Friday, November 9, 2012

Moliere "The Misanthrope"

Thus, we chit-chat that Alceste has to struggle surrounded by world honest in order to keep his self-integrity versus being hypocritical in order to gain social acceptance. We bring down Alceste's dilemma repeated throughout the play where the tension mingled with honesty versus hypocrisy and self-integrity versus social acceptance are concerned. Alceste is in love with Celimene and so, too, is his rival for her affections, Oronte. At one point in the play, Oronte greets Alceste with the kind of social hypocrisy and false admiration he despises "It would be profanation to bestow / The name of friend on one you hardly know" (Moliere 32).

After this exchange, Oronte asks Alceste for "honest" feedback regarding a meter he has written. Philinte gives Oronte praise for his poem "I'm charmed by this already; the style's delightful", but Alceste finds the poem horrible and makes no bones about reading so "How can you say that? Why, the thing is frightful" (Moliere 35). Most people in a similar situation would say something polite or non-offensive if in Alceste's position and we see this with Philinte. However, Alceste despises those who are not honest or hypocritical, willing to sacrifice their own integrity merely to arrive at social acceptance. After disparaging remarks regarding the poem, Oronte claims that he thinks that it is a actually good work, but Alceste replies "It's not at all impress that


you should. / You oblige your reasons; permit me to have mine / For thinking that you cannot write a line" (Moliere 41).

Thus, we see that Alceste struggles to keep his self-integrity instead of and at the cost of social acceptance. He also prefers to tell the truth than to delve into hypocrisy in order to win favor from others.
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Yet, though Alceste's character is visualized as a man of integrity and honesty at the expense of social acceptance, we must remain somewhat fishy of Alceste's misanthropic motives. While it is true that he lives in a society that is unjust, false, and dishonest, his own motives may play a position in his frankness and honesty, particularly when it comes to his critique of Oronte's poem, a poem inspired by Alceste's beloved Celimene. After all, Alceste loves Celimene despite her having flaws quite an similar to those he despises in others. Further, his harsh honesty regarding Oronte's poem may be fueled by their rivalry o'er Celimene. As translator Richard Wilbur comments "The Misanthrope is not only a critique of society; it is also a study of scoria of motive in a critic of society. If Alceste has a act for the genuine, and he truly has, it is unfortunately compromised and exploited by his vast, unconscious(p) egotism. He is a jealous friend?He is a jealous lover?[and]?like many humorless and umbrageous people, he is hard on everybody but himself, and does not distinguish it when he fails his own ideal" (
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