Villa for Sale – CBSE Notes for Class 9 English Literature Reader
CBSE NotesCBSE Notes English Literature ReaderNCERT Solutions English Literature Reader
Introduction
‘Villa for Sale’ is an interesting play by Sacha Guitry. It is a story of a Villa which is for sale. Juliette, the owner of the villa, wants to dispose it off as soon as possible, but no customer turns up. But the drama takes a turn when a couple comes to see the villa. The husband is reluctant to buy the villa, but in the end, the husband is willing to buy tire villa just because of a dramatic turn.
Summary
In the beginning of the play, the Villa-owner Juliette is shown to be in a very sad mood. She’s talking to her maid about the villa which she wants to sell. She had hung the sign ‘For sale’ outside the gate one month ago but no customer had come forward to buy it. She seems to be quite in a hurry to dispose it off at one hundred thousand francs. The villa is near Join ville, the French Hollywood, but even then she is finding it difficult to sell it. At this stage the maid suggests her to play a role of a cook in a film and earn some money but she politely refuses. Suddenly, the bell rings. The maid opens the door to find a couple, Gaston and Jeanne, standing at the door.
The couple have come to see the villa. The husband Gaston seems reluctant to buy the villa. He makes all kinds of excuses for not buying the villa. BuJ Jeanne wishes to see the villa at least once so that they can think before making the final decision. At one point, both of them almost start quarrelling Gaston hints that Jeanne wants to buy the villa for her parents and that’s also one of the reasons why Gaston doesn’t want to buy it. Both of them decided to leave the place without talking to Juliette who suddenly makes her entry at this point.
They exchange wishes and then Juliette starts describing the villa. She tells them that it has all the advantages like electricity, gas, water, telephone, drainage etc. The bathroom is beautifully fitted. There are two bedrooms, a kitchen and a servant room. The villa also has a garden. A picture of a painter, Corot, is hung in the room. Juliette tells them that she will not sell the picture along with the villa; she will keep the picture for herself. Juliette makes the first offer of two hundred and fifty thousand francs which is put down by Gaston, so she reduces the price to two hundred thousand francs.
Gaston is still unwilling to buy the villa. But Jeanne wants to go and see the upper floor and the bathroom. Gaston politely puts down the offer and prefers to sit back and relax.
Jeanne goes with Juliette alone to see the upper floor.
After their exit another lady Mrs. A1 Smith makes her entry, She is an American lady who works in films. She wants to buy this villa which is near Paramount studios where she is going to shoot films. She sees Gaston in the room. Thinking him to be the owner of the villa, she starts making fire deal with him for the villa, Gaston, an opportunist, understands the situation and takes advantage of it by posing himself as the owner.
He repeats the lines Juliette told him about the rooms, the advantages, the bathroom fittings and so on but Mrs. A1 Smith doesn’t have time for it. She just wants to know the price of the villa. She informs him that she doesn’t give a damn about the rooms and fittings of the villa because she wants to knock it down and will make a bungalow in its place. Gaston agrees to sell that villa for three hundred thousand francs to which the lady agrees. The deal is fixed; she hands a cheque to Gaston and tells him to vacate the villa by the next day so that her architect can start working on it.
The moment Mrs. A1 Smith departs, Jeanne and Juliette come down after looking at the upper floor. There’s a change in Jeanne’s attitude. She now seems less interested to buy the villa. But Gaston has already accepted the cheque from Mrs. Smith. He now wants to buy the villa which makes the situation a bit funny. He tries to let Jeanne focus on the qualities of the house and fixes the price at two hundred thousand francs. The deal is fixed. Juliette and Gaston exchange the receipt and cheque with each other. The villa now belongs to Gaston who has made one hundred thousand francs by his quick wittedness and cleverness. He tells Juliette to vacate the villa by the next day positively and leaves the place.
The post Villa for Sale – CBSE Notes for Class 9 English Literature Reader appeared first on Learn CBSE.