

MOLlfeRE S471 



MOLIERE: CREATOR OF MODERN COMEDY 



A. A. Tllley. M. A.. Author of From Montaitfnn to Kollkro 

 Encyclopedia contains articles on Moliere's plays. See 

 Comedy; France: Literature . mtU articles on Corneille. Rue tne. un,t 

 other great names in French Literature 



MOLI&RE 



Jean Haptiste Poquelin, called 

 Mnlii -IT. tin- creator and the great- 

 t-st ma-ter of modern comedy, was 

 honi in 1'aris HI .l.ui., Hi _':.', a son of 

 .Iran I'lKiuflm, an upholsterer, who 

 m ployed hy dm court and 

 WM apparently in alllnent eiiviini 

 -t.uires. Hia mother was Marie 

 Crease, and he was educated at the 

 fashionable college of (lriiiK.nl. 

 where he studied the works of 

 AriMotle. He was destined for 

 his father's business, but at the age 

 of twenty-one, having conceived 

 a strong passion for the stage, 

 he founded with some friends 

 a theatrical company, L'lllustre 

 Th6atre, which played unsuccess- 

 fully at Paris for two years. They 

 then tried their fortunes in the 

 provinces, and after five years of 

 struggle and hardship achieved a 

 considerable dramatic reputation. 

 In 1658 they returned to Paris, and 

 two years later were definitely es- 

 tablished in the theatre of the 

 Palais Royal. 



In 1659 Moliere made his debut 

 in social comedy with Les Prec- 

 ieuses Ridicules, and in 1662 he 

 produced his first great comedy, 

 L'Ecole des Femmes. In the same 

 year he married Armande Bejart, 

 a girl of twenty. She was a 

 coquette and the marriage was un- 

 happy. Moliere's principal plays 

 besides the two already mentioned 

 are Le Tartuffe, 1664; Don Juan, 

 1665; Le Misanthrope, 1666; Am- 

 phitryon, 1668; L'Avare, 1668; Le 

 Bourgeois gentilhomme, 1670; Les 

 Femmes savantes, 1672; and Le 

 Malade imaginaire, 1673. Slighter, 

 but of excellent quality, are L'Ecole 

 des Maris, 1661 ; Le Mariage force, 

 1664 ; L' Amour medecin, 1665 ; 

 I.- M'-dccin malgre lui, 1666; Le 

 Sicilian, 1667 ; and the remarkable 

 Critique de 1'Ecole des Femmes, 

 1663, which is of capital impor- 

 tance for the understanding of 

 Moliere's conception of his art. 



Moliere was a first-rate actor of 

 comedy, his acting, like Garrick's, 

 being distinguished for vivacity of 

 expression and gesture. He was 

 also an admirable theatrical mana- 

 ger, devoted to the interests of the 

 company, and sparing no pains in 

 the rehearsal of his pieces. As a 

 writer of comedy, he is unrivalled in 

 his mastery of the whole gamut of 

 laughter, from the most delicate 

 humour to the broadest farce. 

 Though in many of his plays, from 

 Le Tartuffe onwards, there is a 

 latent element of tragedy, it is the 

 comic aspect of life that inspires - 



lux imagination and L'ivcs the 

 oli -in mating colour to his work. 

 We laugh at Tartuffe even while 

 we fear him ; we laugh at Alceste 

 even while we pity him. In the 

 one Moliere shows us the ridiculous 

 side of a criminal, in the other the 

 ridiculous side of a lovable man 

 of virtue. 



But he aspires to correct men 

 as well as amuse them, so he ridi- 

 cules their vices and follies, especi- 

 ally those which threaten the social 

 fabric or its true basis, the family. 

 In the name of common-sense 

 and truth, he wars against hypo- 

 crisy and superstition, against 

 atheism and libertinism, against 

 avarice, egoism, and vanity, against 

 pricieuses, prudes, poetasters, 

 bores, pedants, professional hum- 

 bugs, smug provincials, and smirk- 

 ing courtiers. Misled by the titles 

 of some of his plays, e.g. Le 

 Misanthrope, L'Avare, Le Malade 

 imaginaire, some critics have ac- 

 cused him of creating abstract 

 types rather than individuals. But 

 his great characters, Tartuffe, Don 

 Juan, Alceste, Celimene, Harpagon, 

 have the breadth, the complexity, 

 the individuality of real life. As 

 for his minor characters, he creates 

 them at a single stroke. They are 

 alive the moment they appear on 

 the stage. 



A special word is due to his fe- 

 male servants. Honest, loyal, and 

 outspoken, the very embodiments 

 of common-sense, they stand for 

 Moliere's hatred of affectation and 

 intellectual arrogance ; they are 

 the representatives, so to speak, of 



Moliere, irom the bust by J. A. Houdon 



ComiHf Fran^aiie. Par It 



his comic muse. Further, his 

 characters are true to nature. 

 There are no super-men and, ex- 

 cept in his broader farces, no cari- 

 catures. Just as in real life, they 

 are judged differently by different 

 readers and different ages ; there 

 can be no better proof of their 

 absolute fidelity. Some of his plays, 

 e.g. Don Juan, L'Avare, Le Bour- 

 geois gentilhomme, in their loose- 

 ness of construction bear witness 

 to the hurry in which they were 

 written, but when Moliere had 

 time at his disposal he could build 

 up his drama with a master's hand. 

 If his denouements are often weak 

 and mechanical, it is because he 

 cares even more for life than for 

 art. His feeling for dramatic ef- 

 fect, for movement and action, is 

 unrivalled. Even when there is 

 little or no external action, as in 

 Le Misanthrope, the dramatic 

 interest never flags, and the action, 

 though chiefly internal, is developed 

 in a strictly logical sequence. 



Moliere's language, though mostly 

 admirable, is occasionally, under 

 the pressure of time, involved or 

 careless. This has proved a stum- 

 bling-block to some critics, but its 

 dramatic qualities make it a joy to 

 actors. His versification at its best 

 is easy, spirited, and vigorous. 

 L'Etourdi, 1653, his earliest 

 comedy, is brilliantly written 

 throughout, and in the vers libres 

 of Amphitryon he shows the highest 

 skill of the versifier's art. Moliere 

 died in Paris, Feb. 17, 1673, and 

 was buried in the cemetery behind 

 the church of S. Joseph. / s 



Bibliography. Works, IS vols., 

 ed. E. Despois and P. Mesnard, 

 1873-93, Eng. trans. C. H. Wall, 

 1901, and A. R. Waller, 1907 ; Lives, 

 L. Moland, 1867; H. M. Trollope, 

 1905; E. Rigal, 2 vohj., 1908; J. B. 

 Matthews, 1910; A. Tilley, 1921. 



