Dictionary Definition
malcontent adj : discontented as toward authority
[syn: disaffected,
ill-affected,
rebellious] n : a
person who is discontented or disgusted
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Noun
malcontent- a person not satisfied with current conditions; a discontented person
Related terms
Extensive Definition
The Malcontent is a character type often used in
early modern drama.
The character is discontent with the social structure and other
characters in the play. He or she is often an outsider, who
observes and offers commentary on the action and may even show
awareness that they are in a play. Shakespeare's Iago in Othello is a
typical malcontent.
The role is usually both political and dramatic;
with the malcontent voicing dissatisfaction with the usually
'Machiavellian'
political atmosphere and often using asides to build up a kind of
self-consciousness and awareness of the text itself which other
characters in the play will lack to the same extent.
Important malcontents include Bosola in Webster's
'The
Duchess of Malfi', Malevole in Marston's 'The
Malcontent', Iago in Shakespeare's 'Othello', Hamlet in
Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'.
The morality and sympathy of the malcontent is a
massive variable, as we can see in the examples listed above.
Sometimes, as in 'Hamlet' and 'The Malcontent', they are the
sympathetic centre of the play, whereas Iago is a very
unsympathetic character.
The most important thing about the malcontent, is
that he is malcontent—unhappy, unsettled, displeased with the world
as he sees it—not at ease with the world of the play in which he
finds himself, eager to change it somehow, or to dispute with it.
He is an objective or quasi-objective voice that comments on the
concerns of the play and comments as though he is somehow above or
beyond them.
The concept has a lot to do with the Renaissance
idea of 'humours' and a
surfeit of 'black bile'
which caused melancholy.
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
agitator, alienated, anarch, anarchist, beefing, bellyacher, bellyaching, bitching, brawler, complainant, complainer, complaining, complaintful, contumacious, crab, crabbing, crabby, crank, cranky, croaker, croaking, disaffected, disappointed, discontent, discontented, disgruntled, disobedient, displeased, dissatisfied, envious, estranged, extremist, factious, faultfinder, faultfinding, frondeur, griever, griper, griping, grouch, grouchy, grouser, grousing, growler, growling, grumbler, grumbling, insubordinate, insurgent, insurrectionary,
insurrectionist,
insurrecto, kicker, killjoy, kvetch, lamenter, malcontented, maverick, mourner, murmurer, murmuring, mutineer, mutterer, muttering, nonconformist, out of
humor, peevish, petulant, querulant, querulous, querulous person,
reactionary,
reactionist,
rebel, rebellious, resentful, restive, restless, revolter, revolutionary, revolutionist, rioter, seditious, sorehead, sourpuss, spoilsport, subversive, sulky, traitor, unaccepting, unaccommodating,
uneasy, unfulfilled, ungovernable, ungratified, unhappy, unruly, unsatisfied, wet blanket,
whiner, whiny