The Misanthrope

Affection I can endure,
affectation I abhor. Empty phrases,
meaningless gestures of faked good-will.
These affable dispensers of embraces make me ill.

Disgusted with French society where powdered fops gossip in code and bejewelled coquettes whisper behind fans, poet Alceste embarks on a one-man crusade against fakery, frippery and forked tongues. But could the woman he adores be the worst culprit of them all? And in this rarefied world will his revolution prove merely revolting?

Considered by ma...