The Miser by Molière

How hard is The Miser to read?

The Miser scores 43 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it moderately challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 58 out of 100

The text, a translation of a 17th-century play, employs a formal and somewhat dated vocabulary, featuring words like "prating," "miscreant," "usurers," "chattels," and "cudgelling." While generally comprehensible through context, these terms elevate the language above contemporary fiction, requiring a slightly more attentive reader. It lacks the dense specialized jargon of works like "Moby-Dick" or the invented language of "Finnegans Wake."

Sentence structure: 55 out of 100

Sentences are generally well-structured and formal, often incorporating subordinate clauses and rhetorical questions typical of dramatic dialogue. While some sentences are lengthy, they remain navigable and clear, avoiding the extreme hypotaxis or unpunctuated monologues found in works like "Ulysses" or Henry James. The play format naturally breaks up the text, preventing overwhelming paragraph density.

Abstraction: 60 out of 100

The play presents a concrete narrative centered on character interactions and plot developments, yet it consistently explores abstract themes of avarice, hypocrisy, and the nature of love and family duty. While not featuring explicit philosophical treatises, these deeper meanings are woven into the dramatic conflicts and character motivations, similar to how "The Brothers Karamazov" embeds philosophical debates within its narrative.

Information density: 62 out of 100

The play maintains a moderate information density, with multiple intertwined plotlines concerning love, avarice, and mistaken identities. Information is primarily conveyed through brisk dialogue, requiring readers to track several character motivations and developing conflicts simultaneously. The rapid succession of revelations towards the climax, such as Anselme's true identity, demands sustained attention without being overly obscure or laden with extraneous detail.

Narrative indirection: 30 out of 100

The play's narrative is highly direct, with characters explicitly stating their intentions, desires, and Harpagon's avarice. While dramatic irony exists, the plot progression and character motivations are clearly presented through dialogue and asides, leaving little for the reader to infer about the immediate events or underlying conflicts. Harpagon's internal monologues and the characters' open discussions about their schemes ensure clarity, placing it closer to '1984' than 'Pedro Paramo'.

Symbolic density: 25 out of 100

"The Miser" functions primarily as a social satire and character study, with its central motif of money representing avarice rather than a complex, multi-layered symbol. The play's meaning is largely derived from its literal events and the direct portrayal of human folly, lacking the pervasive allegorical or mythic structures found in highly symbolic works. The casket is a literal object of desire, not a deep symbolic carrier like the whale in 'Moby-Dick'.

Ironic distance: 75 out of 100

Molière employs significant ironic distance, particularly through the characters' elaborate flattery and deception of Harpagon, of which the audience is fully aware. Valère's feigned agreement with Harpagon's miserly views and Frosine's exaggerated praises of his age create a constant gap between what is said and the underlying truth, generating much of the play's comedic and critical effect. Harpagon's self-deception further amplifies this ironic gap, akin to the unreliable charm in 'Lolita'.

Resolution withholding: 30 out of 100

As a classical comedy, "The Miser" moves towards a clear and definitive resolution, with the young lovers' marriages arranged and Harpagon's money recovered by the end of the play. The introduction of Anselme as the long-lost father provides a convenient, if somewhat abrupt, closure to all major conflicts, leaving no significant ambiguities or open questions about the characters' fates. This offers a clear resolution, unlike the lingering questions in 'The Crying of Lot 49'.

Structural complexity: 20 out of 100

The play adheres to a conventional five-act, scene-by-scene structure, presenting a linear chronological narrative without experimental forms. There are no shifts in narrative perspective, fragmented timelines, or unreliable narrators in the structural sense; the audience's perspective is consistent throughout the direct dramatic presentation. Its structure is straightforward, far removed from the formal experiments of 'Ulysses' or 'Flights'.

How The Miser is regarded

The Miser holds a literary regard score of 89 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

About the author

Molière