Summary
In the Great Hall, a court is set up. The count enters with his servant and orders him to ride to Seville to see if the page has joined the regiment and at what time. When the servant leaves, the count worries about whether or not he is being duped.
Figaro enters, as the count suggests that if he learns that Figaro and the countess have been plotting against him, he will make Figaro marry Marcelina. When the count comments on the fact that Figaro has taken a long time and suggests that servants take longer to dress than their masters, Figaro wryly suggests, "Well they may—They are obliged to dress themselves."
In an aside, the count suggests that if Figaro refuses to go with him to France, he will know that Susan has betrayed him. The men discuss politics, and Figaro speaks about his disrespect for the political stage: "To appear always deeply concerned for the good of the State, yet to have no other end but Self-interest; to assemble and say Nothing; to pretend vast Secrecy where there is nothing to conceal; to shut yourself up in your Chamber, and mend your Pen or pick your Teeth, while your Footmen inform the attending Croud you are too busy to be approach’d—this, with the art of intercepting Letters, imitating Hands, pensioning Traitors, and rewarding Flatterers, is the whole mystery of Politics, or I am an Idiot."
The two men test one another, trying to determine whether the other is plotting something. The count asks Figaro how much the countess paid him for the plot they had in the bed chamber. Figaro replies, "As much as your Lordship gave me for helping you to steal her from her old jealous Guardian," alluding to the count and countess' courtship. As the count becomes familiar with him and says that "Appearances...really speak thee a great Knave," Figaro replies, "Appearances, my dear Lord, are frequently false—I am much better than I appear to be—Can the Great in general say as much?"
Figaro tells the count that he will stay behind with his wife and act as steward. From this, the count determines that Figaro is conspiring against him, and decides to marry him off to Marcelina. As the trial begins, Susan enters and tells the count that she needs his smelling-bottle, as the countess "has got the vapours." When the count suggests that Figaro will have to marry Marcelina, Susan tells him that she will meet with him in the garden and pursue an affair (the countess has told her to tell him so). In exchange for the affair, the count agrees to let Figaro and Susan wed. The count is thrilled to hear that Susan will give herself to him, and she runs off to the countess.
Figaro and Susan discuss the fact that they have ensnared the count, but he hears them, unseen. He becomes angry, realizing he is a dupe yet again.
Don Guzman, Marcelina, and the Doctor all enter. Don Guzman has a stutter and listens intently to Marcelina's case. As the case gets discussed, Figaro enters. Guzman recognizes Figaro and Figaro tells him that he once served Guzman's lady.
During the trial, a big deal is made of the fact that Figaro has no surname, and goes by "Figaro Anonymous." Guzman asks Bartholo to read to the promise of marriage to Marcelina. Figaro contends that in his letter, he promised to either pay the sum of two thousand piasters or marry Marcelina, while Bartholo suggests that the arrangement was that he would both pay the sum and marry Marcelina. The court authorities cannot make out whether the letter says "and" or "or."
The count eventually proclaims that Figaro must either pay Marcelina the sum or marry her, pleased to be revenged against the valet. As the court disbands, Figaro insists that he will never marry Marcelina, as he has not gotten consent from his noble parents. The count asks Figaro who his parents are, and Figaro insists that he does not know them, and has been looking for them for five years. He tells the count that he was stolen, and that he has a mark of a lobster on his left arm.
Before he can show the mark, Marcelina knows what he is going to say, and calls Figaro "Fernando." Bartholo proclaims, "Thou wert stolen by Gypsies," before telling Figaro that Marcelina is his mother and identifying himself as Figaro's father. "This was the secret cause of all my Fondness for thee," Marcelina says, to which Figaro replies, "No doubt—And of my aversion—Instinct is very powerful." They embrace, as Antonio and Susan enter.
Susan has the debt that Figaro owes to Marcelina that the countess gave her. When she sees Susan and Figaro embracing, she becomes agitated, but Figaro brings her over and tells her that Marcelina is his mother. Marcelina embraces her and gives her consent for their marriage. Susan gives Figaro the money and they all weep. Antonio notes that, if Bartholo is Figaro's father, he is a Turkish Jew and not a Christian.
Antonio speaks up and tells the group that he does not consent to give Susan, his niece, to Figaro, since he is illegitimate, and they persuade Marcelina and Bartholo to get married in order to let Susan and Figaro marry. Figaro urges them all to go find the count, lest the count thinks of a new way to prevent his marriage to Susan.
Analysis
Embedded in the follies and humor of the play are notes of class disparity and antagonism. The Count's ultimate power within the castle has nothing to do with his moral character, and much to do with his position as count. The tensions that arise as a result peak out in the light conversations. For instance, when the count comments on the fact that Figaro has taken so long, and suggests that servants take longer to dress than their masters, Figaro replies with, "Well they may—They are obliged to dress themselves." Here, he subtly and irreverently alludes to the ways that servants' lives are more difficult than their masters', but the count barely notices.
Indeed, political critiques are frequently sewn into the text of this "comedy of errors." While Figaro and Almaviva discuss politics, Figaro goes on a long speech about the fact that proficiency in politics is not an admirable trait, characterizing it as "To appear always deeply concerned for the good of the State, yet to have no other end but Self-interest." When the count tries to make the distinction between the Partisan and the Politician, Figaro insists, "Party and Politics are much the same, they are become synonimous terms." Beaumarchais has written a light play, full of follies and intrigue, yet he also includes sharp critiques of political corruption and the state as well.
Figaro is a frequently cunning and irreverent character, unafraid to use his wits to gain the upper hand, in spite of his lower rank. In an argument with the count, he even dares to say, "Appearances, my dear Lord, are frequently false—I am much better than I appear to be—Can the Great in general say as much?" He sees that appearances and the trappings of wealth and power mean nothing and that his power comes from the fact that little is expected of him. Figaro is a hero of the lower classes, a man who achieves everything by his wits rather than his reputation or social power.
The problem of Figaro's betrothal to Marcelina is resolved in a rather unexpected and shocking way. As Figaro reveals the unknowns surrounding his parentage, Marcelina and Bartholo realize that they are actually his parents. Just in the moment that Figaro thought he would have to marry Marcelina instead of Susan, it comes out that she is, in fact, his mother, which prevents their union definitively. An Oedipal reveal saves the day just when Figaro's fate seems hopeless.
Just when it seems the chaos of Figaro's predicament has reached a head, he finds himself completely redeemed, not only by the discovery of his long-lost parents, but by Susan's procurement of his debt to Marcelina. In an instant, Figaro goes from an indebted orphan to a free man. Such are the rapid twists and turns of Beamarchais' plot, which exposes the arbitrary and changeable follies of human error.
