Written by Denis Diderot Subject Family relations Playwright Denis Diderot Original language French language | Date premiered 1758 First performance 1758 Genre Drama | |
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Characters The father of the family
Saint-Albin
Sophie
Germeuil
Cécile
The Commander Setting The Parisian home of the father of the family Similar Le Fils naturel, Miss Sara Sampson, The Guilty Mother, The Love‑tiff, Mahomet | ||
Le Père de famille (English: The Father of the family) is a 1758 play by Denis Diderot. In this play, Saint Albin, a young man, falls in love with Sophie, a poor young woman of unknown parentage. His father, the title character, is against the match, and his uncle actively plots against it by trying to force Sophie into a convent. Against her better judgement, Cécile, Saint-Albin's sister, hides Sophie in their home at the behest of Germeuil, a friend of the family. When the father discovers the disobedience of his children, he is dismayed; and the entire situation is exacerbated by the ill-intentioned uncle. When the uncle is confronted by the young woman in person, however, he realizes that she is his niece. With the question of her parentage solved, Saint-Albin is free to marry Sophie, Cécile is free to marry Germeuil, and the father welcomes all his children with open arms.
Diderot followed this play with a treatise on theatre entitled Discours sur la poésie dramatique.
In 1765, the play was parodised by Antoine-Alexandre-Henri Poinsinet.
The play was performed at the Richmond Theatre in Richmond, Virginia on the night of the fire of December 26, 1811.