While Cornford's theory satisfactorily explains the probable origin of the battle between the young and old for the hand of a young girl as a comedic device, it does not supply a reason this device is humorous. Martin Grotjahn, in Beyond Laughter, notes an interesting insight that supplies a sound psychological reason for considering this device humorous:

The psychodynamics of the comedy can be understood as a kind of reversed Oedipus situation in which the son does not rebel against the father but the son's typical attitudes of childhood longing are projected upon the father. The son plays the role of the victorious father with sexual freedom and achievement, while the father is cast in the role of frustrated onlooker. The reversed Oedipus situation is repeated in every man's life when the younger generation grows up and slowly infiltrates and replaces the older generation in work and life.(9)

The father then becomes the comic figure of the impotent and ridiculed clown.

This observation was noted thirty years earlier and more succinctly in Ludwig Jekels' "On the Psychology of Comedy". After analysis of several classical comedies he found them characterized by a mechanism of inversion: "The feeling of guilt which, in tragedy, rests upon the son, appears in comedy displaced on the father: it is the father who is guilty."(10) For Jekels then the reproach "Father - disturber of love" both establishes the father's guilt and becomes at least the latent content of most comedies.

[page 168] The sexual rivalry between father and son is not masked in any way in L'avare and only slightly masked in L'ecole Des Maris and L'ecole Des Femmes. In L'avare Harpagon steps between his son and the girl his son wishes to marry because he also desires her. Harpagon, however, is interested in her only as object and not as the subject of his love. He sees her as a money saving device without any mutually reciprocating love from her. The father is made ludicrous by this contest with his son for Mariane's hand. His extreme attachment to money is made ludicrous because he is obviously more interested in it than his supposed suit to Mariane. At the final curtain he clutches his money to his bosom as the others clasp their respective loves to theirs. In L'ecole Des Maris Sganarelle is the surrogate father/potential husband who is defeated by young Valere for Isabelle's love. Valere, the son-in-law to be, "plays the role of the victorious father with sexual freedom and achievement,"(11) while Sganarelle "is cast in the role of the frustrated onlooker."(12) The situation is similar in L'ecole Des Femmes with Arnolphe as surrogate father/potential husband and Horace as the son-in-law usurper of the father's position.

But the same motif also appears in Tartuffe, if one regards the hypocrite as a mere derivative of the father Orgon who, thereby, becomes the son's rival for the mother's affection.(13)

In a broader reading of this concept nearly all of the plays of Moliere we are considering fit into this concept for the "Reversed Oedipus situation is repeated in every man's life when the younger generation grows up and slowly infiltrates and replaces the older generation in work and life."(14) This is one of the major actions of Moliere's comedy and serves as a background against which he shows a specific folly to be worthy of ridicule.

Other of Moliere's plays also fit loosely into the original forms Cornford has elucidated, though to a lesser degree. Although the older men (or older women in the case of Les Femmes [page 169] Savantes) in these other plays may not be in direct contention with the young man for the hand of the young woman, the general form is somewhat similar. In Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme Monsieur Jordain is defeated, both in his attempt to enlist Dorimene as a mistress, and to marry his daughter to a "gentleman". Youth and young love triumph in Les Fourberies De Scapin, seemingly at the expense of the fathers, but happy coincidence dictates that the wishes of both sons and fathers are accomplished. The uniting of two young couples instead of one, as the fathers had planned, doubles the potential fertility and ensures the continuation of lineage. In Le Malade Imaginaire Argan's desire for a doctor son-in-law must be thwarted so the young Cleante could be mated successfully to Angelique, Argan's daughter. Since Argan opposes their marriage, he and the reasons for his opposition are open for criticism, Moliere thus ridicules both Argan's monomania with his imaginary sickness and the doctors who treat him.

