Misanthrope essay

Misanthrope Essay

Wylie Period1 Jenny Yu

Moliere starts The Misanthrope by introducing Alceste’s conflict which is his hatred for humans and his love for Celimene. Celimene as the center focus of the play shows her characters as soon as the play begins. The dramas between Celimene and her other suitors drags the attention of the audiences; using hilarity as the medium, Moliere creates scenes that awaken “thoughtful laughter” which reflects the society.

In The Misanthrope, almost everyone in the play is involved in lawsuits whether the issues regarded are significant or not. Everyone wants to have good relationships with people who they think might able to help with their own lawsuits. Moliere chooses this setting for the play for it reflects what happened in the society at the time. Readers laugh at Celimene who keeps Alceste, Clitandre and Oronte close to help her with the lawsuits which she was involved in. It triggers more laughter as Moliere shows more of the relationships between Celimene and her various suitors; furthermore, it makes the readers realize how dishonest and disgusted Celimene are in the play as she keeps the suitors around for her own benefits.

Toward the end of the play, Alceste asks Celimene to go away with him; Celimene refuses but said she will marry him. The scene was laughable because of the way which Celimene answers Alceste. On one side, Celimene is unwilling to give up her life with her many suitors and dramas; on the other, Celimene wants Alceste to stay as one of her followers. The hypocritical respond that Celimene give to Alceste was what Moliere was trying to show the audiences which reflect part of the society.

Moliere, trying to imply the issues in the society, creates the play which shows both Alceste’s extreme and Philinte’s ideal ways that people use in dealing with flaws in the society. Also he chooses Celimene as the main girl in the play to show the hypocrisy and injustice in the society. The Misanthrope as a whole is a comedy that expose and satiric the flaws that occurs in reality.