''La Colonie'' is a comedy by French playwright

Pierre de Marivaux Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (; ; 4 February 1688 – 12 February 1763), commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French playwright and novelist. Marivaux is considered one of the most important French playwrights of the 18th century, w ...

, published in 1750 in the journal ''

Mercure de France The () was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was publis ...

''. When it was first performed at the

Comédie-Italienne Comédie-Italienne () or Théâtre-Italien () are French names which have been used to refer to Italian-language theatre and opera when performed in France. The earliest recorded visits by Italian players were ''commedia dell'arte'' companies ...

on June 18, 1729, '' La Nouvelle Colonie'' did not gather success and was only staged once.

Marivaux Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (; ; 4 February 1688 – 12 February 1763), commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French playwright and novelist. Marivaux is considered one of the most important French playwrights of the 18th century, w ...

cancelled all the shows and did not publish, but he rewrote the play and reduced it to a single act composed of 18 scenes. This new version was performed and published under the title ''La Colonie''. It is more than a

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

play, a satire of society denouncing the institutions of

's time. On an island in the middle of nowhere, women have decided to seize power. Behind the utopy, ''La Colonie'' foreshadows the feminist movements that will agitate Europe two centuries later, despite its politically and sexually conservative ending. This

ironic Irony, in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what, on the surface, appears to be the case with what is actually or expected to be the case. Originally a rhetorical device and literary technique, in modernity, modern times irony has a ...

and rich comedy raises many modern issues, and made

into a forerunner of female liberation.

Characters

* Arthénice, noble woman. * Madam Sorbin, craftsman's wife. * Mr Sorbin, her husband. * Timagène, noble man. * Lina, Madam Sorbin's daughter. * Persinet, young man of the people and Lina's lover. * Hermocrate, gentleman and philosopher. * Troupe of women, nobles and poor.

Plot

A group of men and women from a conquered land are forced to take refuge on a desert island. They decided to establish institutions and vote for two governors for the island : Lord Timagène for the noble party and Mr Sorbin for the people. But refusing to be excluded from the new government, the women rebel against their condition of dependence and form their own council. Arthénice representing the noble party and Madam Sorbin the people. They decide to abolish love and marriage, which they consider as yet another form of female subjection, and thus forbid Lina from seeing her lover Persinet. But their support crumbles when Madam Sorbin triggers the anger of the other women by deciding that they should all make themselves ugly. When Arthénice and Madam Sorbin ask the men to give them access to all the functions the latter occupy, they delegate their powers to Hermocrate. Timagène find a solution to overturn the coup d'état by pretending they are being attacked, and sending the women to war. The latter refuse, and Madam Sorbin tells her husband to "Go to war, I'll to our home". The play ends with Timagène promising the women that their rights and best interests will be respected in the new statuses.

Bibliography

* Susan Read Baker, « Sentimental Feminism in Marivaux’s ''La Colonie'' », ''To Hold a Mirror to Nature: Dramatic Images and Reflections'', Washington, UP of America, 1982, p. 1–10. * Derek F. Connon, « Old Dogs and New Tricks: Tradition and Revolt in Marivaux’s ''La Colonie'' », ''British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies'', Autumn 1988, 11 (2), p. 173-84. * Peter V. Conroy, Jr., « Marivaux’s Feminist Polemic: ''La Colonie'' », ''Eighteenth-Century Life'', Oct. 1980, 6 (1), p. 43–66. * Peter V. Conroy, « Marivaux’s ''The Colony'' », ''Signs'', Winter 1983, 9 (2), p. 336-60. * Walter C. Kraft, « Marivaux’s Feminism in ''La colonie'' », ''Proceedings: Pacific Northwest Conference on Foreign Languages'', Corvallis, Ore. State U, 1974, p. 208-11 {{DEFAULTSORT:Colonie 1750 plays Plays by Pierre de Marivaux Works originally published in Mercure de France Women's rights in France