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Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Molière's most-admired comedy of manners, about a man whose quickness to criticise the flaws in others, and in himself, leads him into deep trouble. Alceste, the 'misanthrope', hates all mankind, and despairs of its hypocrisy and falseness. He believes that the world could be perfected if people were more honest with each other. But when his honesty starts to make him enemies, and the target of malicious gossips, it is his world and his life which suffer. The Misanthrope, or the Cantankerous Lover (Le Misanthrope ou l'Atrabilaire amoureux) was first performed in 1666 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris. This English version, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated and introduced by Stephen Mulrine.
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Summary: In this seventeenth-century play, Alceste gets into trouble when he refuses to engage in dishonest flattery and instead insists upon brutal honesty. Despite this rejection of the flattery that is part of his society’s norms, he harbors romantic feelings for the frivolous Célimène. This play chronicles the comedic interactions between Alceste and the other characters and raises questions about the value and place of societal norms and of honesty.