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Family
Harpagon makes it clear early in The Miser that, for him, money always comes before family. His children want more money to live on, but he won't give it. His children also want to marry the people they love, but Harpagon is only interested in making them marry people with deep pockets.
For all that, the old man does (sort of) seem to love his children, but this love is totally dependent on them always doing everything he says. By the end of the play, Molière contrasts Harpagon directly with Anselme, showing that Anselme cares more about his family's happiness than anything else in the world. Harpagon remains unchanged, though, caring only about his money until the bitter end.
In The Miser, Harpagon gives us an example of terrible parenting, as he values his own selfish desires over those of his children.
In The Miser, we are supposed to look at M. Anselme as the moral center of the play, since he's willing to spend as much money as it takes to buy his children's happiness.
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