Harpagon

Character Analysis

The Miser

Harpagon 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. It takes us less than three lines to figure this one out, since Harpagon's first appearance in the play shows him chasing his son's valet, La Flèche, out of his house because he thinks the young man is searching for where his money is hidden.

Harpagon makes this clear when he says, "I never saw such a set of prying eyes, forever snooping on everything I do" (1.3.11). Harpagon isn't just cheap; he's also paranoid! What a dude! He even tries to strip search La Flèche before letting the young man leave his home.

Harpagon doesn't seem to realize that his miserliness makes people dislike him. He seems to take it for granted that there will always be people around to put up with him, even though he isn't chill and isn't generous. When he speaks about marrying the young, beautiful Mariane, for example, Harpagon remarks, "There's just one little difficulty. I'm afraid she might not bring as much money with her as could be wished" (1.4.55).

Really, Harpagon? You're a sixty year-old man marrying a twenty-something woman, and you're worried about how much money she'll bring to your marriage? The dude is totally delusional about how people see him: he thinks he's quite the catch. But to be fair, this doesn't mean he's a big dumb dummy. Au contraire. He's quite the opposite. He's a clever guy, even if he has an emotional IQ of approximately 12.

The Schemer

Harpagon might be totally oblivious to how people see him, but that doesn't mean he's blind to everything that's going on around him. When Harpagon suspects that there might be some flirting going on between his son Cléante and his fiancé Mariane, he tricks Cléante into revealing that he hearts her. He does this by pretending that he wants Cléante to marry Mariane, and when Cléante says "Um, yes please!" Harpagon says the 17th Century French equivalent of "Sike!"

He also he says stuff like, "There's no happiness in marriage without love" (4.3.19), which is the complete opposite of what he actually believes. His ability to say things like this, though, shows that Harpagon has a chameleon-like way of changing his otherwise one-dimensional behavior for the sake of tricking people.

When Cléante reveals his relationship with Mariane, Harpagon says to the audience, "I'm glad I've got to the bottom of all this. That's what I wanted to know" (4.3.35). By finding out Cléante's ulterior motive, Harpagon successfully derails the big scheme that Cléante has hatched with Frosine and Mariane—a scheme we were totally expecting to be the focus of the rest of the play. But wily old Harpagon nips this plan in the bud.

Harpagon ain't blind to what's going on around him, at least when it comes to money and marriage. He is blind, though, to the fact that people see him as a miser and hate him for it. This might sound pretty ridiculous, but the root cause is that, deep down, Harpagon feels about as secure as a three-year-old who's lost his special blanky.

The Insecure

It may sound crazy, but Harpagon doesn't seem to realize that his miserly behavior has given him a bad reputation around Paris. When La Flèche curses all old misers and cheapskates, Harpagon can only ask (probably batting his eyelashes), "But who exactly do you mean by [misers]?" (1.3.41). It's hard to tell just how Harpagon could be ignorant of how he actually comes across, especially because he seems to care quite a bit about what people think of him.

When his servant Jacques mentions that Harpagon's cheapness has made people in Paris talk about him behind his back, Harpagon says, "I'd like to know what it is they say about me" (3.1.78). But he flips out (of course) when Jacques tells him he's a laughingstock. By the end of the day, the guy's greed has completely destroyed his ability to see what he might look like from an outside perspective.

Moliere doesn't go to any kind of length to make us sympathize with Harpagon: he was a canny enough playwright to realize that audiences love to hate. Moliere does, however, craft a really awesome character whose insecurity gives the reader/audience a little taste of how Harpagon became such a miserly jerk.