Jean Baptiste short biography. Jean Baptiste Poquelin

Early years. The beginning of an acting career

Moliere came from an old bourgeois family, which for several centuries was engaged in the craft of upholsterers and drapers. Molière's father, Jean Poquelin (1595-1669), was court upholsterer and valet to Louis XIII. Moliere was brought up at a prestigious Jesuit school - Clermont College, where he thoroughly studied Latin, so he freely read Roman authors in the original and even, according to legend, translated Lucretius’ philosophical poem “On the Nature of Things” into French (the translation is lost). After graduating from college in 1639, Moliere passed the exam in Orleans for the title of licentiate of rights. But the legal career attracted him no more than his father’s craft, and Moliere chose the profession of an actor. In 1643, Moliere became the head of the “Brilliant Theater” ( Illustre Theater). When the group broke up, Moliere decided to seek his fortune in the provinces, joining a troupe of traveling comedians led by Dufresne.

Moliere's troupe in the provinces. First plays

Moliere's youthful wanderings throughout the French province (-) in the years civil war(Fronds) - enriched him with everyday and theatrical experience. Since 1645, Moliere joined Dufresne, and in 1650 he headed the troupe. The repertoire hunger of Moliere's troupe was the impetus for the beginning of his dramatic activity. So years theater studies Moliere's years of study became his author's. Many of the farcical scenarios he composed in the provinces have disappeared. Only the plays “Barboulier’s Jealousy” have survived ( La jalousie du Barbouillé) and "The Flying Doctor" ( Le medécin volant), whose affiliation with Molière is not entirely reliable. The titles of a number of similar plays played by Molière in Paris after his return from the provinces are also known (“Gros-Rene the Schoolboy”, “The Pedant Doctor”, “Gorgibus in the Bag”, “Plan-Plan”, “Three Doctors”, “Cossack”) , “The Feigned Lump”, “The Twig Knitter”), and these titles echo the situations of Moliere’s later farces (for example, “Gorgibus in the Sack” and “The Tricks of Scapin”, d. III, sc. II). These plays indicate that the tradition of ancient farce nourished Moliere's dramaturgy and became an organic component in the main comedies of his mature age.

The farcical repertoire, excellently performed by Moliere's troupe under his direction (Moliere himself found himself as an actor in farce), helped strengthen its reputation. It increased even more after Moliere composed two great comedies in verse - “Naughty, or Everything Is Out of Place” ( L'Étourdi ou les Contretemps, ) and "Love's Annoyance" ( Le dépit amoureux, ), written in the Italian manner literary comedy. The main plot, which represents a free imitation of Italian authors, is layered here with borrowings from various old and new comedies, in accordance with Moliere’s favorite principle of “taking his goodness wherever he finds it.” The interest of both plays lies in the development of comic situations and intrigue; the characters in them are still developed very superficially.

Parisian period

Later plays

The overly deep and serious comedy “The Misanthrope” was coldly received by the audience, who were looking primarily for entertainment in the theater. To save the play, Moliere added to it the brilliant farce “The Reluctant Doctor” (fr. Le medécin malgré lui, ). This trinket, which was a huge success and is still preserved in the repertoire, developed Moliere’s favorite theme of quack doctors and ignoramuses. It is curious that just in the most mature period of his work, when Moliere rose to the heights of socio-psychological comedy, he increasingly returned to a farce splashing with fun, devoid of serious satirical tasks. It was during these years that Moliere wrote such masterpieces of entertaining comedy-intrigue as “Monsieur de Poursonnac” and “The Tricks of Scapin” (fr. Les fourberies de Scapin, ). Moliere returned here to the primary source of his inspiration - to the ancient farce.

In literary circles, there has long been a somewhat disdainful attitude toward these crude, but sparkling, genuine “internal” comic plays. This prejudice goes back to the very legislator of classicism Boileau, the ideologist of bourgeois-aristocratic art, who condemned Moliere for buffoonery and indulging the coarse tastes of the crowd. However, it was precisely in this lower genre, uncanonized and rejected by classical poetics, that Moliere, more than in his “high” comedies, dissociated himself from alien class influences and exploded feudal-aristocratic values. This was facilitated by the “plebeian” form of farce, which has long served the young bourgeoisie as a well-aimed weapon in its struggle against the privileged classes of the feudal era. Suffice it to say that it was in the farces that Moliere developed that type of intelligent and dexterous commoner, dressed in a lackey's livery, who would become, half a century later, the main exponent of the aggressive sentiments of the rising bourgeoisie. Scapin and Sbrigani are in this sense the direct predecessors of the servants of Lesage, Marivaux and others up to and including the famous Figaro.

Standing apart among the comedies of this period is “Amphitryon” (fr. Amphitryon, ). Despite the independence of Moliere's judgments manifested here, it would be a mistake to see the comedy as a satire on the king himself and his court. Moliere retained his faith in the alliance of the bourgeoisie with royal power until the end of his life, expressing the point of view of his class, which had not yet matured before the idea of political revolution.

In addition to the bourgeoisie’s craving for the nobility, Moliere also ridicules its specific vices, of which the first place belongs to stinginess. In the famous comedy “The Miser” (L’avare,), written under the influence of “Kubyshka” (fr. Aulularia) Plautus, Moliere masterfully draws the repulsive image of the miser Harpagon (his name has become a household name in France), whose passion for accumulation, specific to the bourgeoisie as a class of moneyed people, has taken on a pathological character and drowned out all human feelings. Demonstrating the harm of usury for bourgeois morality, showing the corrupting effect of stinginess on the bourgeois family, Moliere at the same time considers stinginess as a moral vice, without revealing the causes that give rise to it social reasons. Such an abstract interpretation of the theme of stinginess weakens the social significance of the comedy, which nevertheless is - with all its advantages and disadvantages - the purest and most typical (along with The Misanthrope) example of a classic comedy of characters.

Moliere also poses the problem of family and marriage in his penultimate comedy “Learned Women” (fr. Les femmes savantes, 1672), in which he returns to the theme of “Pretentious Women”, but develops it much wider and deeper. The object of his satire here are female pedants who are fond of science and neglect family responsibilities. Mocking in the person of Armande a bourgeois girl who has a condescending attitude toward marriage and prefers to “take philosophy as a husband,” Moliere contrasts her with Henrietta, a healthy and normal girl who shuns “high matters,” but who has a clear and practical mind, homely and economical. This is the ideal of a woman for Moliere, who here again approaches the patriarchal-philistine point of view. Moliere, like his class as a whole, was still far from the idea of women's equality.

