How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"What the devil? […] That makes more than twenty-five percent!" (2.1.23)
The only way Cléante can get money (apart from The Bank of Dad) is to borrow it. But because he's desperate, he's totally confined to whatever terms the lender decides to put on his loan. In this case, the lender wants him to pay 25% interest on his loan, which is ridiculously high. But hey, what's a guy gonna do?
Quote #8
"What else can I do? This is what young men are reduced to by the damned stinginess of their fathers." (2.1.39)
Cléante knows that he has no options at all in terms of getting money, so he has to accept whatever terms the moneylender gives him, no matter how unfair. Little does he know, though, that the brutally unfair lender behind his loan is actually his father, Harpagon.
Quote #9
"Oh! Wretched girl! You don't deserve to have a father like me!" (5.4.1)
When he hears that Élise has pledged herself to marry Valère, Harpagon loses his mind and tells her that she doesn't deserve a father like him. He doesn't seem to realize that he's totally overbearing and that he has made his children miserable by keeping them confined with his greed and unwillingness to let them pursue their own desires.