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Lecture on Molière's The Misanthrope (Theatre Appreciation) (Patreon)

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2024-05-05 21:00:03
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Content

'The friend of mankind is no friend of mine.'

Today we're appreciating the masterpiece of French theatre that is The Misanthrope by Molière.

We're discussing the psychology of misanthropy, stoicism, idealism, the court of King Louis XIV, polite society, speaking the truth, society, comedy vs tragedy, and much more.

Timestamps:

0:00 the comedy that approaches tragedy

1:00 what does misanthropy mean?

2:00 sympathising with Alceste

4:00 the misanthrope needs society

6:00 the different kinds of misanthrope

8:00 why do misanthropes hate society?

10:00 misanthropes are actually idealists

12:00 difficulty of loving one’s enemies

13:00 evolution, addiction, delusion

14:00 what is humanity so divided?

15:00 characters of Philinte vs Alceste

17:00 Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations

19:00 stoicism, acceptance, society

20:00 the cynicism of Diogenes

21:00 Hobbes’ misanthropic philosophy

22:00 Niccolò Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’

23:00 Rousseau: ‘man is born free…’

24:00 the philosophy of anti-natalism

25:00 Schopenhauer on the human race

26:00 misanthropy in Christianity

27:00 fallen man, original sin, neurosis

28:00 Alcestian condition in Buddhism

29:00 putting wisdom into practice

30:00 the court of King Louis XIV

32:00 rigid etiquette & social hierarchy

34:00 misanthropy & the reign of terror

35:00 Molière’s personal misanthropy

38:00 Alceste’s vs Oronte’s sonnet

39:00 ‘to honour all men is to honour none’

40:00 held hostage by polite society

41:00 not being in control of our words

42:00 to hope eternally is to despair

43:00 why I love Molière’s raisonneur

44:00 the misanthrope has a heart

46:00 courtship of Alceste & Célimène

48:00 self-awareness in self-delusion

50:00 when words aren’t proof of love

52:00 is not Célimène misanthropic too?

53:00 true love, criticism, character flaws

54:00 hyperbole, jokes, metaphor & truth

55:00 motivation determines quality of praise

56:00 Eliante on poetic courtly clichés

57:00 ‘my mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun’

58:00 we speak euphemistically to avoid offence

59:00 characters of Arisonè vs Célimène

1:00:00 ‘every lackey’s on the honour list’

1:01:00 what if Molière had written tragedy?

1:02:00 symbolism of knights fighting dragons

1:04:00 ‘if chaos repossessed the universe…’

1:05:00 betrayal wounds us more than scorn

1:07:00 my imploration to wounded lovers

1:08:00 the suitors confront the coquette

1:09:00 the peculiar ending of this comedy

1:10:00 historical response to the play

1:11:00 discussing plays for next lecture

1:13:00 Molière, Austen, Murasaki Shikibu

1:14:00 what do you make of the play?

Resources:

Richard Wilbur in Conversation: Many of you have praised Richard Wilbur's excellent translations of Molière's plays and, like myself, find that his artful choice of rhyme and phrasing adds beautifully to the humour (a very difficult thing to capture in translation). You might be interested to listen to Wilbur speak about how 'The Misanthrope' inspired him here. There is a wonderful video playlist, which offers a treasure trove of clips with Wilbur speaking about his writing career, teaching writing, the process of translation, his favourite writers, and his life experience. I find him a joy to listen to.

Discussing Molière: This titan of French theatre was born four hundred years ago, and yet his works remain fresh, funny, and insightful today. To celebrate his legacy, France 24 spoke to Georges Forestie, a specialist in the works of Molière here. There is also a fantastic video about the playwright's genius here.

Audio Dramatisation: If you would like to listen to a wonderful performance of 'The School for Wives' that uses the Richard Wilbur translations, then you can do so with this one. There don't seem to be many options for performances of 'The Learned Ladies' online in English (other than this one on Librivox), so you might find it enjoyable to exercise your imaginative powers and put on your own production in the theatre of your mind. If you do encounter a good production, do please let us know.

