Gourt Home::Gourt :: Miser
Related Topics:Misery :: Miser,_The :: Miserables,_Les
A miser is a person who is reluctant to spend money, usually to the point of forgoing even basic comforts. The term derives from the Latin miser, meaning "poor" or "wretched."
Stereotypes
The stereotype of the miser is a wealthy, greedy man who lives miserably in order to save and increase his treasure. Other stereotypes are the "thrifty" Scotsmen and the "frugal" Dutch.
A related stereotype is the capitalist as portrayed in, for example, Soviet propaganda. Both are usually moneylenders or industrialists, in any case businessmen, who possess great personal wealth but aren't bothered by the fate of the poor. The difference is that, unlike the miser, the capitalist does spend his money and is typically portrayed leading a decadent life. Anti-Semites have portrayed Jews in both ways.
The motivation for miserliness or avarice can be a strong desire to gain, especially in money or power. Psychoanalytic explanations, e.g. in the tradition of Sigmund Freud, link it to experiences in early childhood in the anal phase within the concept of psychosexual development.
Famous misers in history
- Hetty Green - Boston miser
Less famous misers in history
Charles Huffman was a miser from the 1950's in the U.S. He was found dead on a Brooklyn, New York street with no money in his pockets. The police traced him to a $7/week room that was filled with bank books and more than $500,000 in stock certificates. He was characterized by Franz Lidz, in the New York Times, on October 26, 2003.
List of notable misers in fiction
- Ebenezer Scrooge - English, Charles Dickens character (based on the real-life Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie)
- Grandet - French, father of Eugenie Grandet, a novel by Balzac
- Scrooge McDuck - Scottish American, Walt Disney character, named after Ebenezer Scrooge
- Montgomery Burns - Scottish American, The Simpsons series
- Milburn Drysdale - Scottish American, banker from The Beverly Hillbillies
- Harpagon - French, Molière play
- The Lady of Stavoren - Dutch, local legend
- Shylock - Jewish Venetian, William Shakespeare character
- Silas Marner - English, George Eliot penname of Mary Ann Evans, character
- Norbert Colon - British cartoon character from the adult-orientated comic Viz.
- Séraphin Poudrier - French Canadian, in the novel Un homme et son péché by Québecois author Claude-Henri Grignon
- Henry Earlsforward - English, in Arnold Bennet's novel Riceyman Steps. (1923)
- Mr. Krabs - Bikinian, from Spongebob Squarepants
- Mr. Potter - American, played by Lionel Barrymore in the film It's a Wonderful Life
- Snow Miser - Arctic, from the stop-motion animated Christmas special The Year Without a Santa Claus. Snow Miser was voiced by actor/comedian Dick Shawn.
See also
"Miser"