You shall observe me push my weakness to its furthest limit and show how wrong it is to call any of us wise and demonstrate that there's some touch of human frailty in every one of us.

Though Alceste still intends to forswear the company of others, by the time this quotation appears (in Act V, scene iv) he begins to show signs of change. His earlier pretentiousness appears to have diminished as he admits, indirectly, to his own "frailty." At last, Alceste caves to his own emotion. However, he does not fully come to terms with his weakness. He reluctantly confesses his own shortcomings; he does not embrace them. Alceste has not yet learned that one can be both "wise" and at fault. He is a man of extremes. By his logic, if he is not "wise" then he must be "frail."

With the play's ending—which comes shortly after this quotation—Molière demonstrates just how tenuous Alceste's transformation is. When Célimène rejects Alceste's proposal that she leave society behind and come with him, he immediately regresses. Nonetheless, the hint of change remains, leaving us with the hope that Alceste might one day be both accepted and accepting.