Le Misanthrope Timed Essay Audrey Ford P.5 Wylie
In Moliere’s Le Misanthrope, the main character, Alceste, excites ‘thoughtful laughter’ in readers as he experiences the major ironies of the play. Laughter that inspires thought is similar to irony in that both devices are meant to maintain a light, comedic tone, while encouraging readers to think, and thereby effectively translating the meaning of the play. Alceste displays irony, and in turn, engenders ‘thoughtful laughter’, when he mocks French society and human nature, when he falls in love with Celimene, and when he must live a life of solitude upon being found guilty of a crime.
Alceste opens the play with a rant regarding the flaws inherent in French society and human nature. His criticisms, while extreme and motivated by frustration, are quite observant and accurate. In this way, Alceste’s opinions inspire thought because readers are lead to question the societal norms they base their very lives on. The laughter, or comedy, comes into play when the audience sees that Alceste is both a member of French society, the French aristocracy in fact, as well as the human race. The laughter prompted by this blatant irony, in addition to the ideas presented in Alceste’s tirades contribute to the meaning of the play as the as the present one of it’s central ideas: Alceste, the misanthropist, is, in fact, a member of the very group he despises.
A second theme that promotes ‘thoughtful laughter’ while contributing to the meaning of the play is Alceste’s deep affection for Celimene. This plot point awakens thought in the mind of the reader because it provides an example of how tricky the human heart can really be. Alceste continually expresses his hatred for French society and the human race, yet he is madly in love with Celimene, a woman who is an archetype of the very people Alceste hates. Here in lies the humor as well. Alceste’s head and heart are at war with one another: he truly despises everything that Celimene is, but he cannot deny his heart’s truest desire. This conflict, and the ‘thoughtful laughter’ it excites, contributes to the ply as a whole because it is an irony present throughout the entire work.
A final event that awakens ‘thoughtful laughter’ in the reader is Alceste’s decision to live a life of solitude after being found guilty of a crime. The irony of this situation is that Alceste has always expressed a desire to live in solitude away from the society he despises so, and now that fate has been decided for his as punishment for a crime. Furthermore, this laughter is thoughtful because it shows that the world works in mysterious ways, and it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole because it concludes the play with what can be observed as a veiled, but honest, happy ending: each character got what they truly wanted.
In Le Misanthrope by Moliere, the main character, Alceste, inspires ‘thoughtful laughter’ in the reader as he experiences three major ironies: he is a member of the society he openly hates; he is in love with a woman who represents everything he detests; after being found guilty of a crime, he is sentenced to live a life of solitude, but this is something he has always wanted. Each one of these events promotes ‘thoughtful laughter’ in that they deliver an important message in an ironic and comedic tone, and at the same time manage to contribute to the meaning of the entire work as each event contains major plot points and key lessons that Moliere hopes to convey to his readers.
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