Misanthrope
In this play the characters seem real, and conflicted. I saw Philinte as the voice of reason, trying to get Alceste to have some common sense. You can't always tell the truth, one cause society is built on a set of lies and by doing so will cause society to fall apart, two because men have failings and because alceste is man he of course has the same failings. Also Alceste has to choose between his quest for complete and total honesty or the love of the most hypocritical woman ever. The gradations between characters in this play makes ever idea pop up more in the conflict that ensues from the huge amount of difference in characters and goals. The way Moliere crafts the characters really gets the message across, however this play doesn't really have the nicely tied ending that most Moliere plays have.
posted by IPDB @ 1:07 PM
2 Comments:
I agree with you that Philinte character seems to be the "voice of reason." However, I'm not quite sure I agree with your comment about society depending on lies. I think that society can function without lies and deciet. In fact, I believe out society would be better without lies at all. However, one must first distinguish lies from politeness and courtesy - one thing that Alceste is incapable of doing. I think that Alceste gets himself into trouble because be is rude and harsh, and not because he is simply honest.
Yeah, he seems like kind of dick. However, people shouldn't be so goshdarn sensitive about things. I mean Oronte spent 15 minutes on a poem and then sued Alceste for saying it wasn't all that great. That is simply ridiculous to me. I totally get where Alceste is coming from. I wouldn't feel guilty about being harsh to someone like Oronte.
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