The question of the disintegration of the bourgeois family was also raised in Moliere’s last comedy “The Imaginary Invalid” (fr. Le malade imaginaire, 1673). This time, the reason for the breakdown of the family is the mania of the head of the house, Argan, who imagines himself sick and is a toy in the hands of unscrupulous and ignorant doctors. Moliere's contempt for doctors, which runs through all of his drama, is understandable historically, if we remember that medical science in his time was based not on experience and observation, but on scholastic reasoning. Moliere attacked charlatan doctors in the same way as he attacked other pseudoscientific pedants and sophists who violate “nature.”

Although written by a terminally ill Moliere, the comedy “The Imaginary Invalid” is one of his most fun and cheerful comedies. At its 4th performance on February 17, Moliere, who played the role of Argan, felt ill and did not finish the performance. He was carried home and died a few hours later. The Archbishop of Paris forbade the burial of an unrepentant sinner (actors had to repent on their deathbed) and lifted the ban only on the instructions of the king. The greatest playwright of France was buried at night, without rites, behind the fence of the cemetery where suicides were buried. Following his coffin were several thousand people of the “common people” who had gathered to pay their last respects to their beloved poet and actor. Representatives of high society were absent from the funeral. Class enmity haunted Moliere after his death, as well as during his life, when the “despicable” craft of an actor prevented Moliere from being elected to the French Academy. But his name went down in the history of the theater as the name of the founder of French stage realism. No wonder academic theater In France, the Comedie Française still unofficially calls itself the “House of Molière.”

Characteristic

When assessing Moliere as an artist, one cannot proceed from individual aspects of his artistic technique: language, style, composition, versification, etc. This is important only for understanding the extent to which they help him figuratively express his understanding of reality and attitude towards it. Moliere was an artist of the era of primitive capitalist accumulation rising in the feudal environment of the French bourgeoisie. He was a representative of the most advanced class of his era, whose interests included maximum knowledge of reality in order to strengthen his existence and dominance in it. That is why Moliere was a materialist. He recognized the objective existence of material reality, nature, independent of human consciousness (la nature), which determines and shapes a person’s consciousness, is for him the only source of truth and good. With all the power of his comic genius, Moliere attacks those who think differently, who try to rape nature, imposing their subjective conjectures on it. All the images drawn by Moliere of pedants, bookish scientists, charlatan doctors, affectations, marquises, saints, etc. are funny, first of all, for their subjectivism, their pretension to impose their own ideas on nature, not to take into account its objective laws.

Moliere's materialistic worldview makes him an artist who bases his creative method experience, observation, study of people and life. An artist of the advanced rising class, Moliere has relatively great potential for understanding the existence of all other classes. In his comedies he reflected almost all sides French life XVII century. Moreover, all phenomena and people are depicted by him from the point of view of the interests of his class. These interests determine the direction of his satire, irony and buffoonery, which for Moliere are means of influencing reality, remaking it in the interests of the bourgeoisie. Thus, Moliere's comedic art is permeated with a certain class attitude.

But the French bourgeoisie of the 17th century. was not yet, as noted above, “a class for itself.” She was not yet a hegemon historical process and therefore did not have a sufficiently mature class consciousness, did not have an organization that united it into a single cohesive force, did not think about a decisive break with the feudal nobility and about a violent change in the existing socio-political system. Hence the specific limitations of Moliere's class knowledge of reality, his inconsistency and hesitation, his concessions to feudal-aristocratic tastes (comedies and ballets), and noble culture (the image of Don Juan). Hence Moliere’s assimilation of the ridiculous portrayal of people of low rank (servants, peasants), which is canonical for the noble theater, and in general his partial subordination to the canon of classicism. Hence further - the insufficiently clear dissociation of the nobles from the bourgeoisie and the dissolution of both in the vague social category of “gens de bien”, that is, enlightened secular people, to whom most of the positive heroes-reasoners of his comedies belong (up to and including Alceste). Criticizing certain shortcomings of the modern noble-monarchical system, Moliere did not understand that the specific culprits of the evil to which he directed the sting of his satire should be sought in the socio-political system of France, in the alignment of its class forces, and not at all in the distortions of the all-good “nature” , that is, in explicit abstraction. The limited knowledge of reality, specific to Moliere as an artist of an unconstituted class, is expressed in the fact that his materialism is inconsistent, and therefore not alien to the influence of idealism. Not knowing that it is the social existence of people that determines their consciousness, Moliere transfers the issue of social justice from the socio-political sphere to the moral sphere, dreaming of resolving it within the existing system through preaching and denunciation.

This was naturally reflected in Moliere’s artistic method. It is characterized by:

sharp distinction between positive and negative characters, the opposition of virtue and vice;
schematization of images, Moliere’s tendency to use masks instead of living people, inherited from commedia dell’arte;
the mechanical unfolding of action as a collision of forces external to each other and internally almost motionless.

True, Moliere's plays are characterized by great dynamism of comedic action; but this dynamics is external, it is alien to the characters, which are basically static in their psychological content. This was already noticed by Pushkin, who wrote, contrasting Moliere with Shakespeare: “The faces created by Shakespeare are not, like Moliere’s, types of such and such a passion, such and such a vice, but living beings, filled with many passions, many vices... In Moliere stingy stingy but only".

If in his best comedies (Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, Don Juan) Moliere tries to overcome the monosyllabus of his images, the mechanistic nature of his method, then basically his images and the entire structure of his comedies still bear a strong imprint of mechanistic materialism , characteristic of the worldview of the French bourgeoisie of the 17th century. and her artistic style - classicism.

The question of Moliere's attitude to classicism is much more complex than it seems school history literature, which unconditionally labels him a classic. There is no doubt that Moliere was the creator and best representative of the classical comedy of characters, and in a number of his “high” comedies, Moliere’s artistic practice is quite consistent with the classical doctrine. But at the same time, Moliere's other plays (mainly farces) sharply contradict this doctrine. This means that in his worldview Moliere differs from the main representatives of the classical school.

As is known, French classicism is the style of the elite of the bourgeoisie and the most sensitive to the aristocracy. economic development layers of the feudal nobility, on which the former had a certain influence with the rationalism of her thinking, being in turn exposed to the influence of feudal-noble skills, traditions and prejudices. The artistic and political line of Boileau, Racine and others is a line of compromise and class cooperation between the bourgeoisie and the nobility on the basis of serving the tastes of the court and nobility. Any bourgeois-democratic, “popular”, “plebeian” tendencies are absolutely alien to classicism. This is literature aimed at the “select” and contemptuous of the “rabble” (cf. Boileau’s “The Poetics”).

