Misanthrope Essay! yes.

Melody Sue

Wylie

AP Literature and Composition- Per. 5

January 16, 2012

In the play The Misanthrope, by Moliere, the main character Alceste is so cynical that he is laughable. Moliere creates Alceste’s character as witty and critical to provoke laughter from the audience. However, this laughter is not without meaning. Moliere specifically places Alceste in a superficial and petty society that is a reflection of our own to show a reality. Having these comical moments allow the audience to reflect on how much they have contributed to such aspects of society. Alceste’s interactions and conversations with the other characters reflect his negative thoughts towards humanity and make the audience participate in thoughtful laughter.

Some events in the play seem outright silly and laughable but may make a person think and reflect about his or her own society. For example, in the play, a character named Oronte goes to Alceste for a sincerely truthful opinion of a sappy love poem Oronte has written. Even though Alceste warns Oronte how hurtfully truthful he can be, Oronte insists that he hear Alceste’s opinion. After hearing the peom, Alceste uses a hypothetical situation to express his opinion of how horrid the poem was. This in and of itself was humorous because of Alceste’s clever remarks but what added to the humor was that Alceste’s friend Philinte kept praising Oronte’s poem to the heavens. In this situation, there are two kinds of people battling both sides. One is Philinte, who doesn’t want to cause trouble and will say anything to keep other people happy. He represents most of our mindlessly praising society. The other is Alceste whose honesty gets him in trouble because he never sugar-coats his insulting opinions. Lo and behold, Oronte is extremely angered by Alceste and files a law suit against him. Despite how humorous the situation seems, the audience might begin to reflect on how society is so twisted and paradoxical that the liars are the ones who don’t get in trouble.

Continuing with the play further reveals how society has found its way into its most adamant critic: Alceste. Alceste’s character, who is extremely cynical about human follies, hypocritically falls in love with Celimene, who is externally pretty but a big gossip and a extreme flirt. No matter how hard Alceste tries to convince himself that he should not fall in love with Celimene, love has caught him in a most ironic manner. In an attempt to justify his love, Alceste confronts Celimene about her conduct with other suitors. He chastises Celimene for teasing her suitors and begs her to get rid of them. In this situation, Alceste asks her to do this because it is part of his nature to be so direct. The audience gets a laugh about the awkward situation but may remember instances in their own lives when society creates a similar contradictory situation.

In the end, Moliere wants to provoke thoughtful laughter in the audience because he wants them to reflect on how such situations are analogous to real life societies. Alceste points out these flaws, but does nothing to improve the situation. In fact, he revels in the hopelessness of humanity and even falls in the love with the epitome of human folly: Celimene. Moliere writes this play to show the audience a reflection of themselves to try to induce a change in society. In the end, many of the audience will probably laugh off the uncanny resemblance to reality and continue with their personal lives but the few that pause to think about the silliness they are laughing at may begin a change for a better society.