The Miser
by Molière · L'Avare
Assigned by 2 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1668
- Form
- Comedy
- Language
- French
- Length
- Short · 100 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Approachable1 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Miser and Other Plays, translated by John Wood and David CowardPenguin Classics, 2000Clear prose translation with The Would-Be Gentleman and other late comedies in the same volume.
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Harpagon, a rich old widower, keeps his household half-starved while he hoards a cash box buried in the garden. He intends to marry the young Mariane himself and to marry off his son and daughter to whoever will take them without a dowry, not knowing that both children are already secretly in love. When the cash box is stolen Harpagon accuses everyone in sight, and the final act untangles matters through an improbable recognition scene that reunites two lost children with their father. A prose comedy adapted from Plautus' Aulularia.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Miser are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.