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- Herausgeber: E-BOOKARAMA
- Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
“The Misanthrope”, a comedy of manners in five acts and in verse, was written by Molière in 1666.
It is one of the best of Molière's plays — and one of the greatest of all comedies — spotlighting the absurdities of social and literary pretension.
"The Misanthrope" is set in the fashionable social milieu of seventeenth-century Paris. Alceste, the misanthrope of the title, is disgusted by the hypocrisy, injustice, and overall corruption in human society. Alceste's concern with the Issue of justice has to do with the fact that he is embroiled m several lawsuits, the outcome of which are determined not by which party is in the right but by who has the most influence in court. Nonetheless, Alceste is in love with Celimene, a young widow with a reputation for flirtation and for surrounding herself with suitors and who is a prime example of the insincerity that Alceste despises in others. In the final act, Celimene is confronted by all of her suitors for her lack of honesty when they discover that she has promised her love to each of them while ridiculing each of the others behind his back. Finally, fed up with society and fearing the consequences of various legal battles, Alceste vows to run off and live in seclusion in the wilderness.
This play satirises the hypocrisies of French aristocratic society, but it also engages a more serious tone when pointing out the flaws, which all humans possess. The play differs from other farces at the time by employing dynamic characters like Alceste and Célimène as opposed to the traditionally flat characters used by most satirists to criticise problems in society. It also differs from most of Molière's other works by focusing more on character development and nuances than on plot progression. The play, though not a commercial success in its time, survives as Molière's best-known work today. Much of its universal appeal is due to common undercurrents of misanthropy across cultural borders.
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Molière
The Misanthrope
Table of contents
THE MISANTHROPE
Dramatis Personae
Act I
Act II
Act III
Act IV
Act V
THE MISANTHROPE
Molière
Dramatis Personae
Alceste, in love with Célimène. Philinte, his friend. Oronte, in love with Célimène. Célimène, beloved by Alceste. Eliante, her cousin. Arsinoé, Célimène’s friend. Acaste, marquises. Clitandre, marquises. Basque, servant to Célimène. Dubois, servant to Alceste. An Officer of the Maréchaussée.
Scene. — At Paris, in Célimène’s House
Act I
Scene I. — Philinte, Alceste.
Philinte. What is the matter? What ails you?
Alceste ( seated). Leave me, I pray.
Philinte. But, once more, tell me what strange whim . . .
Alceste. Leave me, I tell you, and get out of my sight.
Philinte. But you might at least listen to people, without getting angry.
Alceste. I choose to get angry, and I do not choose to listen.
Philinte. I do not understand you in these abrupt moods, and although we are friends, I am the first . . .
Alceste ( rising quickly). I, your friend? Lay not that flattering unction to your soul. I have until now professed to be so; but after what I have just seen of you, I tell you candidly that I am such no longer; I have no wish to occupy a place in a corrupt heart.
Philinte. I am then very much to be blamed from your point of view, Alceste?
Alceste. To be blamed? You ought to die from very shame; there is no excuse for such behaviour, and every man of honour must be disgusted at it. I see you almost stifle a man with caresses, show him the most ardent affection, and overwhelm him with protestations, offers, and vows of friendship. Your ebullitions of tenderness know no bounds; and when I ask you who that man is, you can scarcely tell me his name; your feelings for him, the moment you have turned your back, suddenly cool; you speak of him most indifferently to me. Zounds! I call it unworthy, base, and infamous, so far to lower one’s self as to act contrary to one’s own feelings, and if, by some mischance, I had done such a thing, I should hang myself at once out of sheer vexation.
Philinte. I do not see that it is a hanging matter at all; and I beg of you not to think it amiss if I ask you to show me some mercy, for I shall not hung myself, if it be all the same to you.
Alceste. That is a sorry joke.
Philinte. But, seriously, what would you have people do?
Alceste. I would have people be sincere, and that, like men of honour, no word be spoken that comes not from the heart.
Philinte. When a man comes and embraces you warmly, you must pay him back in his own coin, respond as best you can to his show of feeling, and return offer for offer, and vow for vow.
