The seventeenth-century playwright Moliere is often looked up with extreme respect and serious consideration for his brilliant works of literature. However, in plays such as “The Miser,” he also demonstrates he had a fine sense of the comic and had justly earned his contemporary reputation as France’s jester. “The Miser” is considered to be a romantic comedy, which is made relatively clear within the first few lines of the play as Valere talks with Elise. “Charming Elise, you are growing melancholy, after the kind assurances which you were good enough to give me of your love! Alas!
I see you sighing amid my joy! Tell me, is it with regret at having made me happy? And do you repent of that engagement to which my affection has induced you?” (Act I). The first scene introduces the first schemes and counterschemes as the two children of Harpagon plot with their lovers and each other to try to win their father’s favor for the matches they’ve selected for themselves.
These schemes are countered by the schemes of Harpagon as he has his ideas regarding marriage which are themselves countered by further schemes of the children. The confusion caused by these several schemes and counterschemes is brought about primarily as a result of impeccable comic timing on the part of the author. As Moliere allows his various characters to scheme and misunderstands the meanings of the others, the confusion of the characters is utilized for maximum comic effect bringing about some unexpected results in each case.
The first scheme revealed in the play is that between Valere and Elise as they strive to devise a means of being together. Valere has taken employment within Harpagon’s household as a means of staying close to Elise, but the couple is unable to figure out a means of enabling the young man to get close to her father as anything other than a servant. Valere outlines his scheme to get Harpagon to like him in Act I as he attempts to assure Elise of his intentions. “I feel that to obtain favor with men, there are no better means than to pretend to be of their way of thinking, to fall in with their maxims, to praise their defects, and to applaud all their doings” (Act I).
However, this scheme backfires in numerous ways as first, Harpagon is unable to view Valere as anything other than an unworthy servant, and next as he is unexpectedly forced by this scheme to agree with Harpagon that Elise should marry Anselme although Harpagon has previously agreed to abide by Valere’s opinion, which would have gained the couple their freedom. Together, Valere and Elise devise a plan to win Elise’s brother’s support in the matter by having Elise approach Cleante. This scheme is almost immediately countered by a new scheme though as Cleante, obsessed with his issues, enlists Elise’s help in approaching her father regarding Cleante’s love for Marianne.
At first, both of these schemes seem almost unnecessary as Harpagon immediately brings up the subject of marriage upon coming across his children, but his plans are not at all what his children had in mind, again introducing confusion as gaps in understanding feed the comedy. As he discusses the possibilities of marriage to Marianne, Cleante believes all his hopes for the future are about to be fulfilled.
As Harpagon leads the conversation, asking basic questions about Marianne, there is little doubt in the younger man’s mind that Harpagon intends to have Cleante consider Marianne as a potential wife with open questions such as “How do you like the girl?” (Act IV). However, Harpagon finally reveals that he has been thinking of marrying the young girl himself, causing Cleante to retreat in despair, saying only “I feel faint all of a sudden.
I must get out of here” (Act IV). To offset the absence of fortunes represented by marriage to such a property-less girl, Harpagon plans to marry Elise in such a way that he will not be required to pay a dowry, getting Cleante to agree with him on this matter as well through a misperception of meaning. Following this disastrous conclusion for Cleante, Elise has her own set of surprises in store for her as she is confronted with her father’s plan to marry her off to Anselme, Valere’s father. Thus, the children’s schemes to marry for love are countered by Harpagon’s schemes to marry for monetary reasons – Marianne would provide him with a dutiful and presumably grateful wife while Elise’s marriage wouldn’t require a dowry as she would be married off to an old man.
Valere attempts to offer a counter to Harpagon’s schemes by agreeing with him regarding Elise’s impending marriage to Anselme as a means of placating the older man until they can figure out what else to do. Cleante attempts to counter Harpagon by borrowing money from a moneylender to finance an escape attempt by Cleante and Marianne without their parent’s blessings.
In each case, the younger man discovers, too late, that their previous schemes have interrupted their present pursuits. Valere’s scheme to always agree with his employer and the father of his hoped-for future wife causes him to inadvertently promise her hand to another when he had the opportunity of grabbing it for himself. Cleante’s scheme to borrow money from someone else to sneak away discovers to his horror that the secret moneylender is his father. The meeting leads to a confrontation between father and son in which Cleante is undoubtedly the loser as Harpagon continues to insist he will be marrying Marianne.
Like Elise, Marianne envisions marriage to an older man she does not love as a fate worse than death and schemes with Elise and Frosinone, the matchmaker, to find a means of avoiding it without having to go the extra drastic step of suicide, introducing a final scheme on the part of the children destined to succeed. As Harpagon and Cleante argue over Marianne, Harpagon’s precious money, the one thing he truly pays attention to, is discovered missing and Valere, as part of a scheme hatched by Maitre Jacques out of jealousy, is blamed.
While he confesses his love for Elise, Harpagon believes he is instead confessing his love for Harpagon’s money box and the ensuing confusion serves to reveal both Valere and Marianne’s paternity. As the newly reunited family is celebrating finding each other, Cleante steps forward to reveal that the children themselves were behind the missing box and agrees to return it only if Harpagon would relinquish any claims to Marianne’s hand.
However, Harpagon has one final scheme up his sleeve, again motivated behind money. While he agrees to the double marriage of his children to the children of Anselme as a means of regaining possession of his money box, he also manages to convince Anselme to pay for both weddings as well as purchase the new suit Harpagon will need to attend them. The play ends with everyone managing to gain some form of reunion – Valere and Elise are brought together as are Cleante and Marianne. These two couples leave with Anselme to reunite with Marianne’s mother and celebrate the upcoming nuptials while Harpagon is left free to reunite with his money box, which Cleante has provided him with directions to.
Thus, throughout the play, the various schemes of the characters involved serve to both drive the action and stall it out as they each scheme and counterscheme against the others to attain their greatest desires. How these schemes collide, allowing gaps of understanding at various points throughout the play serves to create comic confusion as none of the characters is completely aware of what is going on at any given moment.
However, the children’s understanding that their father’s true heart’s desire is not to part with even the smallest portion of his money finally enables them to hatch a scheme that will be successful toward their ends. While each scheme delivers some of the expected outcomes in that each scheming character can coerce some form of agreement with his or her desires, they each also deliver completely unexpected responses as other characters either add or delete information that serves to confuse the issues.