In "Laughter" Henri Bergson states that the essence of the comic in situations consists in the mechanization of life. This effect, he believes, can be obtained by the process of inversion, as well as repetition and reciprocal interference of series.(15)

Picture to yourself certain characters in a certain situation; if you reverse the situation and invert the roles, you obtain a comic sense. . . . There is no necessity, however, for both the identical scenes to be played before us. We may be shown only one, provided the other is really in our minds. . . In modern literature we meet with hundreds of variations on the theme of the robber robbed. In every case the root idea involves an inversion of roles, and a situation which recoils on the head of its author.

Here we apparently find the confirmation of a law, . . . when a comic scene has been reproduced a number of times, it reaches the stage of being a classical type or model. It becomes amusing in itself, quite apart from the causes which render it amusing. . . . In the end it renders comic any mishap that befalls one through one's own fault, no matter what the fault or mishap may be.(16)

[page 170] For Jekels, Grotjhan, et al. this "model scene" is the Oedipus situation of tragedy which, reversed and inverted, makes for much of comedy. The example given by Bergson of the convicted criminal standing at the bar lecturing the magistrate, or of a child presuming to teach his or her parents,(17) is in essence the same as the comic inversion of the Oedipal situation for it too belongs under Bergson's heading of "Topsyturvydom". By displacing the guilt, that has always rested on the son's (Oedipus') shoulders, onto the father, he is divested of his paternal attributes and is degraded into the position of a son. By thus reversing the situation and inverting the roles the tragic situation is rendered comic. This turning-the-father-into-a-son, this world of "topsyturvydom", represents the very heart of Bergson's "inversion" theory of comedy.

This doing away with the father and his dissolution in the son, this withdrawal of the super-ego and its merging in the ego, are all in complete psychological conformity with the phenomena of mania. In each case we find the ego, which has liberated itself from the tyrant, uninhibitedly venting its humor, wit, and every sort of comic manifestation in a very ecstasy of freedom.(18)

Comedy, therefore, to Jekels, "represents an aesthetic correlate of mania."(19) Moliere's lovers, for the most part, fit into this category of aesthetic maniacs who when liberated from their tyrannical parent, or surrogate parent, rejoice with an ecstasy of freedom. There is a "freedom to be,"(20) to create after their own image a new generation who will, in their turns take over from them. And if they in their turns become the crotchety, or miserly Harpagons and Sganarelles, Philamintes and Pernelles, they too will become worthy of the derisive and correcting laughter of another generation of observers. So the continual reenactment of the Oedipal situation can provide either tragedy or comedy for another generation of audiences.

[page 171] Moliere's comedy of love and lovers has not only comedic implications for those directly involved, but also societal implications. Christopher Fry's observation that "comedy is an escape, not from truth but from despair: a narrow escape into faith,"(21) enlightens our discussion of the societal aspects of the mutuality of love and lovers in Moliere's comedy. Northrup Frye suggests "The comic ending is generally manipulated by a twist in the plot,"(22) and this end result is as it should be. What happens by this twist in the plot is that the action of comedy moves "from one social center to another."(23) Often this change, and the resulting new society, is "signalized by some kind of party or festive ritual which either appears at the end of the play or is assumed to take place immediately afterward."(24) Weddings are the most common festive ritual in Moliere. At times, as in L'avare, Les Fourberies De Scapin and especially Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, the wholesale pairing off is suggestive of earlier fertility rituals and insures the success of the new society which is established by that implied future action. This new society "is the one that the audience has recognized all along to be the proper and desirable state of affairs."(25) The escape Fry talks about when applied to Moliere is generally an escape from the despair of a dying society, and a narrow escape into a faith in the potency, and vibrancy of youth. The young lovers, momentarily frozen in time, now become the heads of the society and will carry the banner until they too must relinquish it to their sons and daughters. It is a triumph of potent youth and love over the wasteland of impotent age.(26)

As ageist as that may seem it is not all aged individuals that Moliere refers to in this assertion. The only older characters (in their 40's-60's) he seeks to displace with young lovers are those individuals who have become humanly distorted and wrong-headedly oppose the successful/necessary mating of the young lovers to ensure the continuation of the race. He is equally harsh in his judgment of inappropriate young interlopers who seek to step between [page 172] the mutually contracted lovers. Moliere also provides positive older characters who provide another look at what love can and should be, but that is to be addressed later in this paper.

