Word: bonfante
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...that there are not ample hints in the text of possible directions towards which the play could have been pitted. One such is the line towards the end of the play delivered by Dr. Bonfant, "One must never understand one's enemies . . . One must never understand anyone for that matter or one will die of it." This strikes a theme so rich, with its Hamlet-like overtones and its implications about the difficulties of taking violent revolutionary political action that a play constructed around it could have been immensely profitable...
...mechanical level Anouilh feels no need to explain how the letters to Bonfant find their way into Madame Mlle, de Ste. Euverte's hands, on a textual level he feels no qualms about using the term 'soul' to explain contradictory situations. When Anouilh wants to indulge in a dissertation about 'honor' he so indulges, forming such a situation even though nothing of the resulting discussion between the General and his Secretary is coherently related to the characters or the action of the rest of the play. This is not a fault--it is just another style of writing plays...
Anouilh's nihilistic chatter, as long as furiously paced and highly stylized suicides, seductions, and wit keep it from self seriousness, is delightful. The characters are stereotypes, and the ironies are always pleasant. (Th General's friend, Dr. Bonfant, announces that life must be lived like a cavalry charge, and then goes home to be browbeaten by his own shrewish wife. When Gaston, the secretary, hints that he is falling in love, the General shouts, "You must gorge yourself on cheap novels!" And Gaston replies, "No, sir, on the classics, exclusively. But the course of events is frequently quite similar...
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