The Misanthrope and Other Plays: A New Selection

The Misanthrope is one of the best Moliere's plays but also one of the hardest to play. Why ? The problem, actually, is if that sounds like a drama it's a comedy. One (it might be Gide) used to say that "If the Misanthrope is a comedy, and if it is about virtue, then we have to laugh at virtue" - but it isn't. Reading the play again two weeks ago, I was amazed to see that the two main characters, Alceste and Philinte, really looked like House and Wilson (yes, those from the show !). What is funny, both in the show and in the play, is neither the insults nor the "idealism" of both lead characters (that tendancy to think that "truth is everything") but this little embarrassment to see your best friend in trouble because he doesn't know how to move into our socialized world, and seems to have not the right code nor the good manneers ("Please, for Christ's sake !... That's not so important ! Keep cool ! Why don't you try to be just nice and polite, even if you don't really believe what you say ??? You see, that's what we call diplomacy - that sort of thing that avoid wars most of the time") Alceste and House are just fantasies : everybody would like to be just like them, telling the truth all the time, as pure as fire, like Jeremiah - but it is just impossible, not in our world - and that gap is funny.

I haven't read this book. But Lindsey Beisel likes it, so you should probably get it.

Moliere said that ' there is no comedy without truth, and no truth without comedy'. And his plays are a scathing and humorous depiction of a simplified, and stylized human nature. Whether it is religious hypocrisy in ' Tartuffe' , miserliness in 'The Miser' or misanthropy in ' The Misantrhope' Moliere often focuses on one quality in order to satirize and society and mankind in general. In the Misanthrope the main character Alceste tells the truth to everyone ( except himself) and in so doing alienates everyone. This is against the advice of his best friend Philinte. At the same time he is in love with the frivolous Celimene who he attempts to change by constantly criticizing. He begs that she retire with him away from the corruption of society but she prefers society to him. The play ends with Philinte and his fiancee trying to persuade Alceste to remain. Moliere writes in a clear, simple direct language and the surface sense of his work is readily understood. His view of human nature is harsh and critical , but redeemed by a comic laughter suggesting we are wiser if we do not take ourselves all that seriously.

You might not think a play in verse written in the 17th century would be accessible and entertaining today, but this one's hilarious. Somehow the formal rhyming couplets make everything funnier. Get the Donald Frame translation - I've seen some others that weren't nearly as good.

Moliere's "The Misanthrope" is the most humorous play written in any language. It centers around the character Alceste, who has a firm beleif in being brutally honest all the time. The habit of others to speak harshly behind other's backs and hypocritically praise them to their faces drives him to the brink of insanity. It irks him so much that his only wish would be to become a hermit in the mountains. If it weren't for his love of the beautiful Celimene. However, to make things more complicated, she happens to be the queen of duplicitous thought. Alceste hates himself for loving a woman who behaves in the manner that irritates him the most, but cannot bring himself to confront what troubles him. That, paired with the remarkably written exchanges between Alceste, his friend Philinte, the pompous Oronte, and the many social courtiers and French aristocracy make this the ideal story to bring you to tears with laughter. I highly recommend this book to all lovers of theater, humor, and excellent writing. It truly deserves all 5 stars.