Susanne K. Langer makes an excellent contribution to understanding the societal aspects of Moliere's comedy of lovers. She states:

An organism tends to keep its equilibrium when it has been disturbed, and to pursue a sequence of actions dictated by the need of keeping all its interdependent parts constantly renewed, their structure intact.(27)

If we consider Moliere's society a living organism we accept the fact that if something happens that throws it out of balance it will then attempt to regain its equilibrium. Balance may be regained by either expelling the irritant or adapting itself to the new situation. Moliere's created society is consistently thrown out of balance when the older generation of parents, or the younger generation of violators, deviate from the acceptable norms in their own lives. When, however, their behavior interferes with the most natural traits known to the society of humankind, and upon which its future depends, society is imbalanced to the point of imminent collapse and must either react to balance itself, or die. Therefore when the parents' behavior interferes with the mutually acceptable, - right - mating of their children, then society seeks its own revenge against the irritant. When the parent or other irritant is dealt with, then the youth takes over as the head of a new, but similar, society. The mantle is passed to the new generation and society again, momentarily at least, regains its balance.

Whenever the natural laws of love and successful mating, as defined by the convention of the classical young lovers are thwarted, society as an organism is put out of balance. Anything that causes this loss of balance in society is seen as evil, or at least an irritant, and is deemed appropriate for ridicule to set it straight and allow society to regain its equilibrium. Sin then, as seen by Moliere, may be anything that distorts the human image into anything less than human, thereby destroying mutuality in relationships among the human family. In Les Precieuses Ridicules the ladies deny a natural mating process by using their precocity as a defensive weapon against that process. Being unnatural, their precocity is held up to ridicule [page 173] by the two suitors. When the young ladies are sufficiently shamed, the suitors have been vindicated, precocity seen for what it is by the audience, and a potential for balance in society reinstated.

The young lovers in L'ecole Des Maris and L'ecole Des Femmes are a declaration of Moliere's beliefs that it is impossible to force mutual love through training, and that mutuality in love should rule any relationship between a man and a woman. While the older brother Ariste wins the mutual love of the young Leonor through his consideration and loving kindness to her the major emphasis is on the classical young lovers, as they provide the norm against which Sganarelle and Arnolphe are seen as abnormal, ludicrous and therefore worthy of Moliere's criticism. In their relationships the Oedipus relationship is inverted and the roles reversed as Grotjahn, Jekels, et al., note. And as Jekels further notes, this is the core of Bergson's theory of inversion. The norm, as seen in the classical young lovers' mutual relationships and society itself, is thrown out of balance by the unloving sterile marriages imposed on the girls by their guardian/surrogate fathers. The old men are defeated by the young, the lovers are happily wed, and society regains its equilibrium so the loving propagation of the species can continue.

Tartuffe suggests other aspects of Cornford's theory in conjunction with the Young and Old King: the fight between Summer and Winter and the carrying out of death.(28) In these other forms a definite evil antagonist is visible who must be defeated and driven out as a scape-goat so that the fertility of nature can be maintained. Tartuffe, and Trissotin in Les Femmes Savantes, are more than deluded men who must lose to youth; they are evil forces who manipulate others to their own benefit. To insure the continuation of society and the acceptable propagation of the race these evil forces must be sacrificed for the good of the larger society. This society is in a state of imbalance because of Orgon's decision to marry his daughter to Tartuffe rather than the young Valere, her lover. This societal imbalance sets up an effective backdrop against which Moliere ridicules both Tartuffe's evil hypocritical scheming and Orgon's gullibility and wrong-headedness. When Orgon is finally freed from Tartuffe's spell and his legal clutches, society once again achieves its balance. Grace and forgiveness are provided for the repentant and justice for those who refuse to acknowledge [page 174] their guilt. The evil irritant Tartuffe is expelled from society and the fructification of nature is assured by the marriages of Valere to Mariane and Damis to Valere's sister, and the reinstatement of a mutually loving relationship between Orgon and Elmire.

