SOURCE: “The Treasure in the Garden: Biblical Imagery in L' Avare,” in Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature, Vol. XV, No. 29, 1988, pp. 517-28.

In the following essay, Jones emphasizes the importance of the symbolic garden treasure—representing both death and life—presented in Molière's L'Avare.

Harpagon's treasure—his “chère cassette”—has received considerable attention as a central symbol in L'Avare. “Cette petite cassette grise … est le personnage principal,” declares Couton in his Pléiade edition of the play.¹ In their staging, directors such as Jacques Mauclair and Charles Dullin have emphasized the tie between the miser and his treasure. A famous photo of Dullin in the title role shows him cheek to cheek with his cassette, in a terrible parody of lovers united. More recently, in Roger Planchon's 1986 production, Harpagon falls sobbing across the cassette in a tearful embrace as the curtain drops. But an equally...