Misanthrope Prompt

In The Misanthrope, by Molier, Alceste's stubborn and dignified personality creates "thoughtful laughter" in this play. Alceste's actions involving love differ so greatly from his opinions about life, creating an ongoing hypocrisy that is both funny and thought provoking. Molier uses this to satirize love felt between men and women and how society has grown used to these unusual relationships.

Alceste, who brags about his frankness, ironically fell in love with Celimene, a woman known for her manipulation of men. This connection Alceste feels is comedic, creating a continually humorous hypocrisy. Not only is this love humorous, it also provokes deep thought about society. Why is love accepted to be so illogical and backwards? This laughable love continues to be funny to the end of the play, when the men find a letter Celimene wrote directly talking bad about all of her suitors she has been flirting with. This directly showed that Celimene was the exact polar opposite of Alceste, the man who declares straightforwardness is the only rational way of life. This letter further proves how comedic love is. Alceste's upside down and unjustifiable feelings for Celimene provoke thought and laughter about how society accepts love.

Another one of Alceste's actions that provokes thoughtful laughter is his unwillingness to marry Celimene if she would not run away with him. When Alceste hears the verdict of his court hearing, he begs Celimene to run away with him. Yet when she refuses, their exchange creates humor. It's very humorous how their stubborn personalities cannot agree on any compromise to be together. Both of their illogical requests ultimately evoke thought about the true fate of love. Society places such significance on true love and marriage, but in reality, most "love" is not true or perfect and relationships normally do not work. This sad, unfortunate truth is conveyed in a comedic tone to create thoughtful laughter between the two flawed people.

Molier created thought provoking comedy in the characterization and in the actions of Alceste. Alceste's hypocritical love that he was so desperate to win over and his stubborn actions at the end of the play was satire of Molier's view on love and society's opinion about it. Molier wanted people to realize the complete backwards nature of relationships yet still be able to laugh in his portrayal of Alceste.

-by Claire West-