Love, money and family

Do love money and family can live together without getting in troubles? Well, in this two stories it’s evidently that the answer is no. The two stories we are going to analyze are: Aulularia, wrote by Plautus and The Miser, wrote by Moliere. It’s curious how in two different stories there can be similarities and differences, and in this case these two subjects (love and money) are similar but atthe same time different in the stories, so we are going to study the differences but also the similarities in how love, money are present in the family from each story.
In first place, we are going to analyze the similarities between each story. The first one is love, love in family is very important, because is the base of it. The similarity in both stories is that when the members love adifferent thing from each other, someone has to give up. In both cases the father is the one who takes the decisions about the marriage of his sons. In the miser we can see this fact in the following fragment:
Eli. We are hesitating as to who shall speak first, for we both have something to tell you.
Har. And I also have something to tell you both.
Cle. We wanted to speak to you about marriage,father.
Har. The very thing I wish to speak to you about.
Eli. Ah! my father!
Har. What is the meaning of that exclamation? Is it the word, daughter, or the thing itself that frightens you?
Cle. Marriage may frighten us both according to the way you take it; and our feelings may perhaps not coincide with your choice. (Molière, Scene V)
Here is a discussion between the father and the son aboutmarriage, he is giving his viewpoint but he knows his father is the one who takes the last word. In Aulularia this is proved by the next fragment: “Eucl. Now here's the way it strikes me, Megadorus-- you're a rich man, a man of position: but as for me, I'm poor, awfully poor, dreadfully poor. Now if I was to marry off my daughter to you, it strikes me you'd be the ox and I'd be the donkey…”(Plautus, Scene 2).
In both texts we can see that the father in those times was the one who was able to choose the partner for his sons. The second aspect is the money; the father in each story has an ambition to money, that in some cases this ambition is too big that it becomes a problem, in the Miser we see: “Har. Capable or not capable, I must find my money.” (Molière, Scene VI). In Aulularia happenssomething similar: “Eucl. (running, wildly back and forth) I'm ruined, I'm killed, I'm murdered! Where shall I run? Stop thief! Stop thief! What thief? Who? I don't know! I can't see! I'm all in the dark! Yes, yes, and where I'm going, or where I am, or who I am--oh, I can't tell, I can't think!”(Plautus, Scene 9). Here is when the pot of gold has already been stolen and he was really worriedabout that situation. These are some of the similarities that we find in both stories, how love and money are connected in the two stories.
Now, we are going to analyze the differences, like it’s mentioned on the introduction, we are going to take again these two subjects, love and money but now we are going to analyze the difference between the stories. Love is seen through different eyes, in evenboth stories have a father that can’t demonstrate love at the end only Euclio, the one from Aulularia he had a change of heart: “The rest of the play is lost, save for a few fragments. Lyconides, on returning the pot of gold, was given permission to marry Euclio's daughter; and Euclio, having a change of heart...” (Plautus, Scene V). He at the end of the story he could express in some way hislove to his family, by becoming part of the family’s decisions. Meanwhile the other father named Harpagon, even when he earned again his fortune; he wasn’t able to express the love to the ones that deserve it: “Cle. Do not grieve for your money, father, and accuse any one. I have news of it, and I come here to tell you that if you consent to let me marry Marianne, your money will be given back to...