Don Juan is the force that disrupts the natural continuation of society in another of Moliere's observations of humanity. Don Juan brings the wrath of society, and eventually heaven, down upon his head because he distorts the natural flow of love and marriage, thus unbalancing society. He has already married many girls in rapid succession, and left them only to marry another before the play begins. During the action of the play Don Juan sets off via boat in an attempt to seduce a recently married girl. While recovering from a near drowning, he attempts to seduce two country girls, one of whom is the fiancée of one of the men who rescued him.

The constant violation of nature's, or God's, or perhaps more to the point for Moliere, neoclassical society's laws concerning correct behavior toward the opposite sex makes Don Juan disreputable to the audience. Don Juan, by violating Moliere's conventional use of the classical lovers as the norm of society, and perhaps the norm of God, is the irritating force that threatens the equilibrium of that whole society. As such he must be either reconciled with society or cast out for society to regain its balance. When his wrongs transgress even the grave, he is subject to punishment from the "other side" of the grave. When he meets his just punishment society can once again settle into a balanced state.

As Tartuffe and Don Juan are difficult plays to deal with because Moliere extended the boundaries of comedy in them to include the treatment of real vice, so with Le Misanthrope he humorously treats virtue as a fault. Alceste's virtue keeps him apart from the woman he loves. He thus transgresses the natural movement of nature toward marrying the woman he loves, and is therefore held up to comic pummeling. Moliere establishes a mutual love relationship as the norm of society. When Alceste is opposed to that norm because of his virtue he rightly becomes the subject for corrective laughter, and his particular virtue subject to ridicule. When human virtue becomes vice the comedy takes on some of the undertones and colorations of the waste of tragedy. Lives are wasted as Alceste, correctly we feel, bans himself from society. Societal balance, while upset by Alceste's blatant virtue of saying everything he believes, is regained by Alceste's banning himself from society, and thus avoiding the natural conflict involved in his interrelationship with society. That nature, and the societal norm, is again in [page 175] control is obvious by the proposal and acceptance of marriage between Philinte and Eliante. Society is thus assured of its continuance, but not without significant cost, or tragicomic waste.

While Jekels' theory does nothing to enlighten the comedy of Le Misanthrope, it applies directly to L'avare. Harpagon is doubly wrong according to this theory. He directly opposes his son for the hand of the young woman who is in love with his son, Cleante. Harpagon also opposes the choice of his daughter to marry a young man whom everyone believes is not rich. Moliere again uses the classical young lovers involved in a mutual loving relationship as the norm against which he reveals abnormality. Since the matches Harpagon proposes are against this established norm his actions are considered abnormal, and thus ludicrous, and his attitudes regarding money considered ridiculous. The young men triumph over their father and master/father-in-law-to-be to make possible the fruitful continuance of society and to load the guilt of folly on the father's head. Society again regains its natural balance as classical young love triumphs, and the mantle is passed to the next generation for their wearing until they become the potential imbalances to society because of their crotchets, follies, or vices and start the process all over again.

