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    The Misanthrope (Translated by Henri Van Laun with an Introduction by Eleanor F. Jourdain)
    The Misanthrope (Translated by Henri Van Laun with an Introduction by Eleanor F. Jourdain)
    The Misanthrope (Translated by Henri Van Laun with an Introduction by Eleanor F. Jourdain)
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    The Misanthrope (Translated by Henri Van Laun with an Introduction by Eleanor F. Jourdain)

    By Molière

    3.5/5

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    Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known popularly by his stage name Molière, is regarded as one of the masters of French comedic drama. When Molière began acting in Paris there were two well-established theatrical companies, those of the Hôtel de Bourgogne and the Marais. Joining these theatrical companies would have been impossible for a new member of the acting profession like Molière and thus he performed with traveling troupes of actors in the French provinces. It was during this period that Molière would refine his skills as both an actor and a writer. Eventually his reputation would increase allowing him to return to Paris where he gained the patronage of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, the brother of the King of France, Louis XIV. In this volume one of Molière’s most popular works is presented, one in which the author draws upon his bourgeoisie upbringing in 17th century France. “The Misanthrope” is a comedy of errors which satirizes the hypocrisies of French aristocratic society. The story is concerned with the relationship between Alceste, a French gentleman who laments the superficiality of society life, and Célimène, a woman who epitomizes the courtly manners that Alceste despises. This edition is translated by Henri Van Laun, includes an introduction by Eleanor F. Jourdain, and a biographical afterword.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigireads.com Publishing
    Release dateSep 20, 2017
    ISBN9781420956269
    The Misanthrope (Translated by Henri Van Laun with an Introduction by Eleanor F. Jourdain)
    Author

    Molière

    Molière was a French playwright, actor, and poet. Widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and universal literature, his extant works include comedies, farces, tragicomedies, comédie-ballets, and more.

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    Reviews for The Misanthrope (Translated by Henri Van Laun with an Introduction by Eleanor F. Jourdain)

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    • 5/5
      Some months ago, I went to see Molière's play Le Misanthrope at the Théâtre du Ranelagh in Paris. I last saw it a few years ago but, with the help of age, I had forgotten some of the details. So, even if the production wasn't that great it was good to hear this masterpiece of social satire once again.

      I won't repeat the whole plot of The Misanthrope, but here are some lines from the Wikipedia resume (Alceste is the misanthrope):

      "The plot... involves a trial before the Royal Court of France that results from Alceste's refusal to praise Oronte's love poetry. Alceste typically refuses to dole out false compliments, and this is the practice that lands him in court. ...Philinte represents a foil for Alceste's moral extremism, and speaks throughout the first act of the play on the necessity of self-censorship and polite flattery to smooth over the rougher textures of a complex society. Alceste, on the other hand, believes that people should be completely honest and should not put on pretenses just to be considered polite in society. Alceste loses the court case. Eventually, Alceste's inability to cope with society and its inescapable affectations causes him to forsake the woman he loves..."

      If Molière had not died long before Amazon.com came into existence I would have suspected him of plagiarizing some recent conversations I have seen in Amazon reader forums in which writers plug their books and solicit reviews. The forum conversations are usually genteel but they can get very catty if one contributor decides to post a negative one-star review of another writer's book to Amazon or post a 'spoiler' that will ruin the surprise ending.

