Le Misanthrope

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Le Misanthrope ou l'Atrabilaire amoureux (June 4th 1666) is a 17th century comedy of manners written by French playwright Molière.

Roy Matthews and F. Dewitt Platt suggest in their introduction to the play that the argument between characters Alceste and Philinte may share some of Molière's own internal conflict. The play, though not a commercial success in its time, survives as Molière's best known work today. Much of its universal appeal is due to common undercurrents of misanthropy across cultural borders.

[edit] Plot summary

This work centers on the protagonist Alceste, whose wholesale rejection of his culture's polite social conventions make him tremendously unpopular. This manifests itself in the primary conflict of the play, which results from Alceste's refusal to compliment a sonnet by Oronte, a character who lacks Alceste's respect for unabashed sincerity.

Philinte represents a foil for Alceste's moral extremism, and speaks throughout the first act of the play on the necessity of self-censorship and polite flattery to smooth over the rougher textures of a complex society.