The Misanthrope

Drama is so fun to read! I’m sure I read this in college in Mr. Cerniglia’s theater class. I really loved that class. But I sure don’t remember this play. I remember how Mr. Cerniglia would pronounce “misanthrope,” though. It was very beautiful sounding when he said it.

It was also very beautiful sounding when my second-eldest niece said it. That was years ago. She was maybe 8 or 9 years old. She and her younger brother were staying with us for a weekend, and it was our tradition to always try to teach the kids a new word when they stayed with us. That year, her word was “misanthrope.” She loved it. I’m pretty sure she hadn’t heard of Molière’s The Misanthrope</a* when she offered to put on a little play for us. The image of her and her brother holding up these silly masks I’d made of Patrick and me, and her dramatically posing and saying, “I FEEEEL like a mees-ann-THROOOOOOPE!” will be with me all my days, I think.

I’ll also be fond of coincidences all my days. Here’s one: At the very end of the introduction to the play: “The Misanthrope is Molière’s Hamlet.” Good one.

P.S. The book in which I read this play is a used copy. Someone else’s notes & underlining…