Act 4, Scene 1 Summary

Philinte describes to Celimene's cousin, Eliante, the hilarious result of Oronte's day in court. Alceste heaped all sorts of praise on Oronte, but he would not be dishonest and say that Oronte writes well. The closest thing to an apology that Alceste could give was that he was sorry if he was difficult, and he wished he could have liked Oronte's sonnet.

Eliante admits that Alceste is different, but she finds his commitment to the truth heroic. She wishes more people were like him. When Philinte asks, Eliante says she doesn't know if Celimene really loves Alceste or not. She is not even sure Celimene herself knows for sure. She wants Alceste to be happy with Celimene, if possible, but Eliante admits that if Celimene were out of the picture, she would hope that Alceste would be willing to learn to...