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The Miser
The Miser (French: L'Avare; pronounced [lavaʁ]) is a five-act comedy in prose by the French playwright Molière. It was first performed on September 9, 1668, in the theatre of the Palais-Royal in Paris.
This is a character comedy whose main character, Harpagon, is characterised by his caricatured avarice. Harpagon is an elderly widower who wishes to have an arranged marriage to the impoverished young woman Mariane, while securing another arranged marriage for his unwilling daughter Élise. He is initially unaware that Mariane is the girlfriend of his own son, or that Élise has a boyfriend. Meanwhile, Harpagon is stubbornly protecting a cassette full of gold. When his gold is stolen, Harpagon considers the entire urban and suburban population to be suspects for the crime. The five acts comprise five, five, nine, seven and six scenes respectively.
The characters break the fourth wall by speaking to the audience, though the other characters demand to know who is being spoken to.
The play was first produced when Molière's company was under the protection of Louis XIV. It was loosely based on the Latin comedy Aulularia by Plautus, from which many incidents and scraps of dialogue are borrowed, as well as from contemporary Italian farces.
The miser of the title is called Harpagon, a name adapted from the term Greek: ἁρπάγη pronounced harpágay, meaning a hook or grappling iron (ἁρπάγη < ἁρπάζω = grab). He is obsessed with the wealth he has amassed and always ready to save expenses. Now a widower, he has a son, Cléante, and a daughter, Élise. Although he is over sixty, he is attempting to arrange a marriage between himself and an attractive young woman, Mariane. She and Cléante are already devoted to each other, however, and the son attempts to procure a loan to help her and her sick mother, who are impoverished.
Élise, Harpagon's daughter, is the beloved of Valère, but her father hopes to marry her to a wealthy man of his choosing, Seigneur Anselme. Meanwhile, Valère has taken a job as a steward in Harpagon's household in order to be close to Élise. The complications are only resolved at the end by the rather conventional discovery that some of the principal characters are long-lost relatives.
Satire and farce blend in the fast-moving plot, as when the miser's hoard is stolen. Asked by the police magistrate whom he suspects, Harpagon replies, “Everybody! I wish you to take into custody the whole town and suburbs” (5.1) and indicates the theatre audience while doing so. The play also makes fun of certain theatrical conventions, such as the spoken aside addressed to the audience, hitherto ignored by the characters onstage. The characters of L'Avare, however, generally demand to know who exactly is being spoken to.
Harpagon's servants with minor roles include Brindavoine, La Merluche, and Mistress Claude, a cleaning woman with no lines. In the last act appears a Magistrate who investigates the theft of the cash-box with his Clerk, who has no spoken part.
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The Miser
The Miser (French: L'Avare; pronounced [lavaʁ]) is a five-act comedy in prose by the French playwright Molière. It was first performed on September 9, 1668, in the theatre of the Palais-Royal in Paris.
This is a character comedy whose main character, Harpagon, is characterised by his caricatured avarice. Harpagon is an elderly widower who wishes to have an arranged marriage to the impoverished young woman Mariane, while securing another arranged marriage for his unwilling daughter Élise. He is initially unaware that Mariane is the girlfriend of his own son, or that Élise has a boyfriend. Meanwhile, Harpagon is stubbornly protecting a cassette full of gold. When his gold is stolen, Harpagon considers the entire urban and suburban population to be suspects for the crime. The five acts comprise five, five, nine, seven and six scenes respectively.
The characters break the fourth wall by speaking to the audience, though the other characters demand to know who is being spoken to.
The play was first produced when Molière's company was under the protection of Louis XIV. It was loosely based on the Latin comedy Aulularia by Plautus, from which many incidents and scraps of dialogue are borrowed, as well as from contemporary Italian farces.
The miser of the title is called Harpagon, a name adapted from the term Greek: ἁρπάγη pronounced harpágay, meaning a hook or grappling iron (ἁρπάγη < ἁρπάζω = grab). He is obsessed with the wealth he has amassed and always ready to save expenses. Now a widower, he has a son, Cléante, and a daughter, Élise. Although he is over sixty, he is attempting to arrange a marriage between himself and an attractive young woman, Mariane. She and Cléante are already devoted to each other, however, and the son attempts to procure a loan to help her and her sick mother, who are impoverished.
Élise, Harpagon's daughter, is the beloved of Valère, but her father hopes to marry her to a wealthy man of his choosing, Seigneur Anselme. Meanwhile, Valère has taken a job as a steward in Harpagon's household in order to be close to Élise. The complications are only resolved at the end by the rather conventional discovery that some of the principal characters are long-lost relatives.
Satire and farce blend in the fast-moving plot, as when the miser's hoard is stolen. Asked by the police magistrate whom he suspects, Harpagon replies, “Everybody! I wish you to take into custody the whole town and suburbs” (5.1) and indicates the theatre audience while doing so. The play also makes fun of certain theatrical conventions, such as the spoken aside addressed to the audience, hitherto ignored by the characters onstage. The characters of L'Avare, however, generally demand to know who exactly is being spoken to.
Harpagon's servants with minor roles include Brindavoine, La Merluche, and Mistress Claude, a cleaning woman with no lines. In the last act appears a Magistrate who investigates the theft of the cash-box with his Clerk, who has no spoken part.