Mercadet - A Comedy in Three Acts
Balzac, Honoré de 1799-1850
English
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Below is a summary of Mercadet - A Comedy in Three Acts
MERCADET
A COMEDY IN THREE ACTS
BY
HONORE DE BALZAC
Presented for the First Time in Paris
At the Theatre du Gymnase-Dramatique
August 24, 1851
PERSONS OF THE PLAY
Mercadet, a speculator
Madame Mercadet, his wife
Julie, their daughter
Minard, clerk of Mercadet
Verdelin, friend of Mercadet
Goulard, creditor of Mercadet
Pierquin, creditor of Mercadet
Violette, creditor of Mercadet
Mericourt, acquaintance of Mercadet
De la Brive, suitor to Julie
Justin, valet
Therese, lady's maid
Virginie, cook
Various other creditors of Mercadet
SCENE: Paris, in the house of Mercadet
TIME: About 1845
MERCADET
ACT I
SCENE FIRST
(A drawing-room. A door in the centre. Side doors. At the front, to
the left, a mantel-piece with a mirror. To the right, a window, and
next it a writing-table. Armchairs.)
Justin, Virginie and Therese
Justin (finishing dusting the room)
Yes, my dears, he finds it very hard to swim; he is certain to drown,
poor M. Mercadet.
Virginie (her basket on her arm)
Honestly, do you think that?
Justin
He is ruined! And although there is much fat to be stewed from a
master while he is financially embarrassed, you must not forget that
he owes us a year's wages, and we had better get ourselves discharged.
Therese
Some masters are so frightfully stubborn! I spoke to the mistress
disrespectfully two or three times, and she pretended not to hear me.
Virginie
Ah! I have been at service in many middle-class houses; but I have
never seen one like this! I am going to leave my stove, and become an
actress in some theatre.
Justin
All of us here are nothing but actors in a theatre.
Virginie
Yes, indeed, sometimes one has to put on an air of astonishment, as if
just fallen from the moon, when a creditor appears: "Didn't you know
it, sir?"--"No."--"M. Mercadet has gone to Lyons."--"Ah! He is away?"
--"Yes, his prospects are most brilliant; he has discovered some coal-
mines."--"Ah! So much the better! When does he return?"--"I do not
know." Sometimes I put on an expression as if I had lost the dearest
friend I had in the world.
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