That is why for Moliere, who was the ideologist of the most advanced layers of the bourgeoisie and led a fierce struggle with the privileged classes for emancipation bourgeois culture, the classical canon was bound to be too narrow. Moliere approaches classicism only in its most general stylistic principles, expressing the main tendencies of the bourgeois psyche of the era of primitive accumulation. This includes such features as rationalism, typification and generalization of images, their abstract-logical systematization, strict clarity of composition, transparent clarity of thought and style. But even standing mainly on the classical platform, Moliere at the same time rejects a number of core principles of classical doctrine, such as the regulation of poetic creativity, the fetishization of “unities”, which he sometimes treats quite freely (“Don Juan”, for example, by construction - a typical baroque tragicomedy of the pre-classical era), the narrowness and limitations of canonized genres, from which he deviates either towards “low” farce or towards court comedy-ballet. Developing these non-canonized genres, he introduces into them a number of features that contradict the prescriptions of the classical canon: he prefers the external comedy of situations, theatrical buffoonery, and the dynamic development of farcical intrigue to the restrained and noble comedy of conversational comedy; polished salon-aristocratic language. - living folk speech, dotted with provincialisms, dialectisms, vernacular and slang words, sometimes even words of gibberish, macaroonisms, etc. All this gives Moliere’s comedies a democratic grassroots imprint, for which Boileau reproached him, who spoke of his “excessive love for the people " But this is not Moliere in all of his plays. In general, despite his partial subordination to the classical canon, despite sporadic adjustments to court tastes (in his comedies and ballets), Moliere’s democratic, “plebeian” tendencies still prevail, which are explained by the fact that Moliere was an ideologist of a non-aristocratic the top of the bourgeoisie, and bourgeois class in general, and sought to draw into the orbit of his influence even its most inert and backward layers, as well as the masses of working people who followed the bourgeoisie at that time.

This desire of Moliere to consolidate all layers and groups of the bourgeoisie (due to which he was repeatedly awarded the honorary title of “people's” playwright) determines the great breadth of his creative method, which does not quite fit into the framework of classical poetics, which served only a certain part of the class. By outgrowing these boundaries, Moliere is ahead of his era and outlines a program of realistic art that the bourgeoisie was able to fully implement only much later.

The significance of Moliere's work

Moliere had a tremendous influence on the subsequent development of bourgeois comedy both in France and abroad. Under the sign of Molière the whole French comedy XVIII century, which reflected the entire complex interweaving of the class struggle, the entire contradictory process of the formation of the bourgeoisie as a “class for itself”, entering political struggle with a noble-monarchical system. She relied on Moliere in the 18th century. both an entertaining comedy by Regnard and a satirically pointed comedy by Lesage, who developed in his “Turkar” the type of tax farmer-financier, briefly outlined by Moliere in “The Countess d’Escarbanhas”. Secular society also experienced the influence of Moliere’s “high” comedies. domestic comedy Piron and Gresset and the moral and sentimental comedy of Detouches and Nivelle de Lachausse, reflecting the growth of class consciousness of the middle bourgeoisie. Even the resulting new genre of bourgeois or bourgeois drama, this antithesis of classical drama, was prepared by the comedies of manners of Moliere, which so seriously developed the problems of the bourgeois family, marriage, raising children - these are the main themes of bourgeois drama. Although some ideologists of the revolutionary bourgeoisie of the 18th century. in the process of reassessing the noble monarchical culture, they sharply dissociated themselves from Moliere as a court playwright, but the famous creator of “The Marriage of Figaro” Beaumarchais, the only one, came out of Moliere’s school worthy successor Moliere in the field of social satirical comedy. Less significant is Moliere's influence on bourgeois comedy of the 19th century, which was already alien to Moliere's basic attitude. However, Molière's comedic technique (especially his farces) is used by the masters of entertaining bourgeois comedy-vaudeville of the 19th century from Picard, Scribe and Labiche to Méillac and Halévy, Palleron and others.

Moliere's influence outside France was no less fruitful, and in various European countries translations of Moliere's plays were a powerful stimulus for the creation of a national bourgeois comedy. This was the case primarily in England during the Restoration (Wycherley, Congreve), and then in the 18th century Fielding and Sheridan. This was the case in economically backward Germany, where familiarization with Moliere’s plays stimulated the original comedic creativity of the German bourgeoisie. Even more significant was the influence of Moliere's comedy in Italy, where the creator of the Italian bourgeois comedy Goldoni was brought up under the direct influence of Moliere. Moliere had a similar influence in Denmark on Holberg, the creator of the Danish bourgeois-satirical comedy, and in Spain on Moratin.

In Russia, acquaintance with Moliere's comedies begins at the end of the 17th century, when Princess Sofia, according to legend, acted out “The Captive Doctor” in her mansion. IN early XVIII V. we find them in Peter's repertoire. From the palace performances, Moliere then moved on to the performances of the first state-owned public theater in St. Petersburg, headed by A.P. Sumarokov. The same Sumarokov was the first imitator of Moliere in Russia. The most “original” Russian comedians were brought up at Moliere’s school classic style- Fonvizin, V.V. Kapnist and I.A. Krylov. But the most brilliant follower of Moliere in Russia was Griboyedov, who in the image of Chatsky gave Moliere’s congenial version of his “The Misanthrope” - however, the version is completely original, growing in the specific environment of Arakcheev-bureaucratic Russia in the 20s. XIX century Following Griboedov, Gogol paid tribute to Moliere by translating one of his farces into Russian (“Sganarelle, or the Husband Thinking He’s Been Deceived by His Wife”); Traces of Moliere's influence on Gogol are noticeable even in The Government Inspector. The later noble (Sukhovo-Kobylin) and bourgeois everyday comedy (Ostrovsky) also did not escape the influence of Moliere. In the pre-revolutionary era, bourgeois modernist directors attempted a stage re-evaluation of Moliere's plays from the point of view of emphasizing the elements of “theatricality” and stage grotesque in them (Meyerhold, Komissarzhevsky).

A crater on Mercury is named after Molière.

Legends about Moliere and his work

In 1662, Moliere married the young actress of his troupe, Armande Béjart, younger sister Madeleine Bejart, another actress of his troupe. However, this immediately caused a whole series of gossip and accusations of incest, since there is an assumption that Armande is, in fact, the daughter of Madeleine and Moliere, born during the years of their wanderings around the province. To stop these conversations, the King becomes godfather of the first child of Moliere and Armande.
In 1808, Alexander Duval's farce "The Wallpaper" (French) was performed at the Odeon Theater in Paris. "La Tapisserie"), presumably an adaptation of Moliere's farce "Cossack". It is believed that Duval destroyed Moliere's original or a copy to hide obvious traces of borrowing, and changed the names of the characters, only their characters and behavior were suspiciously reminiscent of Moliere's heroes. Playwright Guyot de Say tried to restore the original source and in 1911 presented this farce on the stage of the Foley-Dramatic theater, returning it to its original name.
On November 7, 1919, an article by Pierre Louis “Molière - the creation of Corneille” was published in the magazine Comœdia. Comparing the plays “Amphitryon” by Moliere and “Agésilas” by Pierre Corneille, he concludes that Moliere only signed the text composed by Corneille. Despite the fact that Pierre Louis himself was a hoaxer, the idea known today as the “Moliere-Corneille Affair” became widespread, including in such works as “Corneille under the Mask of Moliere” by Henri Poulay (1957), “Moliere , or The Imaginary Author” by lawyers Hippolyte Wouter and Christine le Ville de Goyer (1990), “The Moliere Case: The Great Literary Deception” by Denis Boissier (2004), etc.

