page_title: The Imaginary Invalid
section_title: Act 3
hierarchical_section_title: The Imaginary Invalid / Synopsis / Act 3
context_page_description: The Imaginary Invalid or The Hypochondriac is a three-act comédie-ballet by the French playwright Molière with dance sequences and musical interludes by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. It premiered on 10 February 1673 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris and was originally choreographed by Pierre Beauchamp.
  Molière had fallen out with the powerful court composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, with whom he had pioneered the comédie-ballet form a decade earlier, and had opted for the collaboration with Charpentier. Le malade imaginaire was Molière's last work. He collapsed during his fourth performance as Argan on 17 February and died soon after.
context_section_description: Now that they have both enjoyed the interlude, Beralde wants to have a chat with his brother, but Argan insists he must take a short walk first (he's had another "injection"). Once Argan is gone, Toinette begs Beralde not to give up on helping his niece. He says that he will do everything he can. Toinette hints that she has a plan herself, but cannot tell what it is because her master has returned.
  Now that Argan has returned, Beralde first asks his brother why he would want to send his daughter to a convent. Beralde points out that sending them to a convent was Beline's idea and suggests that she might want the children out of the way for her own reasons, but Argan gets angry and leaps to her defense. Then Beralde asks Argan why he would want to marry his daughter to a doctor so unsuited for her. Argan says that if the doctor is good enough for him, he is good enough for Angelique. Beralde wants to hear no more of this. He points out to Argan that he (Argan) is one of the healthiest people he (Beralde) knows and that Argan's infatuation with doctors and apothecaries is bad for him and everyone else. The doctors, he says, know nothing about the workings of the human body and therefore can do nothing to cure it. The doctors are only educated enough to give fancy Latin names to the things they do not comprehend. They will kill their patients with the best of intentions, but they will still be dead. Beralde believes that all one need do is rest and let nature take its course.
  Mr. Fleurant, the apothecary and Purgon's assistant, comes in with a new remedy for Argan. Beralde asks Argan not to take the remedy and to put it off until tomorrow, but this makes Fleurant very angry and he storms off to tell Dr. Purgon about this interference. Beralde tries once again to get his brother to give up his addiction to doctors, but Argan claims to be too sick. Just then Mr. Purgon enters in a furious temper, having been told that his cure was sent back, and rages at Argan. He refuses to treat Argan any more and says that within a few days Argan will go from one horrible disease to another and finally die. With that, he storms out.
  Left with Beralde again, Argan cries and says that he can already feel his system shutting down, just as Mr. Purgon had told him. Beralde thinks he is crazy and tells him so, but Argan won't listen. He is sure that he is already dying. Toinette comes in and says that a new doctor has arrived who wants to treat Argan. She doesn't know who the man is, but says that he looks exactly like her. Argan is desperate and consents to see him.
  Toinette comes in dressed as a doctor and claims to be one of the world's greatest doctors who has come to see Argan, one of the world's most illustrious patients. She tells Argan that all of his previous doctors were idiots who have totally misdiagnosed him. Argan tells him everything that has been prescribed, and Toinette (as the doctor) contradicts every one, saying his doctors were ignorant quacks. She goes on to make him realize that not everything doctors tell him is true; she blames his one arm for taking up all the nutrients, so he should have it amputated so as to make his other arm stronger. She also says that one of his eyes is taking up all the nutrients that go to it, so if he has it removed, his remaining eye will see much better. After spouting more of this medical nonsense, the "doctor" leaves and Toinette comes back on as herself, supposedly outraged that the departing "doctor" has been trying to take liberties with her (wanting to "take [her] pulse").
  Beralde then tries to convince his brother that since he has already fallen out with Purgon, he should consider a different marriage for his daughter. But Argan wants her put into a convent as a punishment for her willfulness. Beralde suggests that the real reason is that Beline wants it. Argan begins to get angry again, but Toinette steps in and says she has a solution to prove to Beralde how much Beline loves her husband. She suggests that Argan lie down on the couch and pretend to be dead. Then everyone will see ho
caption: The Imaginary Invalid, drawing by Honoré Daumier, c. 1857.
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