ou, Cleonte and you are
here at just the right time. My husband is coming, seize the
opportunity to ask for Lucile in marriage.

CLEONTE: Ah! Madame, how sweet that word is to me, and how it
flatters my desires! Could I receive an order more charming, a
favor more precious?

ACT THREE

SCENE XII (Monsieur Jourdain, Madame Jourdain, Cleonte, Lucile,
Covielle, Nicole)

CLEONTE: Sir, I did not want to use anyone to make a request of you
that I have long considered. It affects me enough for me to take
charge of it myself; and, without further ado, I will say to you
that the honor of being your son-in-law is a glorious favor that I
beg you to grant me.

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: Before giving you a reply, sir, I beg to ask if
you are a gentleman.

CLEONTE: Sir, most people don't hesitate much over this question.
They use the word carelessly. They take the name without scruple,
and the usage of today seems to validate the theft. As for me, I
confess to you, I have a little more delicate feelings on this
matter. I find all imposture undignified for an honest man, and
that there is cowardice in disguising what Heaven made us at birth;
to present ourselves to the eyes of the world with a stolen title;
to wish to give a false impression. I was born of parents who,
without doubt, held honorable positions. I have six years of
service in the army, and I find myself established well enough to
maintain a tolerable rank in the world; but despite all that I
certainly have no wish to give myself a name to which others in my
place might believe they could pretend, and I will tell you frankly
that I am not a gentleman.

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: Shake hands, Sir! My daughter is not for you.

CLEONTE: What?

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: You are not a gentleman. You will not have my
daughter.

MADAME JOURDAIN: What are you trying to say with your talk of
gentleman? Are we ourselves of the line of St. Louis?

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: Quiet, wife, I see what you are up to.

MADAME JOURDAIN: Aren't we both descended from good bourgeois
families?

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: There's that hateful word!

MADAME JOURDAIN: And wasn't your father a merchant just like mine?

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: Plague take the woman! She never fails to do
this! If your father was a merchant, so much the worse for him!
But, as for mine, those who say that are misinformed. All that I
have to say to you is, that I want a gentleman for a son-in-law.

MADAME JOURDAIN: It's necessary for