Reading Assignment: 'The School for Wives' and 'The Learned Ladies' are the plays for our next appreciation. We will be conducting a comparative exercise and talking about them together. You can find these plays in the Richard Wilbur edition in volume one, page 387, and volume two, page 337 respectively. To accommodate the time needed for two plays alongside the rest of your reading, our discussion will be in the last week of this month. As discussed at the end of the above lecture, this coming weekend we'll have our next Austen, and the weekend after that we'll be talking about our approach to the next Big Read in our 'how to read' video for The Tale of Genji.

Questions to Consider:

1) What would your review of The Misanthrope look like?

2) Do you identify with Alceste's misanthropy?

3) Does this play feel like a comedy to you?

4) What do you think happens after the ending?

And please let us know how your experience with this play went, and any lines, passages, characters, or ideas that resonated most with you.

Happy reading, everybody!

Files

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Comments

Susan Kelley

The lecture was amazing!! I did read the Misanthrope and enjoyed it but I am very far behind with the club!! I have been working a lot and am trying to finish Les Miserables before we start Tale of Genji. I read about Moliere in Les MIs along with the sewer system of Paris. 😳

Donna F.

Good lecture, TY. I had a lot of trouble getting through this play…I didn’t like the characters. I’ve read all but 2 of the plays in the 2 volume Richard Wilbur set—my favorite of the comedies is “the imaginary cuckold”. Wilbur did a fantastic job in translating these plays. I didn’t find anything funny in this play…not my cup of tea. I never thought I’d be reading Moliere…TY! Just to tell some people, I’m supposed to have a big-deal medical procedure June 17, and maybe surgery afterwards. But there is disagreement between my health insurance, the dr’s group that decides which specialists I see or don’t see, and 2 specialists I trust. The dr’s group says they don’t use these 2 specialists even though they did use them before January 2024. It’s all a confusing ball of worms. I can’t see the people I trust. I’m thinking of jumping out of this insurance and dr’s group, even though I would be starting fresh with a lot of drs. There are no right answers. TY for listening.

Thomas Davidson
>>137661010

Best wishes for your assessment and procedures, Donna. Trust in your health care providers is crucial and the idea that others can attempt determine your choices in the matter must be very frustrating. I hope you navigate the system to your satisfaction.

Vida

This play is timeless. Molière seems to make some of his characters archetypical to make sure his point is understood. Alceste is extreme in his misanthropy and therefore somewhat not believable as a character. Still, there is no way to misinterpret him. Any time I reread a play by Shakespeare, I interpret the characters a bit differently. There are several ways of looking at characters and guessing at their motivations. Things seem to be crystal clear in Molière’s plays. Shakespeare is great at showing the complexity of human character and Molière is able to get to the core of certain traits in us like no other. I love them both. I can’t wait to read all of Molière's play. I am glad that I bought the 2 volume edition. There is a bit of misanthropy in all of us and whoever says no , not in me, has not dug deep enough. The current situation with anything from environment to politics is dire, but the situation has always been dire. There is much that is out of our control but what is under our control is how we act. Some misanthropy is not such a bad thing. Sometimes, It is this dissatisfaction and distrust that makes us to try to improve ourselves. If everyone tries to start from within, we will all live in a better society eventually. When it comes to others tolerance is the key. Therefore, we all have to try to be more like Philinte.

Peter F

I have not begun the lecture yet, but attending court is like attending a company conference. Don't dare say what you think like Alceste; it's better to be the great conversationalist who says nothing.

Peter F

The comments on the Holy Rollers are profound, especially in 17th-century Catholic France: "That one should learn the art of living well before one threatens other men with hell." Moralizing.

Walker Rowe

Well just finished it. Going to read School for Wives next. Did you see in The Misanthrope mentions “The School for Husbands, Molières play.” The audience must have laughed at that one.

Spider in your cider

This is my first time reading the Misanthrope. Thank you so much for your lecture, Ben. I read the play and listened to the Los Angeles Theater Works production (before listening to your lecture) and didn’t quite connect to the play. It reminded me of Oscar Wilde but less funny and less enjoyable. But after listening to your description of the historical and political context of the court of Louis 14th things made more sense. A few years back Netflix aired a series called Versailles about the court of Louis 14th. It serialized the courtly customs, vanity, gossip, backstabbing, and commonplace poisoning of adversaries. Placed in that context, Alceste’s view of the world as a pit of vipers makes more sense. I guess I would call this play a satirical comedy. Initially, the characters seemed a little one dimensional to me, but once I looked at them as representational, I could see the comedic structure. Each represents an approach to the world - Alceste (worldly but misanthropic) Celimene (worldly, a courtier), Philinte (the voice of reason, rationality), and Eliante (the prude, morality). In the end, Alceste and Celimene cannot be reconciled. One hates the world and other loves to play its games. But the play has its own “happy ending” and comedic marriage. Philinte proposes to Eliante. The marriage of morality and rationality seems as close to a happy ending as one could expect.

