LE SAVATIER, MARGUET, JACQUET, PROSPERINE ET L'OSTE

One of the things that I have found most puzzling in the farces of the 16th century is the general lack of logic or plot. Not only are they generally too short to contain anything complicated, but they also follow completely illogical premises in order to get them to the joke's punchline. The same may be true of this farce where one husband complains about how awful his wife is and the other brags about his wonderful spouse, but somehow they agree to switch. Within the genre of spouse swapping, this play is by far the  most confusing as the characters lack any sort of consistency and the plot is an afterthought to the jokes which are principally based on beating a spouse or sexual innuendos. Looking forward to the next century, I think one could argue that the greatest achievement of Molière was simply adding a sense of logic and plot to his comedies, making them a story to follow as opposed to a barely connected thread of sex jokes.