THE SPECTACLES (1844)

"The Spectacles" is a moderately successful comedic romp, for all that it telegraphs its payoff. The protagonist is a young man named Simpson, who used to have a French name that somehow metamiorphosed over the years from Froissard to Voissard and so on. Simpson, extremely nearsighted but believing himself very handsome, will not wear eyeglasses that spoil his looks. Therefore, when he falls for what he believes to be a moderately aged woman, one can practically guess that she's going to be more than a little older than him. In fact, just to take the Oedipal elements to an absurd extreme, his would-be lover proves to be his own great-great-grandmother. Simple Simpson is also victimized by a prank into believing he's married the 82-year-old woman, but he gets the consolation of marrying a much younger woman for real-- apparently a cousin, to whom the grand-dame introduces him-- while vowing thereafter never to take off his new spectacles.