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Molière Biography

Molière was one of the greatest comic geniuses and masters of social comedy from France in the 17th century. He was born in Paris to a middle-class family but fell in love with theater instead of pursuing law. He formed a theater company that went bankrupt but he continued acting and writing plays, gaining experience in all aspects of theater. His plays satirized societal affectations and hypocrisy, often offending religious and elite groups but gaining the support of the king. Molière died suddenly during a performance of his last play from an illness. Though denied a proper burial, his plays have endured and established his reputation as a dramatist and satirist for their insights into human nature.

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242 views2 pages

Molière Biography

Molière was one of the greatest comic geniuses and masters of social comedy from France in the 17th century. He was born in Paris to a middle-class family but fell in love with theater instead of pursuing law. He formed a theater company that went bankrupt but he continued acting and writing plays, gaining experience in all aspects of theater. His plays satirized societal affectations and hypocrisy, often offending religious and elite groups but gaining the support of the king. Molière died suddenly during a performance of his last play from an illness. Though denied a proper burial, his plays have endured and established his reputation as a dramatist and satirist for their insights into human nature.

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Rebeca
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Molire is the pseudonym for Jean Baptiste Poquelin, one of the greatest comic

geniuses the world has seen, and undoubtedly the master of "social comedy." Almost
singlehandedly, he prompted international acclaim for French social comedy, and
established the form as one of the more enduring types of comedy. In the plays, he
analyzed many aspects of his contemporary society and penetrated into the essential
characteristics of various types of people. His critical insights into the nature of types
like the hypocrite, the misanthrope, and the miser remain almost as urbane today as
they were when written.

Molire was born in Paris, France, in 1622, the son of rather prosperous middle-class
parents, who sent him to good schools to be trained in law. However, somewhere along
the way, Molire fell in love with the theater and was to devote his entire life to the
theatrical profession.

He probably received a law degree in about 16411642, but thereafter he joined three
other people to form a theater company called L'Illustre Thtre. At this time acting was
not held in the highest esteem, to begin with, so when Molire consorted with a woman
in his troupe named Madeleine Bjart, it only proved to his bourgeois parents that their
son was lost. Molire was actually to remain acquainted with this woman for the rest of
her life. In 1662, he married nineteen-year-old Armande Bjart, a vivacious flirt who
gathered numerous admirers around her, much to the chagrin of her husband. Legend
has it that four years later, Armande would become the model for the capricious and
flirtatious Climne in The Misanthrope. She did however, bear him three children
before his untimely death in 1673, the third child being born in 1672, the year before
Molire's death.

The company Molire helped establish did not fare too well and went bankrupt during its
second season. During this time, he was often plagued by creditors and it was also then
that he began to use the name "Molire."

He continued in his career as an actor in another company for about ten more years
before he turned his hand to playwriting. In the interim years, he also gained experience
in directing and managing. By the time he began to write, he was known as one of the
greatest comic actors of his time, and the experience he gained by acting, managing,
and directing contributed to his understanding of what was theatrically effective and
provided him with a thorough knowledge of the theater.

The production of Molire's first play, The Romantic Ladies, established a reputation for
him that was to endure for the rest of his life. Since this play, like his later ones, dealt
rather severely with certain aspects of society, satirizing affectations of speech, among
other things, many people of high society objected to the portrayal because it hit too
close to home. Almost every play that Molire wrote met objections, usually from the
faction in society which he ridiculed. The most open and hostile objections centered
upon the production of Tartuffe, a play which satirizes religious hypocrites and certain
aspects of the church. Tartuffe was perennially banned, and Molire had to resort to
using his influence with the king to get permission for the play to be produced.
Even after Molire became a successful and rather wealthy playwright because of his
shrewd business ability, he continued acting in his own plays. It was during a production
of his last play, The Imaginary Invalid, in which Molire had a part, that he complained
of ill health; he died the same night.

Because of his criticism of many aspects of life, Molire was denied a proper burial and
was only grudgingly allowed a burial plot in sanctified ground. His plays, however, have
transcended the times and the society for which they were written; and the very probes
into human nature which caused him such difficulty during his lifetime have gained for
him a lasting reputation as dramatist and satirist.

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