The screenplay has flaws, and often times defies belief. This may be the reason why the director went with an approach to this play that dispensed with realism and often times resorted to exaggeration in order to make a scene or a line reading as funny as possible.
However, the director seems to have missed the obvious point that the main character is essentially as big a bastard as the people he takes revenge on. In this drama, he is presented as a kind-hearted person that rewards the meek and ruthlessly mocks the corrupt elite. But the problem lies in the fact that this man acts with utter contempt towards the lower class. He uses a waiter and his fiance to his ends, not once considering what he is doing might be immoral. Indeed, he does end up buying a tavern as a present to the people he cynically exploited to trick a woman he held a grudge against, but to do that he uses the money he'd planned to throw away on gambling. I think this is a crucial point, that even the 'hero' is made of the same cloth as his enemies. He simply doesn't care about anyone, especially those below him.
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