la farce du ramoneur

     La Farce du Ramoneur is essentially a double entendre on the idea of sweeping chimneys as a sexual act.  The Chimney Saeep laments that when he was a young man, he could sweep many chimneys but now that he is old, he barely manages to sweep his own. There are many jokes here about impotence and the phallic object of the chemney sweep's stick, but truly it is a play with very little action. What I believe is the difference between farces of the 16th century and the comedies of the 17th is the plot. Farces act as one joke, or one scene that could be a part of a larger comedy. Comedies however, involve a story that must find a resolution beyond the punchline of the joke.