Mark Adams

There is an excellent 2010 audio recording of six Molière plays using the Richard Wilbur translations (including 3 we are reading in the bookclub) each with a full cast: Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, The School for Wives, The School for Husbands, The Bungler, and The Imaginary Cuckold. L.A. Theatre Works issued these under the title "The Molière Collection". In the U.S., I see this set is available on Hoopla and Libby (popular services used by public libraries). It is also available for purchase on services like Audible, or accessible through digital content subscription services like Everand.

Estella

This was a fun read and I really enjoyed the humor! This play does feel like a comedy but with a strong message. I think the humor provides necessary sarcasm in order to highlight important topics to readers. This is the first time I have read Misanthrope, and just having read Tartuffe also, I am loving Moliere. There is so much to think about. I find myself relating to Alceste often because I have a tendency to be cautious of people's intention and motives stemming from my own personal experiences. "When I survey the scene of human folly, Finding on every hand base flattery, / Injustice, fraud, self-interest, treachery....Ah, it's too much;" (1.1). Yet, aren't we all guilty at some time or another? That being said, I do believe that grace is necessary in dealing with all kinds of people as well. "Let's have an end of rantings and railings, / And show some leniency toward human failings" (1.1) I also understand Philante's point of view, and I think this where balance comes into play. Honesty is good, but so is tact with wisdom. "Wouldn't the social fabric come undone / If we were wholly frank with everyone?" (1.1) I have to add that Oronte is over the top in his praise of Alceste (I laughed so much), demonstrating an extreme example of flattery. This is a good lesson to learn about being fake with others and knowing when too much is just too much. Perhaps Alceste went on to become a hermit somewhere, isolating himself from a world that he cannot change; this would be a sad ending for him though and it would deprive him of enriching experiences and relationships. Maybe that is the point and the message? If you live life as a complete misanthrope, you will live a sad and empty life. This was a great read and one that I am still thinking about. Also, great lecture, Ben, thank you!

Kate Araya

I have not laughed out loud while reading this much in recent memory. I had first read Tartuffe translated by Maya Slater (Oxford World Classics) and really enjoyed it. I now have the Library of America Wilbur translation of ten Molière plays. First of all!! Wow. I actually read the Interview With the Translator first (at the back of each volume) and found it really fascinating and insightful into Wilbur, his life and his own highly regarded contributions to poetry which I’m looking forward to reading. Then I read the foreword by Adam Gopnik and when he’s discussing the nature of rhyme and compares its uses in French as opposed to English it was enlightening. Explaining that in English it’s humorous (and soundly explained in part due to our language not having a large rhyming vocabulary). But in his opinion he uses the example “…in Racine: that much rhyming seems “off” for tragic passions. A Cleopatra who says, in effect, “‘Give me that knife from off the shelf / Now I have to kill myself.’” Had me laughing out loud as if I were watching Mel Brooks in A History of the World Part I. Learning an insight into such an obscure subject as rhyming is, and how another language like French can easily pull it off and stay in the dramatic sense is sincerely appreciated. I love learning how something so seemingly meaningless to everyone, so under appreciated by too many, is the life’s work of a few geniuses we are unknowingly blessed to enjoy. Without realizing someone is passionately realizing their life’s work done remotely either by time or place which has been or will undoubtedly be beneficial to us all is mind blowing. And of course Molière has resonated with me. I see why East of Eden and Shakespeare comedy are not my favorites. I personally enjoy pragmatists and satire which exposes hypocrisy in so palatable a way. Especially as Molière writes in awe of and in defense of women and our inherent intelligence and experience. I am laughing out loud reading The Bungler. It was written and performed in 1655. Amazing Molière. Bravo. And again thank you Ben. I am utterly grateful.