A tragic state
Rameau prefers an idle life. Pretending to be a complete fool, he can always hope for a free meal in exchange for his amusing buffoonery. There are many rich people, who may afford themselves to keep a jester. Once Rameau makes a big mistake and proves to have “a little sense” which makes his patrons see red. They kick him in order to teach him a lesson “to remain the man God made you”. Mr. Philosopher suggests him to behave like a man “in the truly tragic state” and go to his patrons to ask for forgiveness. He images this man with “this dejected face, these wild eyes, this disheveled collar, tousled hair”. The man in this state should also have “a low and sobbing voice”. This image gives an impression that the man in a tragic state abandons his appearance, because of great emotional suffering.
Young and beautiful
Rameau muses over the possibility of helping people in their love affairs. For instance, he uses an image of a richly dressed girl as evidence of beneficialness of this type of a relationship for a beautiful and young girl. In such a way, a “badly dressed” girl would be able to change her poor dress for “some fine earrings, a little rouge, lace, and a Polish-style dress” and look “ravishing”. Rameau also describes how he imagines an ideal man for this girl. He portraits him as “a nice gentleman, young and rich, who has a coat trimmed in gold”. This image gives a reader an impression of beautiful and enjoyable life which consists only of enjoyable moments and beauty.
A wise man
When Mr. Philosopher half-jokingly mentions that a beard is the only one thing which Rameau needs in order to look like a wise man, Rameau says that it is really so, for he has everything else. Rameau describes himself a person with “a lofty wrinkled forehead, a burning eye, a jutting nose, large cheeks, black bushy eyebrows, a clean-cut mouth, curving lips, a square face”. This image should give an impression of close resemblance between Rameau and ancient philosophers.
