Mr. Jourdain, a wealthy draper, claims to make an impression in the world by mimicking the manners of the nobility. He hires a music master, a dance master, a fencing master, and a philosophy master. Ignorant yet stubborn, he quickly turns his home into a hell.

A victim of a "Turquerie," he allows himself to be deceived by the false nobility of a host presented to him as the son of the Grand Turk, to whom he decides to marry his daughter. So eager to be seen as a gentleman, he believes he has indeed become one.

In this enormous farce, Mr. Jourdain twirls until his burlesque apotheosis and his abrupt downfall.