Question

The Would-Be Gentleman
by Olfson, Lewy

MADAME JOURDAIN: MADAME JOURDAIN: Monsieur Jourdain, my husband, you’re a fool! Dressing up as though you’re on your way to a fancy ball! Hiring language teachers, and dancing teachers, and fencing teachers, and music teachers! The next thing I know, you’ll be paying somebody to teach you to breathe! And all because you think you can turn yourself into an aristocrat. Why don’t you face the fact that you’re a merchant, always have been a merchant, and always will be? You, a gentleman? Ha!



The Would-Be Gentleman, by Moliere, adapted by Lewy Olfson © This play is reprinted from Plays, The Drama Magazine for Young People with the permission of the publisher Plays/Sterling Partners Inc. 897 Washington Street #600160, Newton, MA 02460

Use the passage to answer the question.

What is Madame Jourdain’s tone in this passage?

(1 point)

desperate

fatigued

mocking

somber

Answer 1

mocking

She ridicules his efforts (calls him a fool, uses sarcasm about teaching him to breathe, dismisses his pretensions), which shows a mocking tone.