Reading Order
BarbarineBarbarine Reading Order
Barbarine (1835) by Alfred de Musset is a short historical fantasy play set in Hungary under King Mathias Corvinus — a lighter, more theatrical work than the major Proverbes but one that shows another side of Musset's dramatic range. Count Ulric, whose wife Barbarine is famous for her fidelity, makes a wager with the king that her constancy can be broken; the king sends the chevalier Rosemberg to test her. Barbarine passes every test, Ulric loses his wager (having bet his honor on his wife's infidelity), and the king's wise resolution restores everyone to their proper place. The play is a variant on the constancy-test plot familiar from Boccaccio, Cymbeline, and The Winter's Tale, but Musset treats it with a lightness and a wit that make it feel Mozartian rather than tragic. Barbarine is one of the lesser-known Musset plays but has a devoted following among theater historians for its dramatic economy and its sympathetic portrait of the tested wife.
Where to start
Barbarine is short and can be read in an hour. Read it in the context of the Comédies et Proverbes collection rather than in isolation — it makes the most sense as one element of Musset's range rather than as a standalone work.
Complete Barbarine Book List
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Barbarine
Alfred de Musset·1835·Available in French in the Comédies et Proverbes collection (Gallimard Folio or GF Flammarion) and in the Pléiade Théâtre complet. Rarely translated separately into English; appears in some anthology collections of French Romantic drama. - Buy
Les Caprices de Marianne
OptionalAlfred de Musset·1833·The more famous companion comedy — the contrast between Barbarine's comic resolution and Marianne's tragic caprice shows the full range of Musset's dramatic register.
Barbarine — Frequently Asked Questions
How does Barbarine compare to Shakespeare's constancy-test plays?
Barbarine draws on the same source as Shakespeare's Cymbeline and The Winter's Tale — the Boccaccio tale of the husband who wagers on his wife's fidelity and loses — but treats it very differently. Shakespeare's treatments (and Boccaccio's) are deeply interested in the psychological damage the test does to the marriage: Posthumus in Cymbeline becomes genuinely murderous, Leontes in The Winter's Tale is consumed by paranoid jealousy, and the reunion scenes in both plays carry enormous emotional weight from the destruction that preceded them. Musset's treatment is lighter and more ironic: Ulric's wager is foolish from the beginning (there is no jealousy, just overconfidence), the king's involvement frames the whole situation as a game that the wise monarch can adjudicate, and the resolution is comic rather than tragic. This lightness is both the play's limitation (it lacks the psychological depth of the Shakespeare versions) and its charm (it is genuinely funny and moves with extraordinary efficiency through its material).
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