The Miser Characters

The MiserHarpagon likes money. He also likes…uh, well, that's actually the only thing he likes. He doesn't like the things that money can buy; he just likes snuggling with his cold, hard, cash. I...

The RomeoCléante has one main motive in this play, and that's his love for Mariane. We find out quickly that Cléante is the hopeless romantic type, saying things about Mariane like, "[To] see her...

The JulietLike Cléante, the first thing we learn about Élise is that she's in love. She's in love with one of her father's servants, a dude named Valère. Another thing we learn about Élise earl...

Valère has been in love with Élise ever since he first saw her—you know, when he saved her from drowning. The problem is that he's just a humble servant working for Élise's family. We find out...

Like most characters in this play, Mariane is mainly defined by her love. The person that Mariane is smitten by is Cléante, which is why it comes as devastating news when she finds out that (for f...

Frosine is the real wild card in this play. For the most part, she's totally self-interested and she has a lot of confidence in her ability to manipulate people into doing what she wants. When she...

La Flèche is Cléante's valet. For the most part, he's a pretty cool customer. He's a young man who doesn't really wish anyone ill. But when Harpagon yells at him for no good reason and boots him...

Master Jacques is a bit player, but also one of the more complicated and interesting characters in The Miser. For starters, he seems to be the only person in the play who has any sympathy at all fo...

As we discover at the end of the play, Anselme is actually an Italian nobleman who has changed his name in order to escape the pain of his former life—he thought he had lost his wife and children...