Somewhat similarly both Langer's and Jekels' theories enlighten the comedy of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Les Fourberies De Scapin, and Le Malade Imaginare. In all three it is the fathers that are the irritating characters who block the natural outworking of love for the classical young lovers, and upset the balance of society. All four fathers involved in these plays are ultimately defeated and removed from their seats of authority in the matters of love so society can regain its balance and accept the fathers back into their natural positions. By placing these fathers against the accepted standard of the classical lovers Moliere ridiculed a man of his own bourgeois background attempting to break into the aristocracy; two stingy fathers attempting to arrange their children's lives according to their own financial benefit or personal wishes; and a father more interested in his own believed sickness than in his daughter's love. When placed against the classical young lovers, serving as the norm, the fathers become fit subjects for Moliere's ridicule. As the fathers are defeated by the youth and their cohorts, the imbalance of society created by the fathers is corrected and we laugh at the situation caused by inverting the roles and reversing the tragic Oedipus situation. The fathers are deemed guilty. They are felt to deserve the derision they receive. The classical young lovers (who may be naive, stupid, silly and petty much of the time) are still committed to a [page 176] mutual relationship, and as such are still the hope and future of society and the norm against which Moliere measures the abnormal transgressors of societal boundaries.

As with most sins those sins that Moliere saw most problematic among his contemporaries were those which violated societal boundaries, destroyed human relationship and interfered with the correct expression of love that was built on a sense of mutuality. In his theatrical shorthand Moliere most usually chose to express this relationship by the presence of the classical young lovers. This however was not always the case. For a better look at Moliere's view of love and lovers we must deal with relationships that go beyond the normal theatrical backdrop of the classical young lovers.

For Moliere youth was not always sufficient to prove one an acceptable mate, nor age reason enough for rendering a match with youth unacceptable. Several instances suggest themselves: Don Juan, though young is an unacceptable mate to anyone because of his self-centered use of women; the Precieuses are unacceptable mates because they reduce the flesh to subservience to the games of the mind and thus totally subvert the physical nature of humankind; Armande and Belise in Les Femmes Savantes are similarly self-centered in their love as they reject their physical natures, therefore rendering themselves unfit mates; Thomas Diaforus is incapable of true love by reason of his egocentric obsession and thus is unacceptable as a mate for Angelique. On the other hand, Ariste captures the love of the young Lenor though he is close to forty years her senior; Orgon was an acceptable husband to Elmire though twenty odd years her elder; and Philinte is an exemplary mate to Eliante because of his altruistic love and concern for her welfare. Each of the considered theories of comedy, while very instructive, is not sufficiently inclusive for Moliere's use of love, lovers, and the rites of spring.

At times Moliere departed from his conventional use of the naive, at times not very bright, classical young lovers as the backdrop to his major action and depicted what he seems to have favored as a richer, more ideal relationship between mature men and women. In L'ecole Des Maris Moliere provides an ideal mutual relationship between an older man, Ariste, and a young woman, Leonor: an almost paternal relationship if one were to judge only by age, but built upon mutual respect, trust, and love. It is far from the one-sided manipulative attempts at marriage we have considered thus far between older men and younger women. In [page 177] Tartuffe Moliere again provides a relationship that is somewhat akin to that between Ariste and Leonor, except Elmire is more obviously intelligent, wise and mature than Leonor. Currently, however, something has upset this otherwise good relationship. While no evidence appears that would in any way suggest other than a wise and loving decision to marry on both Orgon's and Elmire's parts, a cool distance has opened between them by the intrusion of Tartuffe. Moliere suggests that such a marriage can work if the offended spouse (the wife in this case) continues to love her or his mate, and does not yield to anyone else's amorous advances, in spite of the spouses (husband's) own inconsistencies and infatuations, his or her blindness and gullibility. When the obstacle of Tartuffe is removed this formerly mutual relationship once again becomes a loving, acceptable relationship characterized by a sense of mutuality. While in Le Misanthrope Moliere provided relationships which were unworthy of his acceptance, he also showed one relationship that was a worthy model. Philinte and Eliante are the two non-extremists in their interactions with society at large, with their close friends, and with each other. Eliante's love of Alceste is non-demanding and self-giving in nature. She is desirous of what pleases him most, even if that pleasure is her cousin in marriage. Philinte, too, is of a kind and generous nature; his love for Eliante takes second place to both his friendship to, and her love of, Alceste. Both are willing to play a secondary role to their love's other love, and both find in each other their true love, best matched to themselves in their altruism and desire for a two-sided relationship characterized by mutuality. Selfish and inconstant love is again defeated and declared by Moliere to be undesirable, while constancy and altruistic mutual caring for the mate is rewarded with its own reward - success in love. An imbalanced world is characterized by relationships that are one-sided, distorted by self-centeredness, blinded by egocentricity. A world that has been rescued from an imbalanced state is characterized by relationships that are caring, self-giving, even self-sacrificing in their sense of mutuality.

