Misanthrope Essay

By: Sooji Hong
Period 1

In Moliere's play The Misanthrope, the focus is on the two characters, Alceste and Celimene. Celimene plays a major role in the play, being the center of attention among men while internally mocking these men in a disparaging manner which arouses humor among the audience. Alceste is one of several men who is obsessed with Celimene; however, his specific actions and irrevocable love towards Celimene, which contradicts his fixed morals evokes a thoughtful laughter and makes him different from other men. Throughout the play, the playwright portrays the thoughtful laughter as the comedy of manners which satirizes the affectations and the hypocrisies of social behavior. By carefully constructing the idea of thoughtful laughter, Moliere uses Alceste and Celimene and each characters' development, reactions, and behaviors to effectively demonstrate the social behaviors, contributing the thoughtful laughter to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Alceste constitutes one specific character in The Misanthrope who arouse a thoughtful laughter. The protagonist of the play, Alceste is a man of strict code of ethics who values the importance of honesty and tribulations of hypocrisy. He is often frustrated by the insincerity of the people and the prevalence of corruption in the society around him. However, Moliere evokes a thoughtful laughter when even Alceste, a man of strict code of ethics, cannot follow the principles he lives with and eventually does not survive the society he satirizes. When Alceste learned that the woman he dearly loves, Celimene, has not been honest to him, deceiving him into believing that she loved him, Alceste admits to his own weaknesses by showing a willingness to forgive her. His behavior and actions around Celimene when he says that he would be willing to forgive her and even marry her arouses thoughtful laughter, because it makes the audience think about the contradictions of Alceste's firm ethics and leads them to characterize Alceste as a hypocrite. Despite the fact that he follows a strict code of ethics and despise those who aren't honest eventually offers his hand to Celimene who had offended him and broken his morals. This contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole by showing the hypocrisies of social behavior as well as the irrationality of love; despite what Alceste believes in, he ironically went against his ethics because of his uncontrollable love for Celimene.

The laughter of the audience is once again exposed through another major character, Celimene. The play revolves around Celimene, who is energetic, young, and witty. She is always the center of attention by the men and she is easily noticed by them due to her charming and witty personality. She has learned to operate within the society that she lives in very well as she constantly drives to gain interest among men, when in fact, she does not actually appreciate or like all the attention she receives. This irrational behavior and action evokes a thoughtful laughter, as the audience realizes that Celimene's words are in fact, contradictory to her actions. Her lack of strong value system as well as wavering and careless behaviors evokes humor as the audience realizes Celimene's inability to demonstrate any strong desires when she has the power to control the men and acquire what she wishes to have. For example, this occurs when Oronte and Alceste, who have always been patient and loving towards Celimene, demand her to choose between them, and is not responsible for her words and actions. This contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole, because it shows Celimene's hypocrisies to her own words to Alceste and Oronte, whom she had led to believe that she loved them.

Through the different characters and their behaviors, actions, and reactions in the play The Misanthrope, Moliere conveys the message of thoughtful laughter. Alceste and Celimene are two major characters who illustrate and evoke humor throughout the play. Moliere skillfully relates these thoughtful laughter to the meaning of the work as he satirizes the hypocrisies of the society and the irrationality of love.