobleman, signifies the victory of ability over birthright. It is a play in which the aristocracy face their impending decline. However, the play also holds an important place in the development of French theatre. The Marriage of Figaro deserves praise for its important social messages, its subtle wit, comic mastery, and vivacious dialogue many scholars believe that this play is Beaumarchais’s masterpiece. The aristocracy who made up the play’s appreciative audience understood its subversive nature, yet continued to attend showings in record numbers. In its questioning of France’s longstanding social class system, which stood as the very basis of France’s governing body, it was also revolutionary. The comedy was scandalous in its depiction of a pleasure-seeking, incompetent nobleman who is upstaged by his crafty, quick-witted servant in their quest for the same woman. The official French censors, as well as King Louis XVI, opposed the play. Beaumarchais faced many obstacles in producing his comedy.

Completed in 1780, the play would not be acted on the French stage until 1784.

Like its author, Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, The Marriage of Figaro had a long, illustrious history.

Le Mariage de Figaro by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Be...