Works

The first edition of Moliere's collected works was carried out by his friends Charles Varlet Lagrange and Vino in 1682.

Plays that have survived to this day

Crazy, or Everything Is Out of Place, comedy in verse ()
Love's Annoyance, comedy (1656)
Funny cutesy girls, comedy (1659)
Sganarelle, or the Imaginary Cuckold, comedy (1660)
Don Garcia of Navarre, or the Jealous Prince, comedy (1661)
Husband school, comedy (1661)
Annoying, comedy (1661)
Wives school, comedy (1662)
Criticism of “School for Wives”, comedy (1663)
Versailles impromptu (1663)
Reluctant marriage, farce (1664)
Princess of Elis, gallant comedy (1664)
Tartuffe, or the Deceiver, comedy (1664)
Don Juan, or the Stone Feast, comedy (1665)
Love is a healer, comedy (1665)
Misanthrope, comedy (1666)
A reluctant doctor, comedy (1666)
Melicert, pastoral comedy (1666, unfinished)
Comic pastoral (1667)
The Sicilian, or Love the Painter, comedy (1667)
Amphitryon, comedy (1668)
Georges Dandin, or The Fooled Husband, comedy (1668)
Stingy, comedy (1668)
Monsieur de Poursogniac, comedy-ballet (1669)
Brilliant Lovers, comedy (1670)
Tradesman in the nobility, comedy-ballet (1670)
Psyche, tragedy-ballet (1671, in collaboration with Philippe Quinault and Pierre Corneille)
Scapin's tricks, farce comedy (1671)
Countess d'Escarbanhas, comedy (1671)
Scientists women, comedy (1672)
Imaginary patient, a comedy with music and dancing (1673)

Unsurvived plays

Doctor in love, farce (1653)
Three rival doctors, farce (1653)
School teacher, farce (1653)
Kazakin, farce (1653)
Gorgibus in a bag, farce (1653)
Gobber, farce (1653)
Gros-Rene's Jealousy, farce (1663)
Gros-Rene schoolboy, farce (1664)

Other writings

Gratitude to the King, poetic dedication (1663)
Glory of the Val-de-Grâce Cathedral, poem (1669)
Various poems, including
- Verse from d'Assoucy's song (1655)
- Poems for Mr. Beauchamp's ballet
- Sonnet to M. la Motte la Vaye on the death of his son (1664)
- Brotherhood of Slavery in the Name of Our Lady of Mercy, quatrains placed under an allegorical engraving in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mercy (1665)
- To the king for victory in Franche-Comte, poetic dedication (1668)
- Burime to order (1682)

The biography of Moliere (real name Poquelin) is shrouded in many legends and secrets. The boldest of them is the assumption that he was not the author of his plays. But many writers were accused of this sin, from Shakespeare to Sholokhov. And serious literary criticism has long turned a blind eye to such unfounded statements. But it is known for certain that the playwright’s plays influenced the development of theatrical art throughout Europe, including Russia. Therefore, let us not denigrate the name of the great master and doubt his talent.

J. B. Moliere: biography. Origin and early years

The playwright was born on January 13, 1622 into an ancient bourgeois Parisian family, which for centuries was famous for its artisan drapers. Jean Baptiste's father served at the court of Louis XIII as a valet and upholsterer. The place was very profitable, so the family did not live in poverty.

Little Moliere was sent to be raised in a Jesuit school called Clermont College. This establishment was extremely popular in those years. Here Jean Baptiste mastered Latin perfectly and studied quite well in other disciplines.

In 1639, the young man graduated from college and passed the exam in Orleans for the title of licentiate of law. However, he had no desire to make a legal career, or to continue the family business. Then Jean Baptiste decided to try himself as an actor. In this field, luck smiled upon him, and in 1643 he was already heading the “Brilliant Theater”. At the same time, he took the pseudonym Moliere. But soon the troupe broke up, and the actor decided to try his luck with traveling comedians.

First plays

Moliere's biography during the years of wandering around the country (1645-1658) was filled with hardships and dangers, since at that time there was a civil war. Since 1650, Jean Baptiste became the head of the troupe with which he traveled. The actor quickly realized that his theater needed new plays, and this prompted him to take up his pen. He began to write farcical plays, which have practically never reached us. However, many of the trends of such classical comedies were preserved in Moliere's mature works.

From these small works the popularity of the playwright began to grow. Two comedies already brought him wide popularity in the capital: “Love Annoyance” and “Naughty”. The main emphasis in them was placed on intrigue and comic situations, and the characters themselves were practically not developed by the author.

King's attention

On October 24, 1658 he made his debut on the stage of the Louvre in the presence of Louis XIV Molière. A short biography would not be complete without a description of this fateful event. The playwright presented the farce “The Beloved Doctor” to the monarch’s court, the text of which, unfortunately, has not survived. The play was an extraordinary success and largely predetermined the fate of the author and his troupe - Louis allowed the actors to perform at the Petit-Bourbon court theater. Here Moliere worked until 1661, until he left for the Paul-Royal theater, to which he remained faithful until the end of his days.

After the incredible success in Paris, Moliere begins to work diligently and intensely. His passion for writing did not leave him until his death. For almost 15 years he staged his new plays, which aroused the delight of the public and criticism from colleagues and ill-wishers. But envious attacks could not extinguish the glory of the playwright.

Parisian stage of creativity

Moliere's biography of this period focuses on his theatrical activities. Opens new stage creative comedy "Funny Primitive", which is considered the first original work of the writer. In this play, the author attacks the mannerisms and pretentiousness of speech, which was popular in aristocratic society. The comedy was an incredible success, but seriously offended the pretentious women. The playwright immediately found enemies who secured a two-week ban on showing the play. This only increased interest in the work. After the ban was lifted, the number of people wanting to see the comedy tripled.

Moliere, whose biography is presented in this article, as we see, has not yet abandoned the techniques of farce, which gives his plays an area brightness and richness. However, this also made his works popular among the common people.

