Misanthrope Essay

Michelle Ozaki

Per. 3

In The Misanthrope, Moliere uses the idea of thoughtful laughter to poke fun at high-class society. One scene that perfectly gets across his idea of thoughtful laughter is the final scene of the play. This final scene brings in most of the characters, and brings about a humorous and unexpected sad ending to the story. This type of irony appears throughout the play and helps get across the idea of thoughtful laughter.

In the final scene, Act V scene iv, Celimene is truly seen as a coquette in the eyes of Alceste, even though this has been apparent to the audience for the majority of the play. Part of the thoughtful laughter aspect in this scene is the ending feud. The last moments of the scene reveal how the complicated love hexagon will end. The two most humble characters, Eliante and Philinte, end up together while the characters who steal the spotlight, end up unhappy. This scene plays into the idea of thoughtful laughter because those of insincerity end up with unhappiness. Part of the humor is that these high-class characters have lives in which their greatest misfortunes are about ridiculous love arguments.

This scene ties the rest of the play together. Throughout the play Celimene criticizes everyone, including the men she appears to love. This is ironic considering that she cannot see, or feel regret for her own flaws. In the final scene, this flaw leads to her own downfall, similar to tragic heroes in Greek literature. This irony is part of the thoughtful laughter, but so is the way each scene is written. The play is written in a rhyming pattern. Even in arguments, the rhyme swings back and forth between the characters. The audience perceives this as humorous because of how little it relates to real life.

The use of thoughtful laughter in The Misanthrope is used to entertain the audience and also to poke fun at the upper class. He tries to represent thoughtful laughter in many different ways, using mostly rhyming and irony. He humorizes what the upper class views as unpleasant situations and hard times to show that their troubles are nothing compared to the problems of the lower class.