In Moliere's play, the character of Alceste is a paradox, for he is doggedly dour in his rejection or average human comity. He says flatly that "sentiments should never be disguise under vain compliments" (I.i). His excess of character surfaces in the gossip scene, wherein Celimene, Eliante, Philinte, Acaste, and Clitandre blithely dissect the foibles of their rattlebrained friends. Alceste reminds them that if one of the absent came in sight, "you'll at once / Embrace the man you deep called a dunce, / Telling him in a tone true and fervent / How proud you are to be his humble retainer" (II.v). His view that to savage another's reputation is acceptable if it be through with(p) to the other's face turns back upon him, when he is summoned by the court to explain formally for criticizing a rival's love sonnet to Celimene. In Mis., the dark characters traffic in lighter calumnies and devilish wordplay for sport. delicate wonder, then, that they break into laughter at Alceste's summons; the consequences of deadly solemn honesty are far greater than those of playful backbiting.
This line of action reflects a France in which mixer lines were rigidly displace and where there was no questioning of one's place in the social scheme. One would have time, if one had leisure at all, to puzzle verbal nuance one of the higher social aspirations. As Wells comments of the court of Louis XIV, "It subordinated substance to style" (Wells 2:691). lay on the line are higher in The Plain Dealer, wher |
Wycherley's inconsistency in attitude is manifested formally | Order your essay at
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