The Guilty Mother

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The Guilty Mother (La Mère coupable) subtitled "The Other Tartuffe" is the third play of the Figaro Trilogy by Pierre-Augustin Beaumarchais. It is rarely revived these days. Napoleon was said to have been very fond of it.

The villain Bégearss was reportedly based on Beaumarchais's enemy, an Irishman called Bergasse.

[edit] Summary

Its action takes place twenty years after the previous play, The Marriage of Figaro: The story's premise is that several years ago, while the Count was away on a long business trip, the Countess and Cherubin spent a night together. When the Countess informed Cherubin that what they did was wrong and that she could never see him again, he went away to war and intentionally let himself be mortally wounded on the field. As he lay dying, he wrote a final letter to the Countess, declaring his love and regrets, and making mention of all the things they had done. The Countess did not have the heart to throw away the letter, and instead had a special box made by an Irishman called Bégearss, with a secret compartment in which to store the incriminating note, so the Count would never find it. Soon after, to her dismay, the Countess discovered herself pregnant with Cherubin's child. The Count has been suspicious all these years that he is not the father of Leon, the Countess's son, and so he has been rapidly trying to spend his fortune to ensure the boy won't inherit any of it, even having gone so far as to renounce his title; but he has nevertheless held some doubts, and therefore has never officially disowned the boy or even brought up his suspicions to the Countess. Meanwhile, the Count has an illegitimate child of his own, a daughter named Florestine. Bégearss wants to marry her, and to ensure that she will be the Count's only heir, he begins to stir up trouble over the Countess's secret. Figaro and Suzanne, who are still married, must once again come to the rescue of the Count and Countess; and of their illegitimate children Leon and Florestine, who are secretly in love with each other.

[edit] Operas

Like the other Figaro plays, there are operatic versions; but like the play itself, they are not nearly as famous as the predecessors. The Ghosts of Versailles has a loose adaptation appearing amidst the plot, and Darius Milhaud also created a version. Inger Wikström has made an adaptation called Den Brottsliga Modern.