The Imaginary Invalid by Molière
"The Imaginary Invalid" by Molière is a classic comedy written during the late 17th century. The play follows the antics of Argan, a hypochondriac who believes himself to be seriously ill, along with the amusing and chaotic interactions he has with his family, physicians, and servants, highlighting themes of love, medicine, and the absurdity of his condition. The opening of the play introduces us to Argan as he obsessively tallies his expensive
doctor’s bills, revealing his preoccupation with his health. Despite his belief in his ailments, he demonstrates both comedic ignorance and a stubborn refusal to consider that he is not seriously ill. We also meet Toinette, his witty maid, who challenges his delusions while supporting his daughter Angélique, who is in love with Cléante. This complicated web of relationships sets the stage for the ensuing conflict, particularly as Argan plans to marry Angélique off to the medical practitioner Thomas Diafoirus, a match she detests. As the scene unfolds, the audience is drawn into the humorous dialogue and manipulation as characters clash over Argan's misguided intentions and the implications for Angélique’s future. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Read or download for free
| How to read | Url | Size | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Read now! | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9070.html.images | 205 kB | |||
| EPUB3 (E-readers incl. Send-to-Kindle) | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9070.epub3.images | 280 kB | |||
| EPUB (older E-readers) | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9070.epub.images | 279 kB | |||
| EPUB (no images, older E-readers) | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9070.epub.noimages | 119 kB | |||
| Kindle | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9070.kf8.images | 360 kB | |||
| older Kindles | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9070.kindle.images | 342 kB | |||
| Plain Text UTF-8 | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9070.txt.utf-8 | 145 kB | |||
| Download HTML (zip) | https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/9070/pg9070-h.zip | 260 kB | |||
| There may be more files related to this item. | |||||
Similar Books
About this eBook
| Author | Molière, 1622-1673 |
|---|---|
| Translator | Wall, Charles Heron |
| Uniform Title | Le Malade Imaginaire. English |
| Title | The Imaginary Invalid |
| Note | Wikipedia page about this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Imaginary_Invalid |
| Note | Reading ease score: 82.1 (6th grade). Easy to read. |
| Credits |
Charles Franks, Delphine Lettau, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) HTML version prepared by Delphine Lettau Revised by Richard Tonsing. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese |
| Subject | Comedy plays |
| Subject | Hypochondria -- Drama |
| Subject | Molière, 1622-1673 -- Translations into English |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 9070 |
| Release Date | Oct 1, 2005 |
| Most Recently Updated | Aug 18, 2021 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 1742 downloads in the last 30 days. |
| Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free! | |
