Towards the end of the play, after Argan finds out about the intentions of his wife and those of his daughter, he agrees for Angelique to marry Cleante, the man she really loves, as long as he agrees to become a doctor. Argan's brother has an even better idea by proposing that Argan be made a doctor himself. To this end, he calls some gypies that perform dances and rituals that make Argan a doctor. According to some versions of the play, during these manifestations, the patient suffers from a heart attack and dies.

"The imaginary invalid" is a highly intriguing play, of recurrent notoriety and secular popularity due to the multitude of themes approached. Some of the more popular of these themes include the greed of the principal character, the rivalry between the daughters and the step mother or the pursuit of financial gains.

Greed is one important element that influences the relationships between people. As it has been mentioned before, Argan is a rich man, who affords the services of doctors and apothecaries, but who still pays his bills only in half and complains that he is being robbed. Despite the fact that he disposes of the financial means to pay for his medical services, he still withholds payment, revealing how greed influences the relationships between people.

And furthermore, the patient wishes a doctor in his family -- and the doctor's family with medical expertise -- to also attend on him upon every request. These services would not only be delivered for free, but also at any time solicited by the hypochondriac. The son in law, his father and his uncle would as such become the medical staffs to attend to the patient for free, around the clock.

And in order to attain this objective, Argan is wiling to sacrifice his daughter's happiness, to such a degree that he wants to send her to a convent...

Argan's relationship with his daughter then is one in which Angelique is subjugated to her father's wishes and is likely to be punished if she does not satisfy them.
The relationship between Argan and Angelique is as such influenced by gender and patriarchy. In the case of gender's influence in the relationships, an eloquent example is also revealed at the level of the relationship between the imaginary invalid and his second wife, Beline. She fuels Argan's imagination about being sick and talks to him as one would talk to a child in need of soothing (Gaines, 2002). Her behavior is nevertheless intended to manipulate the older man, who is changing his will to include (and enrich) Beline upon his death. He nevertheless is unaware of his wife's intentions, up until the staging of his death, when he hears her enjoy his departure.

Argan's daughters had been more perceptive of Beline's deceptive nature, leading to conflicts between them, which had been missed by the imaginary invalid, who only focused on himself. All in all, Moliere's "The imaginary invalid" is a story of people, of behaviors, of love and aspirations, of ambitions, of greed and personal gain, and how all these impact the relationships between the people.