“I expect you to be
sincere and as an honourable man never to utter a single word that you don't
really mean.”
Alceste, the protagonist of Moliere’s comedy, The Misanthrope,
utters these words in the opening scene of the play. Alceste wanted a world of genuine
people. His desire was not as demanding
as that of Jesus or the Buddha. Yet
Alceste became a comic character in the society while Jesus and the Buddha
became gods.
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Alceste
lived in the 17th century when the world was more complex than when
Jesus demanded childlike innocence as the price of the ticket to heaven. The Buddha had found it even more impossible
to accept life’s absurdity than Jesus, let alone Alceste. The Buddha sought deliverance in the nonexistence
of nirvana while Jesus nailed his body’s abominable passions to the cross and thus delivered his soul from those passions.
Moliere’s
Alceste is more human than these gods.
He eventually accepted the limitations of human nature. None of us is wise, he says towards the end
of the play. “There’s some touch of
human frailty in every one of us,” he realises. And “every one” includes himself.
Alceste
became a comic character while Jesus and the Buddha became gods. Alceste could not have nailed himself to a
cross. Nor could he go through the
living hell that the Buddha had embraced.
So Alceste learnt to accept the importance of compromise and condescended
to become like the other human beings. But he really could not become what he could
accept intellectually. He remains at a distance from the society at the end of the play. Moliere ends the
play leaving the hope to the audience that Alceste would eventually learn the
fundamental lesson of life – that hypocrisy
is an integral part of human life unless you want to nail your body to a cross
or live your life in a self-created hell.
Better die being genuine or live being hypocrite or die being hypocrite or live being genuine? Randomness makes everything equal. Ask any random guy on a random street at a random time :)
ReplyDeleteHaving known certain people including a godman personally, I have understood the importance of hypocrisy. There's no life without it.
DeleteWow ! What's a revelation Sir. Very true, very true indeed ! Yes, most of the preachers themselves are hypocrites as they don't practice what they preach.
ReplyDeleteJitendra Mathur
DeleteMoliere thinks every one of us may have to learn that strategy of compromising
So beautifully you penned down! So hypocrisy it is, not sure if I could make it through but learning it to survive in the society !
ReplyDeleteIf you don't learn it willingly, the world will teach you forcibly ☺
DeleteWow !
ReplyDeleteI am in love with these lines - hypocrisy is an integral part of human life unless you want to nail your body to a cross or live your life in a self-created hell.
Like Alceste I think we should not become comic characters:)
Came here after long, enjoyed the post thoroughly
Glad you are here and that you liked the post.
DeleteOne has to do what the society does or at least pretend to do it to avoid being comical or tragic.
Preachers often trap people who are distanced from the society. They are not able to live their lives. Can this be avoided? Why do people think that they can make a difference by teaching shit in the name of religion?
ReplyDeleteIllusions make up religious aspirations.
Delete