The Miser [3] -

From The Big Book of Molière Monologues by actor/author Timothy Mooney. A collection of over 160 of Molière's funniest monologues in new rhymed iambic pentameter versions. At every stage of The Miser, Harpagon obsesses over financial gain. While his two children have fallen in love with young, vital partners, Harpagon wants to engage them to a rich widow and widower. Making matters worse, Harpagon has envisioned a marriage to his son’s lover for himself, his only regret being that the girl and her mother have very little money to provide as dowry. Perhaps the most subtle, yet pervasive theme that emerges from Molière’s plays is the tendency to replace love with a substitute: the result of an intrinsic character flaw out of which the action of the entire play is generated. People do not really change in Molière’s plays; it is action which remains fluid and flexible, while character remains a fixed constant.see less