Authors often give their characters contradictory traits in order to emphasize the importance of both traits. At one point, the reader may see one side of the character, but by a simple change in plot an exact opposite trait is revealed. In Molière's play, The Misanthrope, the author shifts the reader's perception of the main character, Alceste, from a man with an honorable philosophy of life to an ignorant pessimist. Throughout the play, Molière changes the reader's opinion of Alceste, compelling him to perceive Alceste as both an admirable and foolish character.

Alceste's philosophy allows the reader to view him as an admirable character because he insists on never saying anything but the blatant truth. Alceste believes that people who falsely praise others have "a dishonest heart" (1.12). He thinks it is "scandalous / To falsify the heart's affections" (1.25-26). According to Alceste, the same things should be...