The Misanthrope - Hypocrisy

Hello, world of hypocrisy! The first idea that struck my mind was the amount of hypocrisy demonstrated in this play! It just seems like every character in the play was a hypocrite, one way or another.

We have Oronte, who was so eager to befriend Alceste, spoke nice words to Alceste and asked Alceste for opinions regarding his sonnet. But right after Alceste critiqued on his sonnet, he turned his back on Alceste and filed a lawsuit against Alceste to seek for revenge.

We also have Arsinoe, who claimed that she stood side with Celimene when other people talked about Celimene’s flirtatious behavior but she revealed Celimene’s love letter to Oronte in attempt to destroy Alceste and Celimene’s relationship.

Another very obvious character who was a hypocrite was Celimene. She turned her house/salon into a gossip shack. She was young, outgoing, affectionate, and sociable; she had all the personalities required to be under the spotlight and the center of attention which attracted a lot of admirers. She flirted with all her suitors and spoke kind words to them. However, she lied to Alceste that he was her one true love. She was like the ‘mean girl’ who pretended to be nice in front of everybody but spoke nastily about them behind their backs.

While reading through the play, I thought that Alceste was the just and noble one who separated himself from the hypocritical society. He even hated the human race for their two-faced behavior ("Some men I hate for being rogues; the others/ I hate because they treat the rogues like brothers" ).But wait… He claimed that he hated people for their insincerity but he still professed his love to Celimene when he knew about her actual personalities. He was condemning and insulting people for being ‘fake’ but calling his own hypocritical behavior ‘love’. What’s worse, he even asked Celimene to become a hypocrite by telling her to "Pretend, pretend, that you are just and true,/And I shall make myself believe in you".

                Well, while the ending of the play seemed to oppose the hypocrites: Alceste was in isolation, Celimene was abandoned by her suitors; Philinte and Eliante had a happy ending. I was a little confused at first because all this while I thought that the entire play was opposing hypocrisy by placing Alceste as the protagonist. But now to me the ending just suggested that a little hypocrisy is acceptable in the society. Philinte disliked Oronte’s sonnet but he did not throw direct insult at Oronte. Real world needs a little white lies and flatteries to live in.