The Miser
The Miser PERSONS REPRESENTED.THE MISER.ACT I.ACT II.ACT III.ACT V.FOOTNOTESNotesCopyright
The Miser
Molière
PERSONS REPRESENTED.
Harpagon,father toCléante,in love
withMarianne.Cléante, Harpagon'sson, lover
toMarianne.Valère,son toAnselme,and lover
toÉlise.Anselme,father toValèreandMarianne.Master Simon,broker.Master Jacques,cook and coachman
toHarpagon.La Flèche,valet
toCléante.Brindavoine,andLa
Merluche,lackeys toHarpagon.A Magistrateand
hisClerk.Élise,daughter
toHarpagon.Marianne,daughter
toAnselme.Frosine,an intriguing
woman.Mistress Claude,servant
toHarpagon.The scene is atParis,inHarpagon'shouse.
THE MISER.
ACT I.
SCENE I.——VALÈRE, ÉLISE.Val. What, dear Élise! you grow sad after having given me
such dear tokens of your love; and I see you sigh in the midst of
my joy! Can you regret having made me happy? and do you repent of
the engagement which my love has forced from you?Eli. No, Valère, I do not regret what I do for you; I feel
carried on by too delightful a power, and I do not even wish that
things should be otherwise than they are. Yet, to tell you the
truth, I am very anxious about the consequences; and I greatly fear
that I love you more than I should.Val. What can you possibly fear from the affection you have
shown me?Eli. Everything; the anger of my father, the reproaches of my
family, the censure of the world, and, above all, Valère, a change
in your heart! I fear that cruel coldness with which your sex so
often repays the too warm proofs of an innocent love.Val. Alas! do not wrong me thus; do not judge of me by
others. Think me capable of everything, Élise, except of falling
short of what I owe to you. I love you too much for that; and my
love will be as lasting as my life!Eli. Ah! Valère, all men say the same thing; all men are
alike in their words; their actions only show the difference that
exists between them.Val. Then why not wait for actions, if by them alone you can
judge of the truthfulness of my heart? Do not suffer your anxious
fears to mislead you, and to wrong me. Do not let an unjust
suspicion destroy the happiness which is to me dearer than life;
but give me time to show you by a thousand proofs the sincerity of
my affection.Eli. Alas! how easily do we allow ourselves to be persuaded
by those we love. I believe you, Valère; I feel sure that your
heart is utterly incapable of deceiving me, that your love is
sincere, and that you will ever remain faithful to me. I will no
longer doubt that happiness is near. If I grieve, it will only be
over the difficulties of our position, and the possible censures of
the world.Val. But why even this fear?Eli. Oh, Valère! if everybody knew you as I do, I should not
have much to fear. I find in you enough to justify all I do for
you; my heart knows all your merit, and feels, moreover, bound to
you by deep gratitude. How can I forget that horrible moment when
we met for the first time? Your generous courage in risking your
own life to save mine from the fury of the waves; your tender care
afterwards; your constant attentions and your ardent love, which
neither time nor difficulties can lessen! For me you neglect your
parents and your country; you give up your own position in life to
be a servant of my father! How can I resist the influence that all
this has over me? Is it not enough to justify in my eyes my
engagement to you? Yet, who knows if it will be enough to justify
it in the eyes of others? and how can I feel sure that my motives
will be understood?Val. You try in vain to find merit in what I have done; it is
by my love alone that I trust to deserve you. As for the scruples
you feel, your father himself justifies you but too much before the
world; and his avarice and the distant way in which he lives with
his children might authorise stranger things still. Forgive me, my
dear Élise, for speaking thus of your father before you; but you
know that, unfortunately, on this subject no good can be said of
him. However, if I can find my parents, as I fully hope I shall,
they will soon be favourable to us. I am expecting news of them
with great impatience; but if none comes I will go in search of
them myself.Eli. Oh no! Valère, do not leave me, I entreat you. Try
rather to ingratiate yourself in my father's favour.Val. You know how much I wish it, and you can see how I set
about it. You know the skilful manoeuvres I have had to use in
order to introduce myself into his service; under what a mask of
sympathy and conformity of tastes I disguise my own feelings to
please him; and what a part I play to acquire his affection. I
succeed wonderfully well, and I feel that to obtain favour 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. One need not fear to overdo it,
for however gross the flattery, the most cunning are easily duped;
there is nothing so impertinent or ridiculous which they will not
believe, provided it be well seasoned with praise. Honesty suffers,
I acknowledge; but when we have need of men, we may be allowed
without blame to adapt ourselves to their mode of thought; and if
we have no other hope of success but through such stratagem, it is
not after all the fault of those who flatter, but the fault of
those who wish to be flattered.Eli. Why do you not try also to gain my brother's goodwill,
in case the servant should betray our secret?Val. I am afraid I cannot humour them both. The temper of the
father is so different from that of the son that it would be
difficult to be the confidant of both at the same time. Rather try
your brother yourself; make use of the love that exists between you
to enlist him in our cause. I leave you, for I see him coming.
