For Love or Money: Upward Mobility in 17th Century France
Making over Paris and the middle class during Louis XIV’s reign
Onstage at Lantern Theater Company September 7 through October 8, 2023, Molière’s Tartuffe was written about Paris in the mid-17th century, during the reign of Louis XIV. But this is not the City of Lights that enchants and delights us today, and France was only just starting to become the center of fashion and culture that it is now. The country was purposefully remaking itself, in much the same way that the character Tartuffe attempts to — his act of pious poverty is a means to a wealthy end.
It was a very expensive proposition to be in the wealthy or noble classes in the 17th century. King Louis XIV was dissatisfied that other European countries like Spain and Italy were centers of culture, fashion, and art, so he undertook a concerted effort to make France the arbiter of taste and luxury in Europe by sponsoring (and enforcing) a luxury goods market. The French government brought foreign artisans into the country and subsidized their work. In 1668, during Tartuffe’s ban and rewriting, Louis refused all imports that could be made in France, and he forbade French artisans from leaving. He made over French culture and industry, focusing on refinement and luxury.
The manufacture of luxury was not enough to make France the jewel in Europe’s crown, though; there had to be a market for it. To create one, Louis and his government made the purchase of luxury goods a de facto requirement for those around him. New fashions came out twice each year, with expensive fabrics and patterns appearing in the spring and fall. Accessories came with them; each fabric was complemented by new parasols, shoes, fans, and all manner of luxury items.
To ensure this biannual wardrobe refresh, Louis enforced codes of dress and conduct at court that made the purchase of these goods a necessity. It was not just fun to be fashionable; it factored into court life and social advancement. Louis kept a close circle of advisors and favorites, who could fall out of favor at any moment and be replaced by any number of nobles waiting to pounce. Maintaining his good graces could keep you in power and out of prison; knowing the dos and don’ts of fashion was key to staying in the inner circle.
But it wasn’t enough for Louis to remake the clothes and manufacturing of his country. He wanted to remake its capital, Paris. Paris was the second largest city in Europe, but much of the city was muddy, overcrowded, and dangerous. Louis himself never liked Paris, and he distrusted its people. Tartuffe’s first performance took place in what was then a minor palace twelve miles outside the city: Versailles. Louis XIV remade it, turning it into the monument to gilt and glamour it is today and officially moving his court there in 1681. But despite leaving Paris behind, Louis wanted the city to be a shining example of his reign.
In 1666, Louis took steps to improve the city by appointing Paris’ first police chief. Street lamps were installed for the first time, and its exterior walls replaced with celebratory arches. Some of the city’s most famous attractions — including the Champs-Élysées and the Louvre — were built or renovated during this time.
Louis’ remaking of the French economy into one based on luxury opened up avenues for enterprising members of the middle class to build businesses and amass capital. And while France’s stock market was still in its infancy, there were millions to be made by investing and speculating, both in France’s burgeoning industry and in the more advanced financial markets elsewhere in Europe.
What happened at Versailles trickled down into Paris. Because the nobles needed to constantly refresh their wardrobes, so too did the upper middle class of Paris, striving toward nobility from their humble beginnings. Wealthy Parisians congregated in one neighborhood, isolating themselves from Paris’ mud and disease in fancy, glittering enclaves. To maintain this newfound wealth and social capital, money and property had to be consolidated. This is where marriage and death played important roles.
Marriage matches were decided by parents, and were usually based on economic considerations: the suitor who brought the most wealth, land, or social position got the girl (and vice versa, as dowries were then de rigueur). Complicated contracts were drawn up, signed by the intendeds but hashed out by the parents, detailing the transfer of wealth and the parameters concerning its disbursement. Love matches were out of the question without parental consent and a signed contract; in fact, the French government made it illegal for priests to marry couples without the written consent of living parents. And forget about divorce — in all but the most outrageously unhappy cases, no such thing was allowed. In Tartuffe, Orgon’s control of his daughter Mariane’s marital future was typical and expected, and his disregard of the financial aspect of the match is proof of just how entirely Tartuffe had ensnared him.
Marriage was one way to amass wealth; inheritance was the other (and both are central to Tartuffe). Just as weddings came with many a dotted i and crossed t, death was a complicated legal matter. French inheritance law varied by region, meaning that a person’s wealth might not stay within the family if there was no will. Wives would retain control of their dowries, but anything else was subject to their husband’s will. Just as Louis XIV’s courtiers needed to stay in his good graces to maintain power, so too would a child of wealth need to curry favor to be assured a windfall after a patriarch’s death — as Damis learns to his peril in Tartuffe.
While this might not seem like prime background for a comedy, the hilarity and hysteria of the play explodes from the stakes of the culture it was born from. Tartuffe pokes merciless, uproarious fun at religious hypocrites first and foremost, but does not spare the newly wealthy bourgeoisie, grasping for status, money, and the favor of the king.
More great reading: See other recent articles and interviews on the Lantern Searchlight blog
Lantern Theater Company’s production of Molière’s Tartuffe, translated into English verse by Richard Wilbur, is onstage September 7 through October 8, 2023, at St. Stephen’s Theater. Visit our website for tickets and information.