Perhaps several reasons exist for Moliere's eye of comedy so consistently to have lingered upon love and lovers. Dr. Jekels suggests that much of comedy turns on the tragic conflict between father and son for a lover. This conflict, however, has been inverted and the roles reversed, thus rendering it humorous as the son defeats the father for the love of the young girl.(29) Langer believes that the rhythm of comedy is similar to any living creature that strives for [page 178] balance in its being. Comedy, therefore, shows society out of balance and yet continually regaining its equilibrium.(30) Potts finds that sex is the favorite topic of comedy since it is the most natural human relationship: society's survival depends on it; and it is the most common disturbing influence to humanity.(31)

Moliere's comedy is based on his own experience, reliance on the classics, and observation of humanity. One of the most universal desires Moliere observed in humanity was the desire for love and sex. When his classical version of young loves and lovers is thwarted by some force (particularly a father in Moliere's Patriarchal society) who seeks his own desires over those of the established young lovers, society becomes imbalanced and the blocking force is immediately perceived as wrong and worthy of criticism. The conflict thus established is normally between father and child and usually takes the inverted Oedipus form described by Jekels, Grotjahn,(32) et al. Society remains in a state of imbalance until, maintaining its zest and lust for life, it makes a "narrow escape into faith,"(33) by uniting the conventional classical young lovers in marriage and potential procreation. This "narrow escape" is from the tyranny of old age which has become distorted from the norm of old age and "into faith" - faith, if in nothing else, that humanity will not only survive, but will thrive in spite of problems as long as mutual love, lovers, and their fruitful uniting are at the societal base. Moliere's comedy is an attestation to this cycle, described by the composite group of critics consulted, frozen at the specific points where the new year confronts the old; summer confronts winter; youth confronts deviant age in battle. The former wins over the latter to ensure there will be further confrontations as these in their turns are replaced by the next generation.(34) Moliere also gives excellent examples of love and lovers other than this conventional use of the classical young lovers as a backdrop for his criticism of some human folly. These relationships are built on mature mutual understanding and love. Moliere's comedy is a celebration of the human condition, its foibles as well as its joys.

[page 179] The vision of comedy, then, keeps its eye on lovers, its foresight upon their prosperous mating and on implied procreation. . . The vision of comedy fixes its eye on separateness, on diversity, even on oppositions, but it insists at last on togetherness for lovers and on the restored social fabric, on solidarity for the group. . . In that world all is tipped toward life, abundance, health, energy, companionship, respect, and admiration. Song, music, dance, feasting belong in it. Whatever within the range of vision is otherwise will be minimized by laughter, though it is understood it cannot be abolished from the world, and that all will end happily for human beings, not merely for human minds.(35)

Perhaps one can allege that for Moliere that which destroys such relationship may rightly be called sin and that which returns the world to right relationship may be termed grace. Sin therefore is anything that leads to distorted or broken family or societal relationships. It may come in the form of a deep violation of virtue as in Don Juan or Tartuffe. It may come in the very guise of virtue and piety itself as in Le Misanthrope or Tartuffe (Orgon, Madame Pernelle, and Tartuffe). It may be seen in greed, miserliness, and the "love of money" as in L'avare that causes broken relationships in the family. It may be found in the pretentiousness of young ladies who deny the attractions of physical love, or the self-concerned consciousness for guaranteed health that destroys familial mutuality. From vice to virtue Moliere looked with keen insight into the human condition and attacked where he saw hypocrisy, pretense, falseness, and a variety of distortions that caused imbalance in human relationships. His is a polemical attack after the fashion of Aristophanes rather than after the more grace-filled approach of Shakespeare or Fry.

