Summary
A large saloon, where Figaro and Susan are rejoicing. When Susan says, "What unexpected Happiness!" Figaro tells her that it is all the result of chance, and calls himself "both a Chance Child, and a Child of Chance."
Figaro ruminates further on the nature of chance, saying, "He, the Conqueror, whose Ambition ravages the Earth, and whose Pride eats up Nations, is not less the sport of Chance [75] than the blind Beggar who is conducted by his dog." He then thinks of "that other blind beggar, Love."
Figaro then pontificates about the multifaceted nature of truth, the fact that many different truths exist for different people. Susan parrots his theory back to him: "I find by your account of the matter, Figaro, that poor Truth, like a Lottery Ticket, is so divided and sub-divided, so halved, quartered, cut, carv’d, split and spliced, it is no where entire to be found...And moreover, that what is Truth to-day may be a Lie to-morrow."
With this idea, Susan suggests that according to Figaro's logic, their love will become staid and boring once they are married. She resolves, "We will endeavour to convert the iron Bands of Matrimony into a flowery Wreath which Love shall teach us to bear lightly and joyously through Life." They discuss the fact that Figaro does not want Susan to meet the count that night. As they laugh merrily, the countess enters and tells Figaro that his bridesmen are waiting for him.
Left alone, the countess tells Susan that she is preparing to go and meet the count, pretending to be her. She tells Susan to write something to the count to set a time for the rendezvous. They entitle the note "A New Song," because it makes reference to the way that the count and countess once corresponded through sheet music. They tell the count to meet Susan under the chestnut trees and use a pin from the countess' dress to seal the letter, when suddenly a ribbon (riband) from Hannibal falls out of the top of the dress.
Just as they note this, Agnes and a number of maidens, including Hannibal the page, disguised as a shepherdess, enter with nosegays for the countess. The countess puts the riband into her pocket surreptitiously. As she kisses the page, whom Agnes introduces as her cousin, the countess suspects that it is the page, but they are interrupted by the arrival of the count and Antonio.
Antonio is sure that Hannibal is disguised among the girls, having found his new hat and cockade hidden in a basket. The girls surround Hannibal seeking to protect him. The countess confronts the count and tells him that she was conspiring to play a prank on him. When he asks why, she replies, "Because, my Lord, when your Passions are predominant, you are incapable of either listening to or believing the Truth."
The count asks Hannibal why he stayed behind and disobeyed his orders, and the page replies that he wanted to teach Agnes the love scene for the comedy that will take place that evening. Agnes steps forward and talks about the fact that the count is often trying to woo her and that they have engaged in an affair. She then asks that—since he often tells her he will give her anything she desires—the count consent to her marrying Hannibal.
Figaro enters and urges everyone that they must start the wedding. When he says that he wants to dance, the count calls his bluff, suggesting that he hurt his ankle earlier jumping out the window. He then reveals to Figaro that Hannibal is among the women, and that he knows that it was Hannibal who jumped out the window.
As Figaro and the girls go to the wedding, the count tells Hannibal to go to his room for the rest of the day. The wedding procession begins for the two marriages, the one between Bartholo and Marcelina and between Susan and Figaro. During the procession, Susan gives the count the note that she and the countess made. As a dance begins, the count goes to open the letter, but pricks his finger on the pin and throws it on the ground. He then reads the letter, which pleases him.
The countess and Susan, seeing that the count has been taken in by the letter, leave the room to exchange dresses. After they leave, Basil enters with Bounce, and claims that he wants to marry Marcelina. Figaro insults him and they almost begin to fight, but Bartholo and Don Guzman hold them back.
Basil says that Marcelina promised to marry him, should he adopt her long-lost son. When the court tells Basil that Figaro is that son, however, he is no longer interested in marrying Marcelina and abandons his plans to do so. When Figaro and Marcelina are left alone, he tells his mother that he is immune to jealousy.
Agnes enters, looking to return the pin that had sealed the count's note to Susan. She tells him that the count sent him with the pin to give to Susan and tell her that he will meet her at the pavilion. Hearing this, Figaro believes that Susan is being unfaithful to him, and plots her and the count's demise. Marcelina is less sure that Susan is being unfaithful, but Figaro is consumed with jealousy.
Analysis
This very chance that resolves Act 3 becomes the topic of Figaro and Susan's conversation at the beginning of Act 4. They discuss the fact that their good fortune is all the result of chance, and Figaro calls himself "The Chance Child." Furthermore, Figaro considers the ways that chance plays a part in class, saying, "He, the Conqueror, whose Ambition ravages the Earth, and whose Pride eats up Nations, is not less the sport of Chance than the blind Beggar who is conducted by his dog." Here, he suggests that one's position within society is all a result of chance, a completely random result.
In this act, we get to see Figaro and Susan uncensored by their masters, as they revel in their union and philosophize about the nature of reality. Figaro proves quite the philosopher, making many claims about the nature of Chance, Love, and Truth. His monologue about Truth is particularly relevant to the chaos and simultaneity of the play itself. As he talks about the fact that there are so many different truths in the world, that truth is fragmented and impossible to contain within some kind of objective framework, we see that this is the very idea that Beaumarchais is seeking to illustrate in his depiction of courtly intrigue and the mayhem of his characters' competing interests.
No sooner have Figaro and Susan found peace than the chaos of the courtly intrigue combusts yet again. The countess enters and enlists Susan's help in duping the count, and no sooner have they plotted his humiliation than Hannibal enters, dressed as a girl, with Agnes and a group of handmaidens. While the issue of Figaro's parentage and his marriage to Susan may have been resolved for a brief moment, the disguises, schemes, and pranks surrounding the count and countess' marriage persist.
The two plots—the wished-for union of Figaro and Susan, and the troubled marriage of the count and countess—continually trade off as centers of the narrative. As soon as the countess and Susan ensnare the count in their plot, Basil enters to lay claim to Marcelina, which would throw off Susan and Figaro's marriage. At every turn, there is a new promise, plot, or revelation that threatens to throw the entire narrative out of balance yet again. In this way, Beaumarchais shows the ways that chance is always threatening to throw life out of alignment, to create chaos and decimate expectation.
At the end of the act, even the endlessly crafty and unemotional Figaro is deceived and overtaken by jealousy. Believing that Susan's efforts to ensnare the count on behalf of the countess are actually evidence of her own real affair with Almaviva, he becomes determined to get revenge on them both. Marcelina pleads with him to try and get him to consider another explanation, but he becomes consumed by his own jealousy. Even the artful Figaro is not immune to the possessive emotions of romantic jealousy, and it leads him to irrational emotions faster than even he might have expected. Thus, he becomes yet another victim of the courtly intrigue to which he has been so central.
