It appears to have been a regular and set purpose
with him always to produce something farcical after a creation which
provoked either secret or open hostility, or even violent opposition.
Sganarelle appears in this piece for the first time, if we except the
farce, or rather sketch, of the _Medecin volant_, where in reality
nothing is developed, but everything is in mere outline. But in
Sganarelle Moliere has created a character that is his own just as much
as Falstaff belongs to Shakespeare, Sancho Panza to Cervantes, or
Panurge to Rabelais. Whether Sganarelle is a servant, a husband, the
father of Lucinde, the brother of Ariste, a guardian, a faggot-maker,
a doctor, he always represents the ugly side of human nature, an
antiquated, grumpy, sullen, egotistical, jealous, grovelling, frightened
character, ever and anon raising a laugh on account of his boasting,
mean, morose, odd qualities. Moliere was, at the time he wrote
_Sganarelle_, more than thirty years old, and could therefore
no longer successfully represent Mascarille as the rollicking servant
of the _Blunderer_.
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