Les Avariés is a 1901 play written by French playwright Eugène Brieux. Controversially, the play centred on the effect of syphilis on a marriage, at a time when sexually transmitted diseases were a taboo topic rarely openly discussed. For this reason, it was censored for some time in France and later in England. An English translation by John Pollock under the title Damaged Goods was published in 1911 and staged in the United States and Britain, including a run on Broadway in 1913 starring Richard Bennett. It was later the subject of several film adaptations. The first, a 1914 silent film also starring Bennett, inspired a craze of subsequent "sex hygiene" films. Brieux dedicated the play to Jean Alfred Fournier, Europe's leading syphilologist. Synopsis The play is in three acts. It centers on George Dupont, twenty-six, who is engaged to be married. In the first act, Dupont is informed by a doctor that he is infected with syphilis. The doctor urges Dupont to postpone his marriage until he has been cured of the infection. (At the time the play was written, this would have entailed three to four years of treatment with Mercury-based compounds.) Dupont rejects the doctor's advice, and moves forward with the wedding. The second act takes place some time later, with Dupont having married his fiancée, Henriette, who has recently given birth to their first child. Their newborn was found to be sickly, and was sent to the country to recuperate under the care of George's mother, Madame Dupont. Mme. Dupont brings the baby back to George's home because the baby's health has further deteriorated. A doctor (the same that diagnosed Dupont in the first act) arrives and advises that the wet nurse be relieved of her duty lest she contract an illness from the baby. Mme. Dupont objects, and offers the wet nurse a considerable sum of money to stay on, which she accepts. After inspecting the baby, the doctor announces it is afflicted with congenital syphilis. He threatens to inform the wet nurse of this if the Duponts insist on retaining her service, but the nurse learns of the diagnosis from a butler and refuses to honor her previous agreement to feed the baby. The act ends with the arrival of Dupont's wife, Henriette, who overhears what has transpired and falls to the floor screaming. The third act takes place in a hospital. Monsieur Loche,