In this context grace is seen as that which brings about the miracle, that which makes possible the escape from the potential tragedy of broken relationships in a sterile distorted world void of mutual love. Grace is seen in the miraculous intervention of an all-wise king or the fortuitous/coincidental appearance of long-lost loving parents. At times the "escape" is narrow indeed, is accomplished by a deus ex machina manipulation of plot, or just barely finds some small measure of grace in the loving relationship of two of the minor, secondary [page 180] characters while the major characters are left refusing the potential of grace as in Le Misanthrope. Even when grace is to be prayed for and presumed offered as in Tartuffe the likelihood of its acceptance seems very dim indeed, and the comedy of Moliere takes on the darker shadows of tragi-comedy. Perhaps it is here we can see how narrow the escape can be and still be an escape. Perhaps this comic action is why Wylie Sypher, in "The Meanings of Comedy," contends: "Comedy is sacred and secular."(36) It is certainly here that we can see that "Comedy is essentially a Carrying Away of Death, a triumph over mortality by some absurd faith in rebirth, restoration, and salvation."(37) Perhaps it is at these moments that we can most obviously affirm with Frederick Buechner that the comedy of grace is "what can't possibly happen because it can only impossibly happen, and then it only happens in the dark that only just barely fails to swallow it up."(38)

The grace found in the plays of Moliere may be seen in the "unforeseeable" endings that often seem imposed on the plot to satisfy our best wishes -- or perhaps our deepest needs. On the other hand it may be as Frederick Buechner has observed that . . .

seen from the outside, seen as God sees it and as occasionally by the grace of God man also sees it, I suspect that it is really the other way around. From the divine perspective, I suspect that it is the tragic that is seen as not inevitable whereas it is the comic that is bound to happen. The comedy of God's saving the most unlikely people when they least expect it, the joke in which God laughs with man and man with God -- I believe that this is what is inevitable. . .(39)

When we are confronted by the absurd or the inexplicable in Moliere's plays then comedy "like faith, tolerates the miraculous. . . Precisely because he is face to face with the [page 181] Inexplicable the comic hero is eligible for 'rescue'."(40) Northrup Frye notes "Unlikely conversions, miraculous transformations, and providential assistance are inseparable from comedy. Further, whatever emerges is supposed to be there for good."(41) Happy endings are the inevitable - natural - eschatological result of the comic vision, of Moliere as well as other comic playwrights.

The implications of comedy to an eschatological vision of humanity suggest a profound faith, or hope, that is both inclusive and specific in scope. The comic vision of the future expects, relies on, or at least tolerates the miracle that is necessary to bring about a "happy ending." "Comedy is not just a happy as opposed to an unhappy ending, but a way of surveying life so that happy endings must prevail."(42) This positive "virtual future"(43) that is suggested by the playwright is for the specific individuals involved in the comic action. But it is also inclusive of the society at large implied by the play. "This ineluctable future -- ineluctable because its countless factors are beyond human knowledge and control -- is Fortune." May we not see this Fortune Susanne Langer speaks of as Grace, and the "virtual future" which is implied as a "grace-filled" future, which cannot be brought about except by "factors [which] are beyond human knowledge and control,"(45) the miraculous intervention of God on humanity's behalf? If so Moliere's comedy suggests a future that is built on the need for miracle to be brought about. It is a future that is premised on mutuality between persons on an individual relational basis. It is a future that implies an inclusive and balanced society. This society is inclusive in the sense that it is open to everyone who accepts the miracle, to everyone who does not violate its norms of mutuality. In extreme forms, as with Tartuffe, the evil that must be banished is to be prayed for in the hope that it will transform even that evil into repentance and acceptance. Perhaps it can be viewed as Moliere's vision of the adumbration of the eventual coming of the community of God.