Educational comedy

However, Moliere did not remain a mere entertainer of the crowd for long. The writer's biography suggests that in 1661 he abruptly changed the direction of his works. Now Jean Baptiste began to write socio-psychological comedies of education. He raises questions of marriage, love, problems of attitude towards a woman. Now all his attention is focused on the character of the characters, they lose their monosyllabic nature and become psychological. Moliere ( short biography is proof of this) takes a huge step from the primitive schematism of farce to a play of a new level. Examples of such comedies were “School for Wives”, “School for Husbands”, “Versailles Impromptu”.

Family life

The writer made the decision to marry in 1622. Jean Baptiste Moliere (the biography that has come down to us has preserved little information about his personal life) chose Amanda Bejart as his wife. This girl was the sister of the comedian Madeleine, whom the playwright met at the beginning of his career. It was this woman’s husband who helped him become the director of the theater.

The age difference between the spouses was 20 years. That is, Moliere was forty at the time of marriage, and his beloved was only twenty. The celebration was not given much publicity, and only relatives and closest friends were present at the wedding. The girl’s parents were generally against this marriage and tried to dissuade their daughter until the last moment. Soon after her marriage, Amanda ended all relations with them.

In the marriage, Moliere had three children. However, there is plenty of evidence that both spouses were unhappy in this union. There was too much difference between them. And here it was not only age that affected, but also interests. Moliere literally “breathed” the theater, while Amanda could not fully share his passions.

Comedy-ballet

The biography of Moliere is the story of an actor and writer for whom there was nothing in life more important than profession. It is not surprising that his fame grew. Also important was the fact that he was increasingly invited to the court for holidays and celebrations. It was for such cases that Moliere created a unique genre - comedy-ballet.

Ballet was a court art form, and even members of the royal family took part in such performances, but for a long time he didn't change. Therefore, the idea was to slightly transform the usual action dizzying success. Moliere subordinated the dance sketches to the plot, framing them with small satirical poems. Such plays include:

"Unbearable";
"Reluctant Marriage";
"Princess of Elis";
“Imaginary patient”;
"Comic Pastoral";
"Psyche" etc.

At the same time, the playwright was not afraid to choose the top of aristocratic society, including the clergy, as the object of his satire.

The last stage of creativity

With age, Jean Baptiste Moliere begins to turn to increasingly serious topics. A short biography is impossible without mentioning the play “The Misanthrope”. The comedy turned out to be too serious for viewers who were looking only for entertainment, so it was not successful. To save the situation, the writer combined this work with the farce “The Reluctant Doctor.” Surprisingly, the more complex and serious Moliere's comedies became, the more often he had to return to the original simplicity in order to attract the public. Social and psychological plays were too complex for the common people, who usually visited the theater.

For such a return to buffoonery, Jean Baptiste Moliere (his biography confirms this for certain) was ridiculed by contemporary critics, including Boileau, who believed that one should not indulge the crowd to the detriment of art. Nevertheless, it was these “low” comedies that were later highly appreciated by literary scholars and became classics of the genre.

Originality

The biography of Jean Moliere speaks of him as amazing person, who never considered theater to be mere fun for the plebs. Therefore, he wrote with equal passion as serious social plays, and farces. This speaks of him as one of the most advanced representatives of his era, who saw the meaning of life in one thing - to cognize reality as much as possible in order to strengthen man's dominance on earth. Moliere was a classical materialist. He did not recognize God, but believed that in the world there is a certain consciousness of material reality, which forms the human understanding of the world and is a source of good and truth for people. He mercilessly ridiculed those who thought otherwise in his plays. All these pedants, literary scholars, affectations, charlatan doctors, saints look at the world too subjectively and believe that they know it. This is where their comedy lies.

Artistic method

J. Moliere had his own unique artistic method. The writer's biography convinces us that even a person of low origin and work (actors at that time were humiliated in high society) can leave his mark on history and change the world if he is endowed with talent and perseverance.

Our article is coming to an end, but finally I would like to list character traits writer's artistic method:

Schematization of images, especially in early plays. This trait was inherited by Moliere from the comedy Dell'arte. However, in his later works he increasingly pays attention to the psychological component of his characters.
A clear boundary between negative and positive characters, a constant opposition of vices and virtues.
The conflict of his plays was based on the collision of active external forces with passive internal ones, that is, circumstances with moral principles heroes.
The high dynamism of comedy is manifested only externally; the characters remain unchanged and are not able to evolve.

Death of an actor

Biography of Moliere ( summary cannot help but remember this) ends on February 17, 1673. It was on this day that the great comedian died. Shortly before his death, already sick, Jean Baptiste wrote the comedy “The Imaginary Invalid.” And so, when the play was staged for the fourth time, and Moliere played one of the main roles, the playwright became ill and could not finish the performance.

Relatives carried the patient home, where he died a few hours later. The Archbishop of Paris at first completely forbade burying Moliere, since the actor was a great sinner and had to repent before his death. Only the intervention of the king allowed the situation to be corrected. And then the great writer was buried at night behind the cemetery fence, as only suicides were buried. This is how Jean Baptiste Moliere ended his life. A short biography of a writer must necessarily contain this moment in his life history.

Molière (French Molière, real name Jean Baptiste Poquelin; French Jean Baptiste Poquelin; January 13, 1622, Paris - February 17, 1673, ibid.) - comedian of France and new Europe, creator of classical comedy, actor and theater director by profession.

His father was a court upholsterer. He did not care about giving his son an education. It’s hard to believe, but by the age of fourteen the future playwright had learned to read and write. However, the boy's abilities became quite noticeable. He did not want to take over his father's craft. Poquelin Sr. had to send his son to the Jesuit College, where in five years he became one of the best students. Moreover: one of the most educated people of his time.

After graduating from college, Jean Baptiste received the title of lawyer and was sent to Orleans. However, the love and dream of his whole life was theater. From several friends, the young man organized a troupe in Paris and called it “Brilliant Theater.” At that time, our own plays were not yet included in the project. Poquelin took the pseudonym Moliere and decided to try himself as a tragic actor.

The new theater was not successful and had to be closed. Moliere sets off to travel around France with a traveling troupe. Traveling enriches you with life experience. Moliere studied the life of various classes. In 1653, he staged one of his first plays, The Madcap. The author has not yet dreamed of literary fame. It’s just that the troupe’s repertoire was poor.

Moliere returns to Paris in 1658. He is already an experienced actor and a mature writer. The troupe's performance in Versailles in front of the royal court was a success. The theater is left in Paris. In 1660, Moliere received a stage in the Palais Royal, built under Cardinal Richelieu.

In total, the playwright lived in the capital of France for fourteen years. During this time, more than thirty plays were created. The famous literary theorist Nicolas Boileau, in a conversation with the king, said that his reign would become famous thanks to the playwright Moliere.

