A recurring name in the cast of Molière's plays is named Sganarelle. If they were all the same person, the story of his life would look something like this:
- The Flying Doctor: Sganarelle is a servant to Valère
- Dom Juan: Sganarelle is a servant to Dom Juan and apparently unmarried
- The School For Husbands: Sganarelle is supposed to marry Isabella, but she ends up marrying someone else
- The Forced Marriage: Sganarelle is "52 or 53" years old and is forced to promise to marry Dorimène who is actually in love with Lycaste
- Sganarelle, or The Imaginary Cuckold: Sganarelle is married and he and his unnamed wife suspect each other of cheating on each other
- The Doctor Despite Himself: Sganarelle is married to Martine and they fight with each other before she takes revenge on him
- Love the Doctor: Sganarelle's wife is dead and he has a daughter whom he doesn't want to let marry
All of the plays in which Sganarelle is married show him and his wife fighting (Sganarelle The Doctor Despite Himself act 1, scene 1) and he attests to that fact after her death (Love the Doctor, act 1, scene 1). Every Sganarelle also seems to have similar mannerisms: For example, his fanciful quotations of Aristotle and philosophers (The Doctor in Spite of Himself act 1, scene 1; Dom Juan act 1, scene 1; Love the Doctor act 1, scene 1) and his intense fear of being cuckolded (throughout every play in which he appears, with the possible exceptions of The Flying Doctor and Dom Juan). In addition, they both seem to live close enough to a place where non-standard French is spoken (Dom Juan act 2; The Doctor in Spite of Himself).
While some of his potential spouses seem to have different names (indeed in Love the Doctor act 1, scene 1 he says he only had one wife), the only named one he is shown as having actually married is Martine.
Is there any evidence that some or all of these characters named Sganarelle were or weren't intended to be the same person?
