The play satirizes the hypocrisies of French aristocratic society, but it also engages a more serious tone when pointing out the flaws that afflict all humans. The play differs from other farces of the time by employing dynamic characters like Alceste and Célimène as opposed to the flat caricatures of traditional social satire. It also differs from most of Molière's other works by focusing more on character development and nuances than on plot progression. The play, though not a commercial success in its time, survives as Molière's best-known work today.
Because both Tartuffe and Don Juan, two of Molière's previous plays, had already been banned by the French government, Molière may have softened his ideas to make the play more socially acceptable. As a result, there is much ambiguity about whether the main character Alceste is intended as a hero for his uncompromising honesty, or as a quixotic fool. Molière has been the target of much criticism for The Misanthrope over the years. The French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau claimed in his Letter to M. D'Alembert on Spectacles that it was Molière's best work, but hated that it made Alceste the butt of its humor. He believed the audience should support Alceste's high ideals rather than laugh at his misadventures.
The protagonist and misanthrope of the title. He is quick to criticize the flaws of everyone around him, including himself. He cannot help but love Célimène though he loathes her behaviour.
A young woman who is courted by Alceste, Oronte, Acaste, and Clitandre. She is playful and flirtatious and likes to point out the flaws of everyone she meets behind their backs. Célimène pays much attention to social appearances.
A polite man who genuinely cares for Alceste, and recognizes the importance of occasionally veiling one's true opinions in a social context. He is mainly thought of as Alceste's foil.
Acaste (first played by André Hubert)
A young, pompous marquis who believes he deserves Célimène's love.
An outgoing, seemingly confident man who also loves Célimène for a time. His insecurity is revealed when he is unable to handle Alceste's criticism of his love sonnet.
Love interest to Philinte and cousin to Célimène, who initially pines for Alceste. She possesses a good balance between societal conformity and individual expression.
A messenger of the Marshals of France who asks Alceste to answer for his criticism of Oronte's poetry.
Synopsis
Much to the horror of his friends and companions, Alceste rejects la politesse, the social conventions of the seventeenth-century French ruelles (later called salons in the 18th century).[2] His refusal to "make nice" makes him tremendously unpopular and he laments his isolation in a world he sees as superficial and base, saying early in Act I, "... Mankind has grown so base, / I mean to break with the whole human race."
Despite his convictions, however, Alceste cannot help but love the coquette and playful Célimène, a consummate flirt whose wit and frivolity epitomize the courtly manners that Alceste despises. Though he constantly reprimands her, Célimène refuses to change, charging Alceste with being unfit for society because he hates humanity.
Despite his sour reputation as the misanthrope, Alceste does have women pining for him, particularly the prudish Arsinoé and the honest Éliante. Though he acknowledges their superior virtues, his heart still lies with Célimène. His deep feelings for her primarily serve to counter his negative expressions about mankind, since the fact that he has such feelings includes him amongst those he so fiercely criticizes.
When Alceste insults a sonnet written by the powerful noble Oronte, he is called to stand trial. Refusing to dole out false compliments, he is charged and humiliated and resolves on self-imposed exile.
Arsinoé, in trying to win his affection, shows him a love letter Célimène wrote to another suitor. He discovers that Célimène has been leading him on. She has written identical love letters to numerous suitors (including to Oronte) and broken her vow to favor him above all others. He gives her an ultimatum: he will forgive her and marry her if she runs away with him to exile. Célimène refuses, believing herself too young and beautiful to leave society and all her suitors behind. Philinte, for his part, becomes betrothed to Éliante. Alceste then decides to exile himself from society, and the play ends with Philinte and Éliante running off to convince him to return.
Stage productions
There have been five known productions on Broadway:
Richard Mansfield starred as Alceste in the very first Broadway production April 10–15, 1905 at the New Amsterdam Theatre.[3]
A production in French was performed at the Winter Garden Theatre February 7–9, 1957.[4]
The Misanthrope was first performed at the Stratford Festival in 1981. The most recent production ran from August 12 - October 29, 2011, at the Festival Theatre using the Richard Wilbur translation; Ben Carlson starred as Alceste and Sara Topham as Celimene. Brian Bedford was originally slated to direct and perform as Oronte but was forced to step down due to illness, so the production was directed instead by David Grindley.
Sequel
In 1992, the playwright Jacques Rampal's sequel Célimène and the Cardinal was published, which - written in Alexandrians - continues the story of Célimène and Alceste 20 years later. The play received three Molière Awards, France's highest theatre prize, in 1993. Well-known actresses such as Ludmila Mikaël (1992-1993) and Claude Jade (2006) embodied Célimène on French stages. The play has also been performed on English stages. [1][2][3][4]
Modern adaptations of the play have been written by Tony Harrison and Liz Lochhead. Lochhead's version is set in the early years of the revived Scottish Parliament and satirises Scottish Labour's relationship with the media. Originally written in 1973, Harrison's version was updated and revived at the Bristol Old Vic in 2010.
Robert Cohen's 2006 translation into heroic couplets was praised by the Los Angeles Times as "highly entertaining... with a contemporary flavor full of colloquial yet literate pungency."[12] Professor Cohen's version has been popular in productions staged by his former students, and it is the version staged by Keith Fowler in 2011 for UC Irvine's celebration of Cohen's fifty years at the university.[13]
The Grouch, a more modern verse version of The Misanthrope by Ranjit Bolt was first performed at West Yorkshire Playhouse in February 2008. It is set in contemporary London, and most of the characters' names are recognisably linked to Molière's: in the sequence of the above cast list they are Alan, Celia, Phil, Eileen, Orville, Fay (Arsinoe), Lord Arne, Chris, and manservant Bates. Another adaptation by Roger McGough was premiered by the English Touring Theatre at the Liverpool Playhouse in February 2013 prior to a national tour[14] – this adaptation is largely in verse, but has Alceste speaking in prose.[15]
In June 2014, Andy Clark, Rosalind Sydney and Helen MacKay appeared in a three-handed 50-minute Classic Cuts version of The Misanthrope, written in rhyming couplets by Frances Poet, set and performed in the basement theatre of Glasgow's Òran Mór. The Scotsman noted 'the sheer, sharp-edged wit of Poet’s rhyming text, which pays perfect homage to the original, while diving boldly into the new world of fall-outs and friendships conducted on social media.'
