A discussion of Moliere's "The Misanthrope"

1. Molière

2. The Baroque Theater in France

3. Jean Léon Gérôme, Louis XIV Breakfasting with Molière

4. The Status of Actors Before the Reign of
Louis XIV
Clergy condemned theater as the “enemy of
public morals.”
Actors were automatically excommunicated
Actors could not receive sacraments or burial in
consecrated ground
Father Roullé, a Parisian priest: “For writing
Tartuffe, Molière should be burned at the stake
as a foretaste of the fires of hell.”

5. Tragedy and Comedy
In a TRAGEDY, the major character is excluded
from the society to which he or she belongs.
In a COMEDY, the major characters are
included back into, or promoted with, the society
that they wish to belong to.

6. The Classic Definition of the
Purpose of Art
TO INSTRUCT BY PLEASING

7. Comedy As Reform
“The most effective way of attacking
vice is to expose it to ridicule. People
can put up with rebukes but they
cannot bear being laughed at; they are
prepared to be wicked but they dislike
appearing ridiculous.” —Molière

8. Molière (1622-1673)
THE MISANTHROPE
1666
or
The Atrabilious Lover

9. Atrabilious?
atrabilious, adjective.
1.Inclined to melancholy.
2.Having a peevish disposition; surly.
[Latin atra bilis, black bile, translation of
Greek melankholia]

10. THE FOUR HUMORS
“All men having the same passions, differ only
in proportion to their sensibilities.” — Jean-Georges Noverre

11. CHARACTERS
Alceste — the misanthrope
Philinte — the good friend
Célimène — the coquette
Arsinoë — the prude
Oronte — the vain poet
Eliante — the sensible woman

12. Verse Drama
The original is written in rhymed meter
Wilbur has preserved it in iambic (mostly) pentameter
* / * / * / * / * /
It hardly seems a hanging matter to me
* / * / * / * / * /
I hope that you will take it graciously
* / * / * / * / * /
If I extend myself a slight reprieve
* / * / * / * / * /
And live a little longer, by your leave.

13. “Molière’s logic loses all its baroque
exhuberance in prose” -- Wilbur
Madame, l’Amité doit sur tout éclater
Aux choses qui le plus nous peuvent importer:
Et comme il n’en est point de plus grande importance
Que celles de l’Honneur et de la Bienséance,
Je viens par un avis qui touche votre honneur
Témoigner l’amitié que pour vous a mon Coeur.
-- Arsinoé to Célimène, Act III

14. “Madame, friendship should most display itself
when truly vital matters are in question: and
since there are no things more vital than decency
and honor, I have come to prove my heartfelt
friendship by giving you some advice which
concerns your reputation.”
------------------ NOW IN VERSE -----------------
Madame, the flame of friendship ought to burn
Brightest in matters of the most concern,
And as there’s nothing which concerns us more
Than honor, have hastened to your door
To bring you, as your friend, some information
About the status of your reputation.

15. Richard Wilbur on The Misanthrope
“The idea that comedy is a ritual in which
society’s laughter corrects individual
extravagance is particularly inapplicable to The
Misanthrope. In this play, society itself is
indicted, and though Alceste’s criticisms are
indiscriminate, they are not unjustified.”
The Misanthrope is one of the first comedies that
not only reveals the flaws and foibles of
individual characters, but exposes basic
hypocrisy in the very foundation of his own
society.

16. More by Wilbur
“It is true that falseness and intrigue are
everywhere on view; the conventions enforce
routine dishonesty, justice is subverted by by
influence, love is overwhelmed by calculation, and
these things are accepted, even by the best, as
‘natural.’ The cold vanity of Oronte, Acaste, and
Clitandre, the malignant hypocrisy of Arsinoé, the
insincerity of Célimène, are to be taken as
exemplary of the age.”
Remember this assessment of Parisian society
when we come to the maxims of La
Rochefoucauld and Madame de Sablé.

17. Wilbur on Alceste
“But The Misanthrope is not only a critique
of society; it is also a study of impurity of
motive in a critic of society. If Alceste has a
rage for the genuine, and he truly has, it is
compromised and exploited by his vast,
unconscious egotism... Like many humorless
and indignant people, he is hard on everybody
but himself...”

18. Should Alceste have praised Oronte’s verses?
Would you?
“Sincerity in excess/Can lead us to a very pretty
mess.” — Philinte
“Wouldn’t the social fabric come undone/ If we
were wholly frank with everyone?”

19. “Little Morals”
“Manners are little morals, showing
the respect due from one human
being to another.”
--Jacques Barzun

20. Should We Be Honest?
“Few people are wise enough to prefer
useful criticism to the sort of praise that
is their undoing.” — La Rochefoucauld (#147)
“The evil we do brings less persecution and
hatred upon us than our good qualities.”
(#29)
“Men could not continue to live in society
if they did not deceive each other.” (#87)

21. Blaise Pascal on Honesty
“I maintain that, if everyone knew what
others said about him, there would not be
four friends in the world.”

22. Célimène: Genetic Flirt?
“Flirtation is at the bottom of woman’s
nature, athough all do not practise it,
some being restrained by fear, others
by sense.”
-- La Rochefoucauld, #241
Why do people flirt?
Is there anything dishonest about flirtation?
Manipulative? Or is it just a fun game?

23. FLIRTING
flirt (flûrt) verb:
1.To make playfully romantic or
sexual overtures.
2.To act so as to attract or provoke:
The bullfighter flirted with death.

24. Philinte’s Secret of Success?
“To know how to unveil the working
of others, and how to hide one’s
own, is the mark of the superior
intellect.” — Madame de Sablé (#35)

25. “Philinte’s philosophic tolerance will not quite do
in response to such a condition of things. The
honest Eliante is the one we are most to trust, and
this is partly because she sees that Alceste’s A
quelque chose en soy de noble et d’héroique.”

26. Head and Heart
✤Philente recognizes that Eliante is clearly the
woman who most closely matches Alceste’s ideal of
honesty and sincerity. But... Alceste does not love
her.
✤Why?
✤Why/how is it that our hearts will not follow the
urging of the mind?
✤Alceste to Eliante: “But reason does not rule in
love, you know.”

27. Tragedy or Comedy?
Is The Misanthrope a Comedy or a Tragedy?
“The lesson is clear: the sensible friend is a model
character, while the misanthrope cannot be faulted
in his critique of conventional society. Both are in
the right. The play is a tragic comedy.” -- Jacques
Barzun

28. The End