“Miserable” Moliere in brief
Eliza, the daughter of Harpagon, and the young Wahler fell in love for a long time, and it happened under very romantic circumstances – Valer rescued the girl from the tumultuous sea waves when the ship on which they both sailed crashed. Valer’s feeling was so strong that he settled in Paris and acted as a butler to Eliza’s father. The young people dreamed of getting married, but on the way to the realization of their dreams there was an almost insurmountable obstacle – the incredible stinginess of Father Eliza, who would hardly have agreed to give his daughter for Valera, who had no penny in his heart. Valer, however, did not lose heart and did everything to win the favor of Garpagon, although for this he had to break day after day a comedy, pandering to the weaknesses and unpleasant oddities of the miser.
Brother Eliza, Cleant, was concerned about the same problem as her: he was madly in love with a girl recently settled in the neighborhood by the name
Money was for Harpagon the most important thing in life, and his boundless stinginess was combined with equally unlimited suspicion – from everyone in the world, from servants to his own children, he suspected of seeking to rob him, to deprive the precious treasures of his heart. On the day when the events described by us unfolded, Garpagon was more arrogant than ever: still, the day before, he was repaid a debt of ten thousand crowns. Not trusting the chests, he put all this money in a box, which he buried in the garden, and now he was trembling, as though someone did not sniff out about his treasure.
Gathered with the spirit, Eliza and Cleant nevertheless had a conversation with their father about marriage, and he, to their surprise, readily supported him; Moreover, Harpagon began to praise Mariana: to all she is good, except that this is a dowry, but that’s nothing… In short, he decided to marry her. These words completely shocked his brother and sister. It was so easy for Cleante.
But
Cleant constantly needed money – what his stingy father gave him was not enough even for a decent dress – and one day he decided to resort to the services of a moneylender. The broker Simon found a lender for him, whose name was kept secret. He, of course, lent money not to the accepted five percent, but to the extortionate twenty-five, and besides, of the required fifteen thousand francs, only twelve were ready to give in cash, imposing some unnecessary belongings on the rest, but he did not have to choose Cleant, and he went to such conditions. The creditor was the native father of Kleant. Harpagon willingly agreed to deal with a young rake unknown to him, since, according to Simon, he expected the death of his rich father in the very near future. When at last Harpagone and Cleant came together as business partners,
Having driven Kleant out of sight, Garpagon was ready to receive his forthcoming Frosin, a mediator in heart affairs, or, to put it simply, to a matchmaker. From the threshold of Frolina she began to crumble in compliments to the elderly groom: in her sixty Harpagon looks better than other twenty-year-olds, and he will live to a hundred years, and will also bury children and grandchildren. She did not pass by the praise and the bride: the beautiful Mariana, even though she is a non-dowry, but so modest and unpretentious that keeping her is only saving money; and will not pull her to the young men, since she can not stand them – she should not be given more than sixty, so that in glasses and beards.
Garpagon was extremely pleased, but, no matter how hard Frozina tried, she – as predicted by the servant of Cleant, Laflesh – could not lure him of a penny. However, the matchmaker did not despair: not from this, so from the other end she will get her money.
There was something unprecedented in the house of Harpagon – a dinner party; Elizah’s fiancee Mr. Anselm and Mariana were invited to attend. Garpagon here and remained faithful to himself, strictly ordered the servants God forbid not to enter it into the costs, and cook Zhak cook a dinner of tastier and cheaper. The butler Valer eagerly echoed all the master’s instructions for saving, thus trying to win the favor of his beloved father. Sincerely loyal to Jacques, it was disgusting to listen to how shamelessly Valer was getting on to Garpagon. Having given vent to the language, Jacques told the owner honestly how the whole city was pacing about his incredible stinginess, for which he was beaten first by Harpagon, and then by the zealous butler. He accepted the beatings from the host without a murmur, Valerus promised to repay it somehow.
