Q 01/05

The title of Molière's The Misanthrope comes from two Greek words meaning hatred of what?

A) Mankind

B) Marriage

C) Strangers

D) Women

Answer · why

A) Mankind

Mankind is the target: the word joins the Greek misos, hatred, to anthropos, human being, the root that also gives English anthropology.

Q 02/05

Which film star made her West End debut in 2009 in Martin Crimp's modern version of The Misanthrope?

A) Sienna Miller

B) Scarlett Johansson

C) Keira Knightley

D) Emily Blunt

Answer · why

C) Keira Knightley

Keira Knightley played Jennifer, an American film star, opposite Damian Lewis at London's Comedy Theatre.

Q 03/05

The Misanthrope opened in 1666 under which French king, builder of Versailles and Molière's patron?

A) Louis XIII

B) Henri IV

C) Louis XVI

D) Louis XIV

Answer · why

D) Louis XIV

Louis XIV backed the playwright so firmly that in 1664 he stood godfather to his firstborn son.

Q 04/05

What does Célimène refuse to do at the end of The Misanthrope, losing Alceste's offer of marriage?

A) Dismiss all her servants

B) Leave society with him

C) Give up her fortune

D) Apologise to her suitors

Answer · why

B) Leave society with him

Leave society with him is the one thing she cannot accept: at twenty, she says, solitude frightens her, so Alceste goes off alone.

Q 05/05

Armande Béjart, the first Célimène in The Misanthrope in 1666, had what real-life tie to Molière?

A) She was his sister

B) She was his patron

C) She was his landlady

D) She was his wife

Answer · why

D) She was his wife

She was his wife, some twenty years his junior, and he played the jealous Alceste opposite her.