The Misanthrope
The first thing I noticed about The Misanthrope is how much more empathetic the characters seem than past plays we have read. This story and plot are much more identifiable with the readers than many of the other plays we have read where everyone ends up dead or an entire community goes on sex strike. Finally, a play for the social class that is most likely to read/see it.
From what I can tell, this play embodies the themes of hypocrisy and bluntness. It is apparant that the lead character Alceste is honest, brutally honest. Any possession of tactiful honesty is not present in him. His good friend Philinte, however, seems to possess the kind of disposition that Moliere portrays as the most desirable to have. Celimene's hypocrisy is exposed at the end, leading everyone to judge her as unworthy of their time. Even Alceste, who goes as far as to forgive her leaves when she reveals her true feelings toward him. This play most likely was a response to the kind of situations/types of people Moliere was observing at the time.
posted by Paul @ 10:51 AM
2 Comments:
I liked your ideas about honesty and how the characters embodied that trait. It would have been interesting if you had linked those ideas to characters in some of the other plays we read.
I guess the reason this play is more accessible is because it is about the rise of the middle class. I assume most of us here fall in or above the modern-day parallel to the socioeconomic status of the characters in this play. Up until this time there really was no in between. One was either filthy rich or dirt poor. Theater reflected this. Tragedies tended to focus only on royalty or the wealthy. Comedies were usually concerned with "backward" country folk. I like this play because it demonstrates the shift in the era's social structure while at the same time criticizing some of the results.
Post a Comment
<< Home