The Game of Love and Chance

(by Marivaux)
Translated by Nicolas Billon

 

ACT I – SCENE I

 

SILVIA

For the last time — mind your own business! How dare you presume to speak for my feelings?

LISETTE

I assumed your feelings would be the same as anyone else’s. Your father asks me if you’re pleased with the marriage he’s arranged for you. Does it make you happy? I answer, “Of course it does!” But perhaps you’re the only woman in the entire world for whom that “of course” isn’t true?

SILVIA

“Of course it does”? “Of course”? How ridiculously naive! Do you really think marriage is a synonym for happiness?

LISETTE

Of course I do. As a matter of fact.

SILVIA

Shut up, you impertinent girl! The nerve you have to judge my heart’s desires by your own.

LISETTE

My heart desires the same thing as everyone else’s. What exactly makes yours so special?

SILVIA

I swear, one day you’ll go too far as to call me a snob.

LISETTE

If I were your equal, I just might.

SILVIA

Are you doing this on purpose, Lisette? Upsetting me like this?

LISETTE

That wasn’t my intention. Now come on, tell me: why was I wrong to tell your father you’re happy to get married?

SILVIA

Because first of all, it isn’t true. I rather enjoy being sans husband.

LISETTE

Sans husband? We’ll see how long that lasts.

SILVIA

Look. The reason my father is going about this whole “match-making” business with such enthusiasm is because he thinks it makes me happy! The truth is, it’ll likely come to nothing.

LISETTE

What? You won’t marry the man he’s chosen for you?

SILVIA

Who knows? What if my fiancé doesn’t suit me? That’s what really worries me.

LISETTE

Your fiancé is considered one of the most handsome, kind, witty, cultivated, and interesting bachelors in the world! What more do you want? Can you imagine a sweeter, more delicious match?

SILVIA

“Sweeter”? “More delicious”? The things you say!

LISETTE

But Madame, do you realise how lucky you are to have found such a man? One willing to actually get married? I doubt any young lady, after meeting him, would hesitate to marry him on the spot. He’s kind, and that will sustain feelings of love; he’s sociable and witty, and that will help maintain a healthy life together. My God — he’s perfect: he can serve your every purpose and every want!

SILVIA

Yes, but only if I trust the portrait you’ve just painted for me. I won’t deny the reports I’ve had depict him in a similar light. But that doesn’t mean I’ll feel the same way about him. I’ve heard he’s very good looking, and that’s really unfortunate.

LISETTE

“That’s really unfortunate”? Unfortunate? What a strange thing to say.

SILVIA

It’s quite sensible, actually. I’ve noticed that good looks and pretension often go hand in hand. In men.

LISETTE

Well, he’s wrong to be pretentious, but he’s right to be good looking.

SILVIA

I’ve also heard that he’s well-built; fine.

LISETTE

Oh yes, that’s a very forgivable offense.

SILVIA

I can forgive him for being handsome and well-built; but only because these are superficial considerations.

LISETTE

My God! If I ever get married, such superficialities will be required.

SILVIA

What absolute nonsense. In a marriage, a man’s true temperament is more important than anything else. That’s why I want to find a man of good character, which is harder than you might think. People may speak highly of my fiancé, but have they ever lived with him? Are men, especially intelligent men, not all hypocrites? Have I not witnessed, with my own eyes, men who appeared to be the very best of society? Polite, funny, congenial men whose good looks are but the reflection of their beautiful personalities. Monsieur such-and-such appears to be such a good, such a reasonable man. That’s what they said about Ergaste; even I said that about him. Sure, go ahead: put your faith in the man’s appearance. But did you know that the moment he steps into his house, he turns into a mean, nasty, ogre of a man? Oh, he got married all right, and it’s this Ergaste that his wife, his children, and his servants are subjected to day in, day out. The outside world, meanwhile, knows only of his gentle disposition. His smile is a mask he dons only when he leaves the house.

LISETTE

How strange, a man who can wear two faces at once!

SILVIA

Are we not charmed when Léandre comes to visit? But when he’s at home? He doesn’t say a word. He doesn’t speak, he doesn’t scold, he doesn’t laugh — he may as well be a ghost. His wife hardly knows him; he’ll have nothing to do with her. She’s married to the shadow of a man, one who only leaves his study to eat — in silence! He makes everything around him shrivel up and die. Is that not a most amusing husband?

LISETTE

I shudder from your description. But what about Tersandre?

SILVIA

Ah yes, Tersandre! The other day, he had just lost his temper with his wife when I turned up at his door. And guess who greets me with open arms, grinning like a man who’s just enjoyed a good laugh, eyes sparkling with delight? The dog! That’s what men are like. And who would imagine his wife had any reason to complain? I found her in quite the state: distraught, worn to the bone, her eyes puffy from crying. Maybe that’s how you’ll find me, Lisette, a few years from now. That’s my future portrait. I pitied her; will you pity me? Isn’t that awful? Absolutely awful? Think long and hard about what it’s like to have a husband.

LISETTE

A husband is a husband; you shouldn’t have finished with that word. It makes me forget everything else you said.