M. Orgon. Mon cher Monsieur, je vous demande mille pardons de vous avoir fait attendre; mais ce n’est que de cet instant que j’apprends que vous êtes ici.
Arlequin. Monsieur, mille pardons! c’est beaucoup trop, il n’en faut qu’un, quand on n’a fait qu’une faute; au surplus, tous mes pardons sont à votre service.Marivaux, Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasardM. Orgon. My Dear Sir, a thousand pardons for my having made you wait, but it is only just now that I learned you were here.
Arlequin. Sir, a thousand pardons is far too many; one per fault is sufficient! And in any case all my pardons are at your service.
Scientific Method
Check out this exciting web series, featuring the Professor.
About Mad Beppo
Why art thou sad, my Beppo?"
Mad Beppo (aka the Professor) is neither sad nor mad. He delights in French, poetry, film, and Baroque music. More about Mad Beppo…
A very funny (to me) exchange from perhaps Marivaux’s best known play. Here, Arlequin, a servant disguised as his master, responds in what he thinks is a very elegant and super-polite way to the host’s apology for being tardy, but ends up being buffoon-like.