Аннотация:In 17th century French theatre two different figures of servants can be identified: the first one shows ability and fantasy at the service of his young master; the second one is not only awkward, but above all he is not able to hold his lower instincts. By breaking the rules of the high-society gallant code, does the odd servant challenge the high values? The article tries to give an answer to this question by analyzing two servants of Molière's theatre: Mascarille and Scapin. Mascarille performs both roles: the first one in L'Étourdi, the second one in Les Précieuses Ridicules, in either of them modifying the sources of the respective comedies. In Les Précieuses Ridicules the final punishment of the servants, despite its cruelty, does not imply an identification with their reasons. This identification, indeed, is prevented by the stylistic distinction that in the classical doctrine definitely separates the high and the low register, the comic and the serious. On the contrary, Scapin in Les Fourberies changes the dramatic type of the valet: he reverses the hierarchy of values because of his sense of honour and his consequent actions. His victory is the triumph of Drama itself and of its rules, which overcome those governing society.
