Qui estce
Moliere, pseudonym of JEAN BAPTISTE POQUELIN (1622-73), French dramatist, and one of the greatest of all writers of comedies. His universal comic types still delight audiences; his plays are often produced and have been much translated.Moliere was born in Paris on January 15, 1622, the son of a wealthy tapestry maker. From an early age he was completely devoted to the theater. In 1643 he joined a theatrical company established by the Bejarts, a family of professional actors; he married one of the members of the family, Armande Bejart, in 1662. The troupe, which Moliere named the Illustre Theatre, played in Paris until 1645 and then toured the provinces for 13 years, returning to Paris in 1658. On their return Louis XIV lent the troupe his support and offered them occasional use of the Theatre du Petit-Bourbon and, in 1661, use of the playhouse in the Palais-Royal. Secure at the Palais-Royal, “Moliere for the rest of his life committed himself entirely to the comic theater, as dramatist, actor, producer, and director” (Encarta 96).In 1659 the company presented Moliere's Les precieuses ridicules (The Affected Young Ladies). Written in a style similar to that of the older farces, it satirizes the pretension
Racine's plays successfully combine the formal beauties of neoclassical structure and verse with mythological subjects to create lofty, rugged dramas (Encarta 96). L'ecole des femmes (The School for Wives, 1662) marks a break with the farce tradition. Others among Moliere's most successful plays (numbering about 33) are L'avare (The Miser, 1668), a stark “comedy,” loosely based on a work by the Roman comic dramatist Plautus, and Le medecin malgre lui (The Physician in Spite of Himself, 1666), a satire on the medical profession. Thus, “Moliere's comedies can be appreciated to the fullest when acted by a brilliant, disciplined company, such as the famous Comedie Francaise, the national theater of France. “A master of slapstick, he yet contrived to maintain an underlying note of pathos. In 1666 when Moliere opened Le Misanthrope at the Palais-Royal, society didn’t know what to make of the central character, Alceste. He organized a number of councils to advise him and to carry out his instructions, and he staffed them with able men, completely dependent on him for position and income. Louis XIV ruled France and absolute royal authority was consolidated during his reign (Encarta 96). The wealthy bourgeoisie was kept politically satisfied by the government's assurance of order at home, its active promotion of commerce and industry, and by the opportunities to make fortunes from the state's expenditures. The ever-popular Le Misanthrope (1666) pictures a young suitor, Alceste, sincere but humorless, trying to woo Celimene, a flirtatious court soubrette. Le bourgeois gentilhomme (The Would-Be Gentleman, 1670), a comedy-ballet with music by the king's favorite composer, Jean Baptiste Lully, mocks a successful but naive cloth merchant who aspires to being received at court. His plays are mostly commedia-influenced farces and comedies of manners—plays that satirize the customs of the upper classes—but they generally rise above their specific, contemporary targets and can be seen as observations on the flaws and limitations of humankind. Neoclassical drama did not become common until the 1630s with the dramas of Pierre Corneille and, later, of Jean Baptiste Racine. The king had good reason to believe that the play, with the grasping, hypocritical Tartuffe, clad in clerical garb and hair shirt, would offend the powerful French higher clergy (Britannica 91). He is in love with Celimene whose flirtatiousness with other men and tolerance of society’s foibles only adds to his despair.
Common topics in this essay:
Le Cid,
School Wives,
Misanthrope Palais-Royal,
Age Absolutism,
Plautus Italian,
Imaginary Invalid,
Moliere Britannica,
Louis XIV,
Comedie Francaise—still,
Paris January,
encarta 96,
louis xiv,
jean baptiste,
compton’s 95,
earley keil,
earley keil 92,
britannica 91,
keil 92,
pierre corneille jean,
illustre theatre,
neoclassical drama,
stock characters,
jean baptiste racine,
keil 92 moliere's,
corneille jean baptiste,
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Acceptance Essays