The satirical nature of Moliere's truthful comedies created many enemies for him. So, for example, both the nobility and the clergy were offended by the comedy “Tartuffe,” which denounces hypocritical saints. The comedy was either banned or allowed to be staged. Throughout his life, Moliere was haunted by intriguers. They even tried to prevent his funeral.

Moliere died on February 17, 1673. He performed main role in his play “The Imaginary Ill” and felt bad on stage. A few hours later, the great playwright died. The Archbishop of Paris prohibited the body of a “comedian” and an “unrepentant sinner” from being buried according to Christian rites.

He was buried secretly, at night, in the Saint-Joseph cemetery.

Moliere's comedies “The Misanthrope”, “Don Juan”, “The Pranks of Scapin”, “The Miser”, “The Schoolboy” and others still do not leave the stage of world theaters.

Source http://lit-helper.ru and http://ru.wikipedia.org

In 1622, a boy was born into the Poquelin family. Exact date His birth is unknown, but in the church books there is an entry dated January 15, reporting his baptism under the name Jean-Baptiste. The child's parents, Jean and Marie, got married in April of the previous year. They were good Catholics, and therefore over the next three years Jean-Baptiste had two brothers - Louis and Jean, as well as a sister Marie. It must be said that the Poquelin family was not an easy one - Jean-Baptiste's grandfather held the position of first court upholsterer and valet to the king. When his grandfather died in 1626, his position and title was inherited by Jean-Baptiste's uncle, Nicolas. But five years later, Nikola sold this position to the father of the future comedian.

In 1632, Marie Poquelin died, and Moliere's father remarried, Catherine Fleurette. From this marriage a girl was born, and almost simultaneously Jean-Baptiste was assigned to Clermont College. At fifteen years old, a boy following family tradition, becomes a member of the upholstery shop without interrupting his studies at college. Within three next years he studied law and in 1640 became a lawyer. But he was not attracted to jurisprudence at all.

A young lawyer plunges headlong into social life and turns into a regular at the house of Councilor Lhuillier. It is here that he meets such outstanding people, like Bernier, Gassendi and Cyrano de Bergerac, who would become his true friend. Young Poquelin absorbs Pierre Gassendi's philosophy of joy and attends all his lectures. According to the philosopher’s theory, the world was created not by the mind of God, but by self-creating matter, and is obliged to serve the joys of man. Such thoughts fascinated Poquelin, and under their influence he made his first literary translation - it was Lucretius’ poem “On the Nature of Things.”

On January 6, 1643, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin took a step that surprised everyone - he categorically refused his inherited position as an upholsterer at the royal court and gave the position to his brother - and absolutely free of charge. His career as a lawyer also ended. The first step towards a new life was moving to a rented apartment in the Maare quarter. Not far from this apartment lived the Bejar family of actors. On June 30, 1643, Bejart, Jean-Baptiste and five other actors signed a contract to found the Brilliant Theater. The theater, on which its founders pinned a lot of hopes, opened on January 1, 1644 - and a year later it went completely bankrupt. However, this enterprise gave the world a name adopted by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin as a pseudonym - Molière. Since he was the director of the theater, after bankruptcy he spent several days in a debtor's prison in Chatelet.

Having been freed, Moliere leaves for the province, and several actors from the bankrupt theater go with him. They all joined Dufresne's troupe, which was under the patronage of the Duke de Epernon. For several years, Moliere moved with a traveling troupe from city to city, and in 1650, when the Duke refused to support the artists, Moliere led the troupe. Two years later, the premiere of the comedy “Naughty or Everything Is Out of Place” took place - its author was Moliere himself. After watching the comedy, Prince Conti showed his favor to the troupe, and later the comedian would become his secretary.

The French theater of those times mainly staged adaptations of medieval farces, and therefore Moliere’s meeting in Lyon in 1655 with Italian artists was, one might say, significant. The Italian mask theater interested him very much - both as a comedian, and as an actor, and as a director. The main thing on the stage were masks, among which the four main ones stood out - Harlequin (a rogue and a fool), Brighella (a resourceful and evil peasant), the Doctor and Pantalone (a stingy merchant). Actually, the “commedia dell’arte” was a theater of improvisation. A text was strung onto a flexible script plan, which the actor practically created himself during the game. Moliere enthusiastically began sketching roles, plots and adapting “del arte” to French life. IN late creativity The great comedian's masked characters are quite recognizable, and perhaps it was they who made his plays close and understandable to the people.

Fame about the troupe talented actors grows, and they begin to tour such major cities, like Grenoble, Lyon and Rouen. In 1658, the troupe decided to perform in Paris. Moliere goes to the capital and literally seeks the patronage of Monsieur Philippe of Orleans, the king's brother. The thrifty Madeleine Bejart, who by that time had saved a sufficient amount, rented a hall for performances in Paris for a whole year and a half. In the autumn of the same year, Moliere's troupe plays at the Louvre for the courtiers and the king himself. The first to be performed was the tragedy “Nycomède” by Corneille. This choice turned out to be unsuccessful, but Moliere’s “Doctor in Love” not only corrected the situation, but caused a storm of applause. After watching the comedy, Louis XIV ordered that a hall in the Petit-Bourbon Palace be given to Moliere for the theater.

The second success among Molière’s plays was the premiere of “Funny Primroses” in Paris (November 18, 1659). It is curious that in the documents of Peter the Great, sheets were discovered on which the first Russian emperor translated this comedy into Russian with his own hand.

Moliere did not bother himself with inventing names for his characters and often used either the real names of the actors in his troupe or symbolic names. For example, in “Funny Pretentious Women,” the name of one of the characters, Mascarille, is derived from “mask.” But classicism in Moliere's dramaturgy was quickly replaced by the creation of new genres. Before moving to Paris, Moliere composed plays of a more entertaining nature. However, a change in the audience prompted the author to use more sophisticated techniques, and accordingly, the tasks also changed. Moliere's plays become revealing and directly show the audience themselves - without any condescension. Moliere took a fair amount of risks, creating images in which aristocrats recognized themselves. The plays begin to castigate hypocrisy, arrogance, and stupidity in a parodic style, and their author has certainly reached unimaginable heights in depicting these vices.

However, Moliere was lucky - his risky creations came in handy for Louis XIV. The meaning of the plays resonated perfectly with the tasks of the Sun King, who was in a hurry to put an end to opposition in parliament and turn parliamentarians into obedient courtiers. Since 1660, Moliere's troupe has received a full royal pension and has been working at the Palais Royal. Then Moliere decided to arrange his own personal life and married Armande Bejart, but the twenty years difference played a cruel joke - the marriage was not very successful. But the marriage of Moliere, as, indeed, of almost anyone famous person, gave rise to a lot of rumors. It was even claimed that Armande was not a sister, but the daughter of Moliere’s stage friend Madeleine. Note that biographers cannot refute this gossip to this day.

