Amphitryon (Molière)

Data
Title:	Amphitryon
Original title:	Amphitryon
Genus:	comedy
Original language:	French
Author:	Molière
Literary source:	Amphitruo
Publishing year:	1668
Premiere:	1668
Place of premiere:	Palais Royal in Paris
people
Jupiter Mercury Amphitryon ; General of the Thebans Sosias ; Servant of Amphitryon Alkmene ; Wife of Amphitryon Cléanthis ; Wife of Sosias, servant of Alcmene Four Theban generals : Argantiphontidas, Naukrates, Polidas, Pausikles The night appears only in the prologue

Amphitryon is a three- act comedy by the French poet Molière . It is largely an adaptation of the Amphitruo von Plautus . The play served Heinrich von Kleist as the basis for his tragic comedy of the same name .

The premiere took place on January 13, 1668 in the Palais Royal in Paris , a "première royale" on the following January 16 in the Théâtre des Tuileries . The play became a great success and, with Molière in the role of Sosias, was played 29 times by Easter of the same year. It is believed that the poet wanted to criticize the love adventures of the "Sun King" Louis XIV with this piece .

action

The piece begins with a prologue as a dialogue between Mercury and the night. Alcmène ( Alkmene ) awaits the return of her husband Amphitryon from the war against the Athenians. Instead, however, Jupiter appears to her in the form of her husband and the two spend a night of love together. When the real Amphitryon returns to Thebes the next morning and Alkmene tells him about the night they supposedly lived through together, he feels betrayed by his wife. Jupiter appears to Alkmene again in the form of her husband, but does not want to be loved by her as a husband, but as a lover, to which she reacts blankly and shocked. As a mirror image of this, there is a level of servants on which Mercury assumes the form of Sosias, but in contrast to Jupiter fails to seduce his wife Cléanthis. The argumentative Cléanthis does not appear in the play by Plautus and is an invention of Molière.

When the two Amphitryon figures face each other at the end, both the generals and Alcmene consider the Jupiter Amphitryon to be the real one. Jupiter clears up the misunderstanding and prophesies the birth of the heroic Hercules to Amphitryon as reparation . The real Amphitryon, Mercury and Sosias are left behind without a word.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Translated into German by Dr. Max Kapp ( Memento of the original from January 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Web links

Wikisource: Amphitryon (several editions)  - sources and full texts (French)