About the work
“Der Parasit oder Die Kunst, sein Glück zu machen” (The Parasite, or The Art of Making One's Fortune) is a comedy in five acts that Friedrich Schiller created in spring 1803 after the French verse comedy “Médiocre et rampant, ou le Moyen de parvenir” by Louis-Benoît Picard (Paris, 1797). Schiller kept the plot and characters but turned the alexandrines into light conversational prose. The first performance took place on 12 October 1803 at the Weimar court theatre, without Picard being named as the author; the text was published by Cotta in Tübingen in 1806.
Plot
In post-revolutionary Paris the honest minister Narbonne takes office and looks among his officials for a suitable envoy. His subordinate Selicour, a hypocrite and flatterer, poses as a reformer, conceals his involvement in his predecessor's dealings and takes credit for the work of his more capable but modest colleagues Firmin and La Roche. In this way he hopes to secure the ambassadorial post and the hand of Narbonne's daughter Charlotte, whose grandmother Madame Belmont he has won over. In the end his intrigues are exposed and the honest are given their due.
Cultural significance
While Picard's original is largely forgotten in France, Schiller's version has remained alive in the German-speaking world and is often printed and performed without reference to the French source. It is regarded as Schiller's only successful comedy; its modest cast and low technical demands made it popular with large and small theatres alike.