But it was not only gossip that darkened the comedian’s life at that time. Serious attacks begin on him, they try to tarnish his reputation in a variety of ways. Moliere was accused of violating literally all moral and aesthetic laws, but the comedian brilliantly responded to all accusations with his plays. This happens in “Criticism of “A Lesson for Wives””, and in the magnificent “Versailles Impromptu”, and in many other magnificent plays. Moliere's characters speak openly, and in their judgments they follow common sense, and not moral prejudices. Perhaps the Moliere Theater would have been closed, but this sad event was prevented from happening by the constant support of the young king. The favor of Louis XIV was so great that the comedian was even invited to stage the brilliant May Day at Versailles in 1664.

At the same time, Moliere wrote the comedy “The Annoying Ones” and the first three acts of “Tartuffe.” However, Tartuffe aroused the anger of the Parisian priests, and at their request the play still had to be banned. The saints generally suggested sending Molière to the stake, but, fortunately, things didn’t come to that. It must be said that behind the attack on the playwright there was an exceptionally powerful force - the Society of the Holy Sacrament, under the patronage of the Queen Mother. Even the king could not push “Tartuffe” onto the stage, and for the first time a much softened version called “The Deceiver” was shown in 1667 - after the death of Anne of Austria. Although main character During the play, instead of a monk's robe, he wore a secular camisole; the very next day, a Parisian court ruled to ban the production. It was only in 1669 that Tartuffe was performed as we know it now. However, attempts to ban the play did not stop, which is the best evidence of the sharpness and accuracy with which Moliere diagnosed and castigated the vices of society. The name “Tartuffe” forever became a household name for a hypocrite and a deceiver.

However, the king gradually loses interest in Moliere's works, and, moreover, the playwright is exhausted by family troubles. But he continues to work, creating a kind of trilogy of Tartuffe, Don Juan (1665), banned from showing after fifteen performances, and The Misanthrope (1666). By the way, many literary scholars perceive the main character of “The Misanthrope” as a direct predecessor of Chatsky from the comedy “Woe from Wit.”

During this difficult time, Moliere not only wrote plays, but also continued to work in the theater. His comedies are magnificent, which not only entertain, but also provide food for the mind - “The Miser” (1668), “Learned Women” and “The Bourgeois in the Nobility” (1672), “The Imaginary Invalid” (1673). The most amazing thing is that during Moliere’s lifetime there was only one edition of his plays - printed in 1666 in the printing house of Guillaume de Luynes. The first book of the two-volume set had almost six hundred pages.

The career of the great playwright had a tragic end. Moliere was seriously ill for a long time (it is believed that he died of tuberculosis). In the comedy “The Imaginary Invalid,” staged in February 1673, the author played the main role. The fourth performance of The Imaginary Invalid ended with Moliere losing consciousness right on stage. They carried him away, and after another half hour he began to have pulmonary hemorrhage.

However, after death, unforeseen but understandable circumstances arose. The parish priest, with his authority, forbade the burial of Moliere's ashes in the cemetery. Only the appeal of the comedian's widow to the king made it possible to obtain permission to conduct a religious burial.

Seven years later, in 1680, Louis XIV signed a decree that united Moliere's troupe with the artists of the Burgundy Hotel. This is how it arose new theater- the famous “Comédie Française”, which is also called the “House of Moliere”. The Comédie Française staged Moliere's plays on its stage more than thirty thousand times.

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (French Jean-Baptiste Poquelin), theatrical pseudonym - Moliere (French Molière; January 15, 1622, Paris - February 17, 1673, ibid.) - French comedian of the 17th century, creator of classical comedy, actor and director by profession theater, better known as the Molière troupe (Troupe de Molière, 1643-1680).

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin came from an old bourgeois family, which for several centuries was engaged in the craft of upholsterers and drapers.

Jean-Baptiste's father, Jean Poquelin (1595-1669), was the court upholsterer and valet of Louis XIII and sent his son to a prestigious Jesuit school - the Clermont College (now the Lyceum of Louis the Great in Paris), where Jean-Baptiste thoroughly studied Latin, so he read fluently in the original of Roman authors and even, according to legend, translated the philosophical poem of Lucretius “On the Nature of Things” into French. After graduating from college in 1639, Jean-Baptiste passed the exam in Orleans for the title of licentiate of rights.

The legal career attracted him no more than his father's craft, and Jean-Baptiste chose the profession of an actor, taking the stage name Moliere.

After meeting the comedians Joseph and Madeleine Béjart, at the age of 21, Molière became the head of the Illustre Théâtre, a new Parisian troupe of 10 actors, registered with the capital's notary on June 30, 1643. Having entered into fierce competition with the troupes of the Burgundy Hotel and the Marais, already popular in Paris, the “Brilliant Theater” lost in 1645. Moliere and his actor friends decide to seek their fortune in the provinces, joining a troupe of traveling comedians led by Dufresne.

Moliere's wanderings around the French province for 13 years (1645-1658) during the civil war (Fronde) enriched him with everyday and theatrical experience.

Since 1645, Moliere and his friends joined Dufresne, and in 1650 he headed the troupe.

The repertoire hunger of Moliere's troupe was the impetus for the beginning of his dramatic activity. Thus, the years of Moliere’s theatrical studies became the years of his author’s studies. Many of the farcical scenarios he composed in the provinces have disappeared. Only the plays “The Jealousy of Barbouillé” (La jalousie du Barbouillé) and “The Flying Doctor” (Le médécin volant) have survived, the attribution of which to Moliere is not entirely reliable.

The titles of a number of similar plays played by Molière in Paris after his return from the provinces are also known (“Gros-René the Schoolboy,” “The Pedant Doctor,” “Gorgibus in the Bag,” “Plan-Plan,” “Three Doctors,” “Cossackin”) , “The Feigned Lump”, “The Twig Knitter”), and these titles echo the situations of Moliere’s later farces (for example, “Gorgibus in the Sack” and “The Tricks of Scapin”, d. III, sc. II). These plays indicate that the tradition of old farce influenced the major comedies of his mature age.

The farcical repertoire performed by Molière's troupe under his direction and with his participation as an actor helped strengthen its reputation. It increased even more after Moliere composed two great comedies in verse - “Naughty, or Everything Is Out of Place” (L’Étourdi ou les Contretemps, 1655) and “Love’s Annoyance” (Le dépit amoureux, 1656), written in the manner of Italian literary comedy. The main plot, which represents a free imitation of Italian authors, is layered here with borrowings from various old and new comedies, in accordance with the principle attributed to Moliere “to take his goodness wherever he finds it.” The interest of both plays lies in the development of comic situations and intrigue; the characters in them are still developed very superficially.