      The play thus shows that the dangers involved in reviewing another writer's work, or being reviewed oneself, are not new. Molière came in for an immense amount of both fair and unfair criticism in his time, so he was as well placed as any modern writer to understand the importance of harsh criticism. His skin was thicker than most because the actors and actresses of his time were considered so low on the social scale that they didn't have the right to be buried in hallowed ground. After his death Molière's body was thrown into the paupers' pit outside the Père Lachaise cemetery.
    • 4/5
      Moliere has long been on my to-read list because his comedies were on a list of "100 Significant Books" I was determined to read through. The introduction in one of the books of his plays says that of his "thirty-two comedies... a good third are among the comic masterpieces of world literature." The plays are surprisingly accessible and amusing, even if by and large they strike me as frothy and light compared to comedies by Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Wilde, Shaw and Rostand. But I may be at a disadvantage. I'm a native New Yorker, and looking back it's amazing how many classic plays I've seen on stage, plenty I've seen in filmed adaptation and many I've studied in school. Yet I've never encountered Moliere before this. Several productions of Shakespeare live and filmed are definitely responsible for me love of his plays. Reading a play is really no substitute for seeing it--the text is only scaffolding. So that might be why I don't rate these plays higher. I admit I also found Wilbur's much recommended translation off-putting at first. The format of rhyming couplets seemed sing-song and trite, as if I was reading the lyrics to a musical rather than a play. As I read more I did get used to that form, but I do suspect these are the kinds of works that play much better on stage than on the page.Misanthrope was the first Moliere play I ever read, and arguably the most famous of all his plays. The introduction in what might seem an oxymoron calls it a comic King Lear, and I can see that side of it. As comic as this might read, it is basically a tragedy about the young man Alceste, the "misanthrope" of the play, who makes such a fetish of always being honest he alienates everyone around him. The character I enjoyed the most was definitely the malicious Arsinoe who plays the prude. The catty scenes between her and Alceste's love Celimene is particularly hilarious.
    • 4/5
      A rather dark comedy, which reinforced my dislike of the main female character, which I acquired after seeing this play performed at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Though I adored the iambic pentameter.
    • 3/5
      Not as good as Tartuffe, but still a wonderful play. The writing and humor hold up well. The societal conventions that are lampooned have not changed that much either.
    • 4/5
      This is a simple and straight-forward drama. Alceste has his ideals but is in love with a woman who falls short of them. There are a number of amusing characters who come and go and a pair of likeable people that I wanted to see more of.
    • 3/5
      While Alceste is certainly a 1600s Dolph Adomian, the play doesn't have enough build and it sort of flounders. It's another issue with old humor not being effective enough in modern times. I definitely approve of abandoning society to live in the forest though.
    • 3/5
      "... Everywhere I find nothing but base flattery, injustice, self-interest, deceit, roguery. I cannot bear it any longer; I am furious; and my intention is to break with all mankind.” – Alceste, Act 1, Scene 1I started reading the book before election results; after the elections, these words take on a whole new meaning.Alceste is the protagonist and the official “misanthrope” of the story. A straight-shooter and brutally candid, he criticizes the love verses of a fellow nobleman, Oronte, who takes him to court over such an insult. Meanwhile, the reader learns Alceste, Oronte, Acaste, and Clitandre all favor one twenty-year-old socialite – Célimène, who is charismatically vocal and a flirt. Meanwhile, Célimène’s jealous older friend, Arsinoé, pines for Alceste and adds salt to every wound she can find. Two characters, Philinte (friend of Alceste) and Éliante (cousin of Célimène) were the only two honest and faithful’s, who were rewarded with each other’s love. Molière’s 1666 ‘The Misanthrope’ play is more focused on character development than plot progression. Having had two previous plays (‘Tartuffe’ and ‘Dom Juan’) banned by the French government, this one is typically viewed as one of Molière’s more restrained tales even though once again, the nobility is ridiculed (who then complains to the government). Officially a comedy, I must admit that I did not laugh once; I even winced. Reading this, I have visions of Kirsten Dunst in ‘Marie Antoninette’ in the role of Célimène. Surrounded by her admirers, Célimène criticizes various acquaintances as they all laugh at her verbal abuses for entertainment. To their surprise, dun-dun-dun, Célimène has a few choice words about them too, and they all abandon her. Despite Alceste with his misanthropic tendencies being the supposed humor of this comedy, I found some of his words as well as those of Philinte’s to be thought-provoking. When the world is going haywire, does it make sense to retreat and do a ‘Captain Fantastic’? As for Célimène, not an angel herself, she took the blunt of the hate, even though everyone had encouraged and endorsed her behavior. All in all, except for the last scene, this play had saddened me. Some quotes:On love:Éliante: “…in the beloved all things become lovable. They think their faults perfections, and invent sweet terms to call them by. The pale one vies with the jessamine in fairness; another, dark enough to frighten people, become an adorable brunette; the lean one has a good shape and is lithe; the stout one has a portly and majestic bearing; the slattern, who has few charms, passes under the name of a careless beauty; the giantess seems a very goddess in their sight; the dwarf is an epitome of all the wonders of Heaven; the proud one has a soul worthy of a diadem; the artful brims with wit; the silly one is very good-natured; the chatterbox is good-tempered; and the silent one modest and reticent. Thus a passionate swain loves even the very faults of those of whom he is enamored.” On virtue:Philinte: “All human failings give us, in life, the means of exercising our philosophy. It is the best employment for virtue; and if probity reigned everywhere, if all hearts were candid, just, and tractable, most of our virtues would be useless to us, inasmuch as their functions are to bear, without annoyance, the injustice of others in our good cause; and just in the same way as a heart full of virtue.”
    • 4/5
      Almost alone at the office between christmas and New Year's, I find the time to read this classic. This is one of the few major Moliére plays I've never seen a performance of, and it's been ages since I read it too. Moliére is never as fun to read as to - sometimes - see staged. The comedy is rarely in the lines themselves, but rather in the situations, the potential of the text. Therefore, I find his plays are best read fairly slowly.Which I, this time, didn't do.Still, I enjoyed revisiting the story of Alceste, choking on the gossip and fakeness of high society and demanding full honesty from everybody, and his reluctant love for the sharp-tongued gossip Céliméne. There are some good situations derived from the premise, the funniest one probably being when he's asked to comment on a horrible piece of poetry. Moliére is also good at looking at things from two sides - Alceste is honest and upstanding, but because of this also more than a little annoying. The middle road of his friends Philinte and Éliante - trying to be honest but not being rude or stupid about it - is presented as a more sensible approach.The strangely open ending is not quite satisfactory. But on the other hand it has a rather true ring to it. Not everything can end in a happy landing - sometimes people are just too far apart.