Speak to him, sound him, and see how far we can trust
him.Eli. I greatly fear I shall never have the courage to speak
to him of my secret.SCENE II.——CLÉANTE, ÉLISE,Cle. I am very glad to find you alone, sister. I longed to
speak to you and to tell you a secret.Eli. I am quite ready to hear you, brother. What is it you
have to tell me?Cle. Many things, sister, summed up in one
word—love.Eli. You love?Cle. Yes, I love. But, before I say more, let me tell you
that I know I depend on my father, and that the name of son
subjects me to his will; that it would be wrong to engage ourselves
without the consent of the authors of our being; that heaven has
made them the masters of our affections, and that it is our duty
not to dispose of ourselves but in accordance to their wish; that
their judgment is not biassed by their being in love themselves;
that they are, therefore, much more likely not to be deceived by
appearances, and to judge better what is good for us; that we ought
to trust their experience rather than the passion which blinds us;
and that the rashness of youth often carries us to the very brink
of dangerous abysses. I know all this, my sister, and I tell it you
to spare you the trouble of saying it to me, for my love will not
let me listen to anything, and I pray you to spare me your
remonstrances.Eli. Have you engaged yourself, brother, to her you
love?Cle. No, but I have determined to do so; and I beseech you
once more not to bring forward any reason to dissuade me from
it.Eli. Am I such a very strange person, brother?Cle. No, dear sister; but you do not love. You know not the
sweet power that love has upon our hearts; and I dread your
wisdom.Eli. Alas! my brother, let us not speak of my wisdom. There
are very few people in this world who do not lack wisdom, were it
only once in their lifetime; and if I opened my heart to you,
perhaps you would think me less wise than you are
yourself.Cle. Ah! would to heaven that your heart, like mine
…Eli. Let us speak of you first, and tell me whom it is you
love.Cle. A young girl who has lately come to live in our
neighbourhood, and who seems made to inspire love in all those who
behold her. Nature, my dear sister, has made nothing more lovely;
and I felt another man the moment I saw her. Her name is Marianne,
and she lives with a good, kind mother, who is almost always ill,
and for whom the dear girl shows the greatest affection. She waits
upon her, pities and comforts her with a tenderness that would
touch you to the very soul. Whatever she undertakes is done in the
most charming way; and in all her actions shine a wonderful grace,
a most winning gentleness, an adorable modesty, a … ah! my sister,
how I wish you had but seen her.Eli. I see many things in what you tell me, dear brother; and
it is sufficient for me to know that you love her for me to
understand what she is.Cle. I have discovered, without their knowing it, that they
are not in very good circumstances, and that, although they live
with the greatest care, they have barely enough to cover their
expenses. Can you imagine, my sister, what happiness it must be to
improve the condition of those we love; skilfully to bring about
some relief to the modest wants of a virtuous family? And think
what grief it is for me to find myself deprived of this great joy
through the avarice of a father, and for it to be impossible for me
to give any proof of my love to her who is all in all to
me.Eli. Yes, I understand, dear brother, what sorrow this must
be to you.Cle. It is greater, my sister, than you can believe. For is
there anything more cruel than this mean economy to which we are
subjected? this strange penury in which we are made to pine? What
good will it do us to have a fortune if it only comes to us when we
are not able to enjoy it; if now to provide for my daily
maintenance I get into debt on every side; if both you and I are
reduced daily to beg the help of tradespeople in order to have
decent clothes to wear? In short, I wanted to speak to you that you
might help me to sound my father concerning my present feelings;
and if I find him opposed to them, I am determined to go and live
elsewhere with this most charming girl, and to make the best of
what Providence offers us. I am trying everywhere to raise money
for this purpose; and if your circumstances, dear sister, are like
mine, and our father opposes us, let us both leave him, and free
ourselves from the tyranny in which his hateful avarice has for so
long held us.Eli. It is but too true that every day he gives us more and
more reason to regret the death of our mother, and that
…Cle. I hear his voice. Let us go a little farther and finish
our talk. We will afterwards join our forces to make a common
attack on his hard and unkind heart.SCENE III.——HARPAGON, LA
FLÈCHE.Har. Get out of here, this moment; and let me have no more of
your prating. Now then, be gone out of my house, you sworn
pickpocket, you veritable gallows' bird.La Fl. (aside). I never
saw anything more wicked than this cursed old man; and I truly
believe, if I may be allowed to say so, that he is possessed with a
devil.Har. What are you muttering there between your
teeth?La Fl. Why do you send me away?Har. You dare to ask me my reasons, you scoundrel? Out with
you, this moment, before I give you a good thrashing.La Fl. What have I done to you?Har. Done this, that I wish you to be off.La Fl. My master, your son, gave me orders to wait for
him.Har. Go and wait for him in the street, then; out with you;
don't stay in my house, straight and stiff as a sentry, to observe
what is going on, and to make your profit of everything. I won't
always have before me a spy on all my affairs; a treacherous scamp,
whose cursed eyes watch all my actions, covet all I possess, and
ferret about in every corner to see if there is anything to
steal.La Fl. How the deuce could one steal anything from you? Are
you a man likely to be robbed when you put every possible thing
under lock and key, and mount guard day and night?Har. I will lock up whatever I think fit, and mount guard
when and where I please. Did you ever see such spies as are set
upon me to take note of everything I do? (Aside) I tremble for fear he should
suspect something of my money. (Aloud) Now, aren't you a fellow to give rise to stories about my
having money hid in my house?La Fl. You have some money hid in your house?Har. No, scoundrel! I do not say that. (Aside) I am furious! (Aloud