At the very moment that Alceste is decrying the faithless Célimène, she enters the room. Alceste begins a lengthy tirade about Célimène's perfidy, the blows he has been dealt by fortune, and the inability of his reason to restrain his passions. He presents the letter to Célimène with a melodramatic flair and she seems to glance at it, amused, saying "you are indeed a strangely foolish man!" The lovers' quarrel jumps back and forth as Alceste accuses Célimène of perfidy, and she accuses him of not loving her. At one moment Alceste is angry and at another he is apologetic. Finally the coquette wins out; she pouts and says "no, you don't love me as you should." Alceste exclaims "Ah! my love is beyond all comparison."
The conversation is interrupted by the entrance of Alceste's stumbling manservant, DuBois. The servant hems and haws and then finally tells the exasperated Alceste that a strange man "with a face as black as his coat" came and left some papers about the lawsuit process. An hour later another man came and warned DuBois that his master was in danger. He left a written message to be delivered to Alceste. Alceste, disturbed by the fact that he has been interrupted in his conversation with Célimène, goes off to see what it all means.