Molière's troupe gradually achieved success and fame, and in 1658, at the invitation of 18-year-old Monsieur, the king's younger brother, they returned to Paris.

In Paris, Moliere's troupe made its debut on October 24, 1658 at the Louvre Palace in the presence of. The lost farce “The Doctor in Love” was a huge success and decided the fate of the troupe: the king provided her with the Petit-Bourbon court theater, where she played until 1661, until she moved to the Palais Royal theater, where she remained until Moliere’s death.

From the moment Moliere was installed in Paris, a period of his feverish dramatic work began, the intensity of which did not weaken until his death. During those 15 years from 1658 to 1673, Moliere created all his best plays, which, with few exceptions, provoked fierce attacks from social groups hostile to him.

The Parisian period of Moliere's activity opens with the one-act comedy “Funny Primroses” (French: Les précieuses ridicules, 1659). In this first, completely original, play, Moliere made a bold attack against the pretentiousness and mannerism of speech, tone and manner that prevailed in aristocratic salons, which was greatly reflected in literature and had a strong influence on young people (mainly its female part). The comedy hurt the most prominent simpers. Moliere's enemies achieved a two-week ban on the comedy, after which it was canceled with double success.

On January 23, 1662, Moliere signed a marriage contract with Armande Béjart, Madeleine's younger sister. He is 40 years old, Armande is 20. Against all the decency of that time, only the closest ones were invited to the wedding. The wedding ceremony took place on February 20, 1662 in the Parisian church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois.

The comedy “The School for Husbands” (L’école des maris, 1661), which is closely related to the even more mature comedy“The School for Wives” (L’école des femmes, 1662), marks Moliere’s turn from farce to the socio-psychological comedy of education. Here Moliere raises questions of love, marriage, attitudes towards women and family structure. The lack of monosyllabicity in the characters’ characters and actions makes “School for Husbands” and especially “School for Wives” the biggest step forward towards creating a comedy of characters that overcomes the primitive schematism of farce. At the same time, “School of Wives” is incomparably deeper and subtler than “School of Husbands,” which in relation to it is like a sketch, a light sketch.

Such satirically pointed comedies could not help but provoke fierce attacks from the playwright’s enemies. Moliere responded to them with a polemical play, “Critique of the School of Wives” (La critique de “L’École des femmes”, 1663). Defending himself from reproaches of being a jerk, he with great dignity set out here his credo as a comic poet (“to delve deeply into the funny side of human nature and amusingly depict on stage the shortcomings of society”) and ridiculed the superstitious admiration for the “rules” of Aristotle. This protest against the pedantic fetishization of “rules” reveals Moliere’s independent position in relation to French classicism, to which he nevertheless adhered in his dramatic practice.

In “The Reluctant Marriage” (Le mariage force, 1664), Moliere raised the genre to great heights, achieving organic connection comedy (farcical) and ballet elements. In “The Princess of Elide” (La princesse d’Elide, 1664), Moliere took the opposite path, inserting clownish ballet interludes into a pseudo-antique lyrical-pastoral plot. This was the beginning of two types of comedy-ballet, which were further developed by Moliere.

"Tartuffe" (Le Tartuffe, 1664-1669). Directed against the clergy, this mortal enemy of the theater and the entire secular bourgeois culture, in the first edition the comedy contained three acts and depicted a hypocrite priest. In this form, it was staged in Versailles at the festival of the “Enjoyments of the Magic Island” on May 12, 1664 under the title “Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite” (Tartuffe, ou L'hypocrite) and caused discontent on the part of the religious organization “Society of the Holy Sacrament” (Société du Saint Sacrement). In the image of Tartuffe, the Society saw a satire on its members and achieved the prohibition of “Tartuffe”. Moliere defended his play in the “Petition” (Placet) addressed to the king, in which he directly wrote that “the originals achieved the prohibition of the copy.” But this request came to nothing. Then Moliere weakened the harsh parts, renamed Tartuffe Panyulf and took off his cassock. In a new form, the comedy, which had 5 acts and was entitled “The Deceiver” (L’imposteur), was allowed to be presented, but after the first performance on August 5, 1667, it was again withdrawn. Only a year and a half later, Tartuffe was finally presented in the 3rd final edition.

Written by a terminally ill Moliere, a comedy "The Imaginary Sick"- one of his most fun and cheerful comedies. At its 4th performance on February 17, 1673, Moliere, who played the role of Argan, felt ill and did not finish the performance. He was carried home and died a few hours later. The Archbishop of Paris forbade the burial of an unrepentant sinner (actors had to repent on their deathbed) and lifted the ban only on the instructions of the king. The greatest playwright of France was buried at night, without rites, behind the fence of the cemetery where suicides were buried.

Plays by Moliere:

The Jealousy of Barboulieu, farce (1653)
The Flying Doctor, farce (1653)
Shaly, or Everything Is Out of Place, comedy in verse (1655)
Love's Annoyance, Comedy (1656)
Funny primps, comedy (1659)
Sganarelle, or the Imaginary Cuckold, comedy (1660)
Don Garcia of Navarre, or the Jealous Prince, comedy (1661)
School for Husbands, comedy (1661)
Pesky, comedy (1661)
School for Wives, comedy (1662)
Criticism of "The School for Wives", comedy (1663)
Versailles impromptu (1663)
Reluctant Marriage, Farce (1664)
The Princess of Elis, a gallant comedy (1664)
Tartuffe, or the Deceiver, comedy (1664)
Don Juan, or the Stone Feast, comedy (1665)
Love is a healer, comedy (1665)
Misanthrope, comedy (1666)
The reluctant doctor, comedy (1666)
Melicert, pastoral comedy (1666, unfinished)
Comic Pastoral (1667)
The Sicilian, or Love the Painter, comedy (1667)
Amphitryon, comedy (1668)
Georges Dandin, or the Fooled Husband, comedy (1668)
The Miser, comedy (1668)
Monsieur de Poursonyac, comedy-ballet (1669)
Brilliant Lovers, Comedy (1670)
The Tradesman in the Nobility, comedy-ballet (1670)
Psyche, tragedy-ballet (1671, in collaboration with Philippe Quinault and Pierre Corneille)
The Tricks of Scapin, farce comedy (1671)
Countess d'Escarbagna, comedy (1671)
Learned Women, Comedy (1672)
The Imaginary Invalid, a comedy with music and dancing (1673)

Unsurvived plays by Moliere:

The Doctor in Love, farce (1653)
Three Rival Doctors, Farce (1653)
The Schoolmaster, farce (1653)
Kazakin, farce (1653)
Gorgibus in a bag, farce (1653)
Gobber, farce (1653)
The Jealousy of Gros-René, farce (1663)
Gros-René schoolboy, farce (1664)