As agreed, Mariana accompanied by Frozina paid Garpagon and his family a day visit. The girl was terrified of the marriage, to which her mother was pushing her; Frozina tried to console her with the fact that, unlike the young people, Harpagon is rich, and in the next three months he will certainly die. Only in the house of Harpagon, Mariana learned that Cleant, whose feelings she reciprocated, is the son of her old ugly bridegroom. But even in the presence of Garpagon, who was not very clever, the young men contrived to talk as if alone: Cleant pretended to speak on behalf of his father, and Mariana answered her beloved, while Garpagon was confident that her words were addressed to him. Seeing that the trick was a success, and from this daring, Cleant, again in the name of Harpagon, gave Mariana a ring with a diamond, removing it directly from the daddy’s hand. He was beside himself with horror, but he did not dare to demand a gift back.
When Harpagon briefly retired on a hasty business, Cleant, Mariana and Eliza led a conversation about their heartfelt deeds. Frozina, who was present at once, understood the difficult situation of the young people, and felt sorry for them. Convincing the youth not to despair and not yield to the whims of Harpagon, she promised to come up with something.
Soon returning, Harpagon found his son kissing the future step-mother’s hand and was worried if there was any kind of dirty trick. He began to question Kleant how the future stepmother came to him, and Cleant, wanting to dispel his father’s suspicions, replied that on closer inspection she was not as good as at first glance: her appearance was supposed to be mediocre, cunning, a very ordinary mind. Here it was the turn of Harpagon to resort to cunning: it’s a pity, he said, that Mariana did not like Cleant – he had just changed his mind about getting married and decided to give his bride to his son. Cleant was caught by his father’s trick and revealed to him that he had long been in love with Mariana; This is what Harpagon should have known.
Between father and son began a fierce squabble that did not end with assault by means of the intervention of the faithful Jacques. He acted as an intermediary between father and son, misinterpreting one word of the other, and so he achieved reconciliation, though not for long, since, as soon as he left, the rivals figured out what was what. A new outburst of quarrel led to Harpagon denying his son, robbing him of his inheritance, cursing and ordering him to leave.
While Cleant was not too successful in fighting for his happiness, his servant Laflesh did not lose time; he found a box in the garden with the money of Harpagon and stole it. Having discovered the loss, the miser nearly lost his reason; in a monstrous theft he suspected all without exception, almost not even himself.
Garpagon said to the police commissioner: any of his housekeepers, any of the residents of the city, any person in general, could have stolen, so that everyone should be interrogated. Jacques turned up the first one under the arm to investigate, who unexpectedly had the opportunity to take revenge on the toady-butler for beatings: he showed that he had seen Valer’s casket in his hands.
When Valera was pinned to the wall by the charge of kidnapping the most expensive thing that was at Harpagon, he, believing that the speech, no doubt, is about Eliza, admitted his guilt. But at the same time Valer fervently insisted that his act is forgivable, since he committed it from the most honest motives. Shocked by the impudence of a young man who claimed that money, you see, could be stolen from honest motives, Harpagon nevertheless continued to believe that Valer had confessed to stealing money – he was not at all embarrassed by the words about the unshakable virtue of the casket, about the love for her Valera… The shroud fell from his eyes only when Valer said that the day before, she and Eliza had signed a marriage contract.
Harpagon was still raging when he was invited to dinner at dinner by Mr. Anselm. Only a few replicas were needed to suddenly reveal that Valer and Mariana are brother and sister, the children of the noble Neapolitan Don Tomazo, now living in Paris under the name of Mr. Anselm. The fact is that sixteen years earlier Don Tomaso had been forced family to flee their hometown; their ship fell into a storm and drowned. Father, son, mother and daughter – all lived for many years with the certainty that other family members were killed in the sea: Mr. Anselm even in his old age even decided to get a new family. But now everything fell into place.
Garpagon finally allowed Eliza to marry Valera, and Cleante to marry Mariana, provided that he was returned to the precious casket, and Mr. Anselm would bear the cost of both weddings, would give Garpagon a new dress and pay the commissioner for drawing up the protocol that was unnecessary.
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