Rewriting Antony

Little attention has been paid to the dramas written by Alexandre Dumas père in the 1850s. This study attempts to remedy that state of affairs by examining L'Honneur est satisfait, a one-act comedy written and first performed in 1858. It suggests that this "gentil proverbe" can be read as a rewriting of one of Dumas's most celebrated pieces, Antony (1831), and claims that this rewriting deliberately sets aside the conventions of Romantic dramaturgy (considered outmoded by many critics of the day) in favor of mid-century comic codes.