Alceste, the title character of The Misanthrope, has little use for mankind, including himself, rejecting the social conventions of the seventeenth century French salon in favor of brutal honesty and self-imposed isolation.  The one notable exception is the vivacious flirt Célemène, who epitomizes the witty frivolity of courtly manners and captures his heart in spite of his disapproval of her manners, thus revealing his own fallibility.  Arsinoé,an older, upright woman who is jealous of Célemène, shows him a letter which leads to the discovery that Célemène has written identical love letters to numerous suitors. Alceste issues an ultimatum which Célemène refuses. Alceste exiles himself from society. The play ends with two friends running after him to get him to return. The Misanthrope was written in 1666, just after Tartuffe and Dom Juan had been banned by the government, and the play is more subtle and nuanced.  The characters are dynamic and evolve, as opposed to the relatively static stock characters in most farce.  Alceste can be admired as a hero for his candor or taken for a fool for his unrealistic idealism. It was not a commercial success in his time, but has become his best-known work and considered his best by many as well.

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