Molière's "The Misanthrope"

Pierre Mignard - Portrait of Molière, detail - 1665 

One would think that the 50 page Molière play The Misanthrope would be a quick and easy read, but compared to Swift's 350 page Gulliver's Travels, it is much more difficult.

First, and most frustratingly for me, The Misanthrope has too many characters for a 50 page play, and the character names are quite similar.  Alceste, Acaste and Arsinoé.  Célimène and Clitandre.  Surely the entire French language offers a breadth of names for those of us who must read plays instead of seeing them performed?  Grumble Grumble!

This play questions social norms and the truth.  Alceste sees little purpose in the little white lies that we offer in order to maintain social graces.  Célimène chastises him for his honesty, but then is chastised in turn for her gossip.  What Alceste would say to one's face out of honesty, she says behind one's back out of mischief. 

Alceste is irritable and bad-tempered, attributes which paint him as the senior of the group, and the other men, who follow Célimène appear eager and naïve in comparison, at least until they hear Célimène's letter.  At this point they abandon their pursuit, leaving only Alceste with positive feelings for Célimène.  This means a few different things:  irritability comes with wisdom and age, blind love comes with youth, and Alceste was the only one with true feelings for Célimène, as he is the only one who recognised her true character from the start.  When she is unable to sacrifice her freedom and commit to him, he too walks away, leaving both of these complex characters alone at the end.

Works Cited:

Molière. The Misanthrope. Ed. Shane Weller.  Trans. Henri van Laun.  New York: Dover, 1992. Print.