Customer Reviews

The Misanthrope and Tartuffe

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Here they are. The Misanthrope and Tartuffe, arguably Moliere's two most famous plays, translated by Pulizter Prize-winner Richard Wilbur, the crown jewels of his poetic output. These translations are performed all the time, and have proved themselves on the modern stage. But the effect of them is not lessened by reading, as this bookshelf-ready edition shows. They are packed with hilarious observations about the pretentions in us all.

The Misanthrope is about a man who tells the harshest truth to everyone but himself; Tartuffe about hypocricy in religion. They read fast and funny, the rhyming couplets of the original faithfully reproduced. The language seems so natural and witty that you think perhaps these plays weren't written in the seventeenth century. But they were, this species of farce being extinct these days, except in rare places like The Simpsons. I can not only unhesitatingly recommend these, but also all of Wilbur's translations of Moliere. It is rare for a comic author to get such a seriously worthy treatment. Hooray!

Wilbur's translation of this Moliere work is particularily well done, with excellent rhyme scheme even in English translation. Misanthrope is a excellent play, filled with ironic twists.

In both these plays, Wilbur brings Moliere's true genius to real life. Previous translations of Moliere's work pale by comparison to Wilbur's brilliant translations. It was my feeling, that would Moliere by alive today, and writing in American English, he would write the way Wilbur translated it.

In comparison to prose translations in the past, Wilbur, past US Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner, truly gives the reader the real feeling of Moliere's "Balletic Comedy" style, as Moliere used his poetry and comedy to make complex and serious points about life of "regular" people, as opposed to royalty such as Shakespeare concentrated on, and so many other playwrites of the past.

In reading Wilbur's translations, one can virtually imagine the cast prancing and mincing across the stage as they humorously render these rhyming couplets at each other, and the audience. The true genius of both Moliere and Wilbur is illustrated most profoundly and strikingly in these translations. Any true lover of Moliere, and even those who have never read him before, should treat themselves to Wilbur's translations for a Moliere experience, that is unparalleled in any other versions previously published.

I rarely read plays (not counting Mr. S.) and rarely read poetry. I'm glad I broke with tradition and read these. I think I went to high school with some of the characters - and 45 years later some of them haven't changed. The plays are so funny that I found myself reading out loud (to myself) using different voices for the characters. I have never done that before and it added to my enjoyment to create a "play" while reading the script.

Most enjoyable - maybe I'll tackle some more plays.

Many people are turned off by the rhyming nature of Tartuffe. Personally I find myself so enthralled with the story that I often fail to notice that the story itself rhymes. Real belly laughs abound as we watch Orgon blindly walk through life, oblivious to the religious-hypocrite's misdeeds. It's an absurd story, but it's meant to be thus. It does miss something if you don't see it performed live but once you have, when you read it as it is presented here, you manage to get full enjoyment!

The Misanthrope exists in much the same credit. 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.

I'm not as big a fan of The Misanthrope as of Tartuffe but I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was very happy to be exposed to the text this way. This is an excellent rendering.

This particular translation for the French farce is excellent, and is easily adapted to the stage. Well done, entertaining, and full of the stuff of French literature of the late Bourbon era.

It is amazing that a 500 year old rhyming play can be laugh-out-loud funny. Celimene is surely one of the most sharp tounged, wittiest feminine roles in the theater. I saw the very long legged Umma Thurman perform a modern adaption of this play off broadway. Tartuffe is also good but it does not rhyme. Neither does Moilière's "Don Juan".

Moliere's leading characters often have one major negative trait which dictates their behavior throughout the play. In this they often seem to be mechanical stock characters and not flesh- and - blood living human beings. In 'The Misanthrope' Alceste believes he must tell the truth to everyone he sees. This is despite the advice of his best friend Philinte. Alceste alienates everyone. At the same time he is madly in love with with Celimene. He wants her to go away with him to retreat from hypocritical society. She however flirtatious and light - minded prefers society to him. The play closes with Philinte trying to persuade Alceste not to leave society completely.
In the second play in this volume the leading character is a religious hypocrite. He finds his way into the heart and mind of a wealthy gentleman Orgon and dominates his family life. Tartuffe steals his money , leads Orgon to disinherit his son and offer his daughter to Tartuffe in marriage. Tartuffe attempts to seduce Orgon's wife. Orgon is convinced to hide under a table where he overhears Tartuffe's entreaties. Orgon then decides to eject him from the family but cannot. It is only with the intercession of the king that the religious hypocrite is stopped. This play raised a furor in its day and the Church opposed its production. Moliere's patron Louis XIV allowed its production in private but only after five years allowed its public staging.
In both these plays Moliere viciously satires the human propensity to remain fixed and static in one's own character, and reaction to reality. He derides human folly but always with the redeeming grace of laughter.
For the contemporary reader of the work who does not feel the special force of the work in its original language there often may seem something forced and artificial in the work. Moliere's work it seems to me gain much from being staged and to know them truly reading alone is not enough.

what basis we judge people. why tartuffe was so bad being a pious . what judgement we have . what tartuffe all about?