The Miser is another short play by Molière in which a bourgeois father’s obsession for a certain possession establishes the theme of the story. ‘What’ Tartuffe is to Orgon, money is to Harpagon who is the avaricious father to Clèante and Èlise. In a grim yet comical way, Harpagon’s only concern is his possession of money. His excessive paranoia plagues his character throughout the play, as he incontrovertibly believes that everyone wants to steal his money. As with Orgon, Harpagon’s irrational behavior and his excessive nature towards a possession infringe on his relationship with his children. The love he has for his money overshadows the love for his children because in his mind, love and respect will only be returned to him while he retains his strongbox. Harpagon fails to realize that his children do not want his money, they pray for their freedom from his tyranny. The strongbox not only contains Harpagon’s money but also the authority by which he rules. Without the strongbox, not only does Harpagon lose his wealth, he loses the veneration and power that his wealth creates. As Mander states “Harpagon has power because he has money…when the strongbox disappears, his authority goes with it”(149). The obsession of his strongbox is a metaphor for his obsession with supremacy.
The tyrannical acts of Harpagon and Orgon are most notably besieged on their children. These fathers create conflict by ignoring the wishes of their children and in return, expecting their demands to be met without argument. Both fathers decide whom their daughters will marry based on the opulence bestowed upon themselves with no solicitude to the wishes or desires of their daughters. Orgon chooses Tartuffe to wed his child for the sole reason of making Tartuffe an eternal fixture to his family. This wedding is not planned to benefit the wishes of his child, but more so to bring his love Tartuffe closer to him. Harpagon chooses his daughter’s groom based on Anselmes promise to forfeit the required dowry, thereby saving the expense of Harpagon giving his daughter away. Neither men care for the happiness of their child, they care about the happiness brought to them. Mander describes it best when he says of Harpagon, “His assent is not directed to fulfilling the wishes of his children; rather, it is dictated entirely according to his own self-interest and avarice”(148). Many of us can see the lack of humanity in Harpagon’s character based on his marriage arrangement. As W.G. Moore states, “The cause of this inhumanity is simply that Harpagon has transferred to money all the love and care usually given to people”(109).
Orgon clamors for the respect of his daughter even though it is not reciprocated. Tartuffe receives the respect of Orgon that should be bestowed upon Mariane but instead she is used as a contrivance to get what Orgon desires. When asked by Mariane why she is to wed Tartuffe, Orgon states, “Because I am resolved it shall be true. That it’s my wish should be enough for you”(Tartuffe 2.1.25-26). In Orgon’s eyes, Mariane is seen as an entity at the disposal of his wishes. She feels she should obey and please her father as any child would. “Those who remain pure and innocent risk becoming victims…”(Gossman 77). This comment is undeniably true when discussing the lives of others being disrupted by the selfishness of the bourgeois man. Orgon and Harpagon’s callous personas affect the lives of their children’s lovers as well as their own. Gertrud Mander correctly states, “The childrens’ destroyed relationship to their father destroys all other human relationships”(147). In the play Tartuffe, Valère and Mariane almost end their relationship because of Orgon’s control over Mariane’s life. Valère and Mariane irrationally place guilt on one another for a situation neither is responsible for. Valère gets Orgon’s consent to wed his daughter but Orgon decides to break his promise to Valère without any compunction. Even worse is the impudence of his character when he expects to receive his wish without enmity from all parties involved. Mariane not only lacks the social standing of a woman to disobey her father, she lacks the emotional strength to challenge her father’s requests. Mariane confesses this to Dorine when she says, “I’ve bowed so long to my Father’s strict control, I couldn’t oppose him now, to save my soul”(Tartuffe 2.3.13-14). Her comment not only proves her unwillingness to contest her father’s wishes, but also how she would give up her greatest possession rather than fight his wishes; her soul.
