I finished reading The Miser by Molière (1668), translated by John Wood. It’s a five-act comedy and felt more farcical than the two comedies by Molière I’ve read previously. There were some very funny scenes and lines that made me laugh out loud.

While there is much satire and humorous dialogue, the characters offer insightful depictions of human nature. It makes an interesting companion piece to Eugénie Grandet by Balzac. Harpagon, Molière’s miser, and Eugénie’s father are both quintessential portraits of an all-consuming rapacity that surmounts even familial love. One work tells the story through humor and the theater and one through realism and the novel.

“Come on! Come quickly! Magistrates, police, provosts, judges, racks, gibbets, hangmen. I’ll have everybody hanged, and, if I don’t get my money back, I’ll hang myself afterwards.”