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    The Misanthrope (Translated by Henri Van Laun with an Introduction by Eleanor F. Jourdain) - Molière

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    THE MISANTHROPE

    By MOLIÈRE

    Translated by HENRI VAN LAUN

    Introduction by ELEANOR F. JOURDAIN

    The Misanthrope

    By Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin)

    Translated by Henri Van Laun

    Introduction by Eleanor F. Jourdain

    Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-5625-2

    eBook ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-5626-9

    This edition copyright © 2017. Digireads.com Publishing.

    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

    Cover Image: Characters from The Misanthrope by Moliere: Alceste, Celimene, Eliante, Philinte, engraving by Delannoy, 1870 (coloured engraving), Staal, Pierre Gustave Eugene (Gustave) (1817-82) (after) / Private Collection / Photo © PVDE / Bridgeman Images.

    Please visit www.digireads.com

    CONTENTS

    INTRODUCTION

    THE MISANTHROPE

    DRAMATIS PERSONAE

    ACT I.

    SCENE I.

    SCENE II.

    SCENE III.

    ACT II.

    SCENE I.

    SCENE II.

    SCENE III.

    SCENE IV.

    SCENE V.

    SCENE VI.

    SCENE VII.

    ACT III.

    SCENE I.

    SCENE II.

    SCENE III.

    SCENE IV.

    SCENE V.

    SCENE VI.

    SCENE VII.

    ACT IV.

    SCENE I.

    SCENE II.

    SCENE III.

    SCENE IV.

    ACT V.

    SCENE I.

    SCENE II.

    SCENE III.

    SCENE IV.

    SCENE V.

    SCENE VI.

    SCENE VII.

    SCENE VIII.