Harpagon’s evil nature seems to be greater than that of Orgons’ for the sole reason of what possession each man is obsessed with. Orgon’s iniquity towards his family is replaced by a morbid act of genuineness towards another human being, whereas Harpagon’s iniquity towards his family is replaced by his sincerity for his money. By holding a higher regard for his money than his family, Harpagon’s immense amount of frivolity is greater than that of Orgon’s. Harpagon’s children are only concerned with following their hearts and being with the people that they have fallen in love with. Their only need for money is the freedom that comes along with it. Molière seems to use the act of love in this play to accentuate the characters’ true form. Clèante and Èlise are rapt in obtaining the love of another, but are fettered by Harpagon’s selfish ways. Clèante states his exasperation of his father when he says, “…how frustrating it is for me to see that because of a father’s avarice I am powerless to taste this joy and to display to this beauty any token of my love”(The Miser 1.2.140). Harpagon does not strive to bring happiness to his family, let alone others who are not of his blood. By being impervious to human emotions of others, Harpagon creates a brick wall between himself and everyone else who possess morality. Charles Dullin states, “Harpagon stands out as black against a luminous background of youth and freshness”(157). We witness a battle between the obsession of love and the obsession of control when we analyze Harpagon and his children. In Tartuffe, I felt that Orgon’s children still loved their father, but did not revere his excessive and controlling behavior. In The Miser, I feel that the lack of respect and love Harpagon shows his children is reciprocated. Orgon’s children do not want to leave their father’s side, but rather convey their love by unmasking Tartuffe’s hypocrisy. Harpagon’s children pray for the moment they can be liberated from his tyranny and could care less about his providence.
In these bourgeois characters, we see another characteristic that is not so simple to examine. Neither character could be described as unintelligent, yet at times their intellect seems impaired by a lack of perspicacity. Both characters show signs of gullibility, but it is sometimes mistaken for conceit. Orgon’s family realizes the hypocrisy of Tartuffe, but Orgon is blind to the fact. I feel it is not so much his naivety that blinds him, but more so his conceit. He believes he cannot be swindled by anyone because he is smarter than everyone. His inability to decipher fact from fiction grows with his ego. Those who try to lead him to the truth are ignored or accused of being jealous, whereas those who deceive Orgon fall into his fervor. “Tartuffe hypnotizes those who are foolish and conceited; those who are reasonable and practical are immune to him”(Mander 96). Orgon does not want his intelligence or his beliefs challenged, given that he feels he is superior to everyone. Orgon’s conceit hurts those who are innocent and rewards those who are impious. Orgon does not want to learn about Tartuffe’s deceptiveness since this will prove that Orgon is not perfect. Orgon is more fearful of losing the possession that he believes brings him the respect of god and society than he is of losing a beloved friend. This vanity blemishes the scale of his intelligence in addition to making him a victim who should receive no sympathy. He becomes an unsympathetic figure because his bourgeois nature almost destroyed his family. His wife, who displays purity throughout the play, must change her persona and become a hypocrite to prove that Tartuffe is absent of morals. Damis was banished from the house because he challenged his father’s possession. Marriage was to be forced upon Mariane to bring her father’s possession closer. Orgon is the one who is responsible for all of these maladies, yet he does not apologize to anyone when the truth is revealed. He remains blind to the fact that he is responsible for the misery he created. His anger over being deceived is directed towards Tartuffe when it should really be towards himself. Gertrud Mander states that his excess “…goes from bondage to blind rage, and both these excesses hurt his family”(91). Orgon’s family is the true victim of his naivety and conceit.
Harpagon is of the same moral fiber, yet at times he seems to escape his gullibility and seek out the truth rather than trust his aptitude. Orgon needed his family to rescue him from his foolhardiness, whereas Harpagon uses his own wit to unmask the truth. Clèante tries to veil his love of Mariane from his father, but Harpagon tricks him into divulging the trn s will always accept their fate as objects at the disposal of the bourgeois men. The bourgeois men will always be in a world of their own, admiring their perfect ways, while others try to escape it.
