Molieres the Imaginary Invalid :: essays research papers fc

Molieres "The Imaginary Invalid"     Molieres "The Imaginary Invalid" is a farcical trick roughly ahypochondriac who is so obsessed with his health and money that he ends upneglecting his family. The story involves several different themes and plotswithin one family. A immature interpretation of this 17th century play is now beingperformed at the Arts Club Theater it incorporates several(prenominal) new changes andmodernizations in addition to the traditional improvisation. Morris Panych hasdefinitely succeeded in delivering a new, more comical version of Molieresfinal play.     Moreover, the dominant theme of this play is body versus mind. The playis about a wealthy, tho stingy man who believes that he is constantly sick(Argan). However, there is an obvious doubt to whether he is really sick or ifhe is just imagining his sickness. Therefore, the elemental theme is Argansinternal struggle of body vs. mind. This theme is developed throughout the playinto smaller themes such as masculinity versus femininity, greed versus love,and death versus life.      both of the major changes from the text to the play are Argans degree ofillness and his death. In the text, there are very few elaborate descriptions ofDr. Purgons treatment. However in the play by Panych, there is no shortage ofenemas and other "bathroom" related scenes. I originally thought this change wasfor comical purposes, but after some additional thought I questioned whetherArgan was imagining his illness or if he really was ill. In the text, by nothaving too many bathroom scenes, Argan seems to be imagining his illness (thus,he is the imaginary invalid). In Panychs stage version, Argan shows severalsymptoms of being ill this definitely confuses the original play by Moliere.One of the original purposes of the play was to criticize, among other things,the medical profession in Molieres time. Now, if Argan really was sick, doesthat mean that the doctors were correct in their analysis? No, it doesnt. Ibelieve that Panych intended to show that it was the doctors treatments thatmade Argan ill and last killed him.     Another major change from Molieres version is Beraldes gender and rolein the play and in the family. Beralde is transformed into Argans sister,instead of his brother. Panych saw male versus female as a major theme. If youlook at the structure of the original play, all the people who truly love Arganand mean him well are female, except for Beralde. In fact out of all thedifferent characters who take advantage of Argan, only one of them is female-