    BIOGRAPHICAL AFTERWORD

    Introduction

    Le Misanthrope, one of the most self-revealing of Molière’s plays, is more full of bitter criticism of this kind than almost any other, though not his latest effort. As representing a definite stage in Molière’s development, and at the same time completing the study of Molière’s criticism of life which has been traced through L’École des Maris and L'École des Femmes and Tartuffe, Le Misanthrope calls for more detailed study.

    What is there in Le Misanthrope that at once brings to mind the modern epoch of the drama? It is partly, perhaps, the setting. As in the case of the action in Ibsen’s domestic dramas, that of Molière’s play is confined to a room, which is the theatre of passions formerly represented on the open piazza, or on a stage imitated in its spacious width from that of the morality play. The actors, too, are figures taken from contemporary society. There is practically no caricature in the play. The farcical element had been used by Molière to throw up by contrast the reality of the other characters in his other plays. This is not necessary in Le Misanthrope—the painting from life is so delicate and clear, the movement of thought and emotion so evident, though restrained. Of action there is little, of intrigue practically none. But Le Misanthrope is par excellence the comedy of manners. Because of this it has a lasting interest of its own. Thoughts and emotions, as Racine would say a few years later in his preface to Iphigénie, arouse the same interest in Paris as in ancient Athens. What is characteristic of humanity in general will always move the audience at a drama.{1} In Le Misanthrope, Alceste’s heart and his reason are seen in conflict, and this gives the material for a moving play. The conflict is increased through Alceste’s natural disposition, which despises the ordinary traffic of politeness, while by his sincerity he shows up the hollowness of the society which surrounds him. No caricature of Molière’s has been half so effective as this placing against the background of a social order that is highly nervous and artificial, the solitary man sincere and uncompromising, who wounds the sensibilities of others, but is bound to suffer in return both in his pride and in his happiness. As the play moves on, the more Alceste is injured by the conflicts he brings about, the more he desires love and idealizes it in Célimène; but in vain, for after his momentary defection and attention to Éliante, when he returns to Célimène, it is to find that her love is not equal to sharing his solitude in the desert that his nature has spread around him. The Misanthrope of Molière is not the man and woman hater, but the disillusioned idealist. He is really the hero of Corneille obliged to express himself in the highly artificial conditions of court and society life at the end of the reign of Louis XIV; he is in contact with too complex a life, and the process is an uneasy one.{2} But in his search, for simplicity and reality Alceste not only recalls Corneille’s heroes, but prefigures the ideal of the modern world. We have lost the outward conditions of the reign of Louis XIV, and though we can by no means claim to have outlived the artificiality and hypocrisy of that time, the ideal of the modern world since the Revolution has pointed in the direction of simplicity of action and of social relations. Hence, perhaps, the present importance of this play of Molière’s. His Alceste expresses the necessity for revolt against conditions that are bound to cramp the progress of society. The failure of Alceste no doubt reflects Molière’s own sense of rebuff and of misunderstanding. For the artist has the necessity of seeing his own time clearly and reporting it courageously. Whether he reflects the better elements only, or puts them in relief by reflecting the baser ones, he is conscious of both, and of the struggle between them. In this we find one reason for the tragic quality of the piece. Its pathetic quality is due to something else. If we analyze the emotions which a moving play excites in us, we may discover, as Aristotle did, that where tragedy predominates pity and terror are the effects. If the strong perception of the trend of the conflict can awaken terror, it is surely the intimate knowledge of the way the characters regard their own fate that arouses pity. The pathetic in drama depends almost wholly on the consciousness of the actors of the tragic quality in their fate.{3} Ophelia’s songs utter this consciousness, though disjointed and almost dissociated from the original experience. Lear and Hamlet pity themselves; Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, Lady Macbeth, do not, and the pathetic quality is absent from the impression they produce. There is, however, another aspect of the idea of pathos which was prominent in the case of a Greek play and is less so on the French stage. The Greek audience

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