Society. When the term society
comes into my mind, the first thought that comes to mind is people. And I think
others will think of the same thing too. However, according to Merriam-Webster,
a society is defined as people in general thought of as living together in
organized communities with shared laws, traditions, and values. So being in a
society is supposed to be a good thing. It can make you feel like you belong to
something and not just a loner. After reading The Misanthrope, my understanding
of a society has certainly expanded. I saw that being in a society could make
you change. With one group of a society you behave one way but when you are
with a different group, you behave the complete opposite. So when I think of
the term society, I now think of the term hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy
is certainly seen throughout The Misanthrope very much. Let us take Celimene
into consideration. She is a fashionable young woman who says she loves Alceste
but yet she flirts with several other men pursuing her at the same time. She is
intelligent and quick-witted. She also enjoys gossiping about others behind
their back in her social circle. Most of the other characters in the play use
flattery and deceit to make their way into the society they want to fit
in.
So
after having read The Misanthrope, I have decided to come up with a different
definition of what I think a society is. I think of it as a group of people
that try to influence others to live by their standards for one reason or
another. A society is really just a general agreement between the majority of a
population with the agreement including what is right, wrong, normal, etc.
I agree that society has a great impact on how people act. Hypocrisy is certainly not a bad word to associate with society either. In your last paragraph, you say that society is "a group of people that try to influence others to live by their standards". In The Misanthrope, one can certainly see this in the way people act around Alceste. Everyone areound Alceste, including his closest friends, thought that is was wrong for him to speak his mind and not "act" politely to everyone, even the people he hated. This "acting", to me, seems to be customary in our scoiety as well.
ReplyDeletePeople in society are certainly hypocritical, that's true. But I think there are sometimes instances when people act differently and it isn't hypocritical. For example, think about the cultural differences in the Middle East. There are certain customs in that part of the world that visitors would feel inclined to follow too. Not because they want to be deceptive but because they want to be respectful of people with different customs.
ReplyDeleteGood points, Pamela and commenters. The real aspect of society that this post discusses is belonging to and power in a social group, as I understand it. Social hypocrisy demonstrates that sometimes the demands of society and one's individual values are incompatible or out-of-sync. It is important to remember that extreme hypocrisy in The Misanthrope is exposed and its perpetrator is informally punished, though the take-away from the text seems to be that there must be a middle path between the extremes of total hypocrisy and total veracity.
ReplyDelete