As the play began with Alceste and Philinte discussing sincerity and honesty, the final act begins with an almost identical discussion. Molière has balanced the play by placing the characters in essentially the same situation, with Alceste fuming and raging, and Philinte trying again to make him look at things reasonably. We can also say that Alceste has learned virtually nothing of the ability to adapt to society during the play and has become now more and more the misanthrope.
At this point in the play, we discover that Alceste has just lost his lawsuit. There is no evidence that Alceste's case was the right one and that it was unjust for him to lose, but because of his character and because of the reactions of the other characters, we can reasonably well assume that Alceste's was a just cause. A reader's first impression would be that Alceste should win, perhaps simply because he is such a brutally honest person.
Alceste cuts a ridiculous figure in this scene because of his obvious posing and the melodramatic air about him. He strikes the pose of the martyred innocent, crucified by society. He is even determined to buy his own cross by paying the 20,000-franc judgment. He almost seems delighted to have lost the case because this gives him the right to rail against mankind and to reject society.
