The Imaginary Invalid
by Molière from 1673
About
Molière's final play (1673) is a savage comedy about hypochondria: Argan, obsessed with his imagined illnesses and the doctors who profit from them, plans to marry his daughter to a physician to reduce his medical bills — until the household's clever maid and his more sensible brother conspire to expose his folly. Molière himself played Argan in the original production and collapsed on stage during its fourth performance; he died at home that evening. The play thus acquired a tragic biographical irony: a satire on the medical profession, performed by a mortally ill man. It remains one of the most frequently performed of his comedies.
Translated from the original French.
The Imaginary Invalid
- Characters
- 9
- Words
- 15.6k
- Acts
- 3
- Scenes
- 10
- Duration
- ~1 hr 57 min
Characters
#CharacterPlayerLines
1
—
3552
—
1933
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744
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745
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736
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557
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358
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3444 sections
15.6k words#TitleWords
Act I
1
5874:24
2
2962:13
3
400:18
4
4983:44
5
1.4k10:28
6
2221:40
7
2651:59
8
1801:21
9
7765:49
10
2301:44
11
100:05
Act II
12
1791:21
13
1040:47
14
2651:59
15
1591:12
16
1831:22
17
3.2k23:54
18
830:37
19
2421:49
20
810:36
21
6224:40
22
1641:14
Act III
23
580:26
24
1240:56
25
1.8k13:27
26
1641:14
27
1250:56
28
4173:08
29
2541:54
30
700:32
31
470:21
32
570:26
33
490:22
34
510:23
35
570:26
36
7985:59
37
610:27
38
3862:54
39
3742:48
40
660:30
41
1200:54
42
2041:32
43
4623:28
44
1381:02
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