The Miser by Moliere
The Miser by Moliere
Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
This is at least the third time that I meet with Harpagon.
Memorable is the film with Louis de Funes.
The last version is adapted for the BBC.
I sympathize with Harpagon and I propose a different approach this time.
- Yes, the old man is despicable from some points of view
- He fights with his children over arranged marriages, even competing with his son over the betrothal of Mariane
Having established a couple of outlines, I am thinking that apart from the arranged, outrageous marriages there are problems with the marital relationships born out of love.
After a two years period, even the latter experience a honeymoon effect whereby a hedonic adaptation interferes.
The partner can be as attractive and alluring as Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie and still one wants a change.
- I would refer to the “Lasagna principle” as established and explained by the Harvard Professor Tal Ben Shahar
Of course, clever people and especially those with a high EQ, which has been demonstrated to matter twice as much as IQ, would know how to avoid boredom and routine and half of marriages or more resist into old age.
But I would point out that a couple that comes from the same group has a better chance to maintain the relationship than those who are very different- in spite of that claim that opposites attract- because after two years, if one is educated and preoccupied with the stories of John Cheever, while the other wants to talk about soccer, the gap will end up in becoming an abyss.
Ergo, parents are sometimes right to insist on the viability of a marriage that does not bridge a gap as wide as that between a University professor and a plumber.
Of course, Harpagon is interested in a dowry for his son, who is to marry a rich widow and the opposite for his daughter, who is destined – if Harpagon would have the final say- to marry an old man, who would not ask for anything from the father.
The parsimony of the protagonist is extreme and cause for ridicule and laughter, his community stigmatizing him.
When he has guests, he tells his servant to:
- Spare the wine, pour if they ask…and when they ask, wait, pretend not to hear…again and again
- If they insist, add water…what about this apron, save it
- How can I do that? It has a huge stain…and there is hole at my back, in the trousers…the people will see my…
- Stay with the back at the wall
Jacques is like one of those special offers that miserly fellows like: pay for just one and get…three in this case
For he is the cook, the servant and the coachman and he emphasis while asking his master- are you talking to the cook now?
It is nearly hilarious at times, when Jacques for instance is appalled by the insincerity of Valere, who talks nicely about Harpagon:
- I know he is false master
- How?
- He says you are good, kind and a nice man
- Well
- We all know that is not true…
Words to that effect
Then Jacques talks about the horses, that have nothing to eat in the house of The Miser, but they will collapse with this regime.
- After the horses, I like you most master and I don’t know why
Harpagon is right with his leitmotif:
- We eat to live and not live to eat
Studies made in Okinawa have demonstrated that the exceptional longevity of the people there is due in large part to their eating habits:
- They eat only about 80% of what they would like, they never get a “full stomach”
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