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Molière

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Biography

Jean Baptiste Poquelin was born in Paris, France, on January 15, 1622, to a prominent family. His father, Jean Poquelin, held a distinguished title as valet de chambre and tapissier, or upholsterer, to King Louis XIII. Jean Baptiste Poquelin was the eldest of six children, and held an apprenticeship to his father's business, but showed little interest in the trade. His love for acting and theatre was inspired by his grandfather who would often take him to see productions at the Hotel de Bourgogne.

Jean Baptiste Poquelin's education began with his mother, who was a fervid Catholic with a passion for reading. He later attended one of the finest secondary schools in Paris known as the College de Clermont. After finishing his studies at the College Clermont, he began studying law for a brief period before he inherited his father's title. It was due to a romantic involvement with Madeline Bejart, a young actress who had a tremendous amount of influence on Poquelin, that Jean Baptiste formally renounced his title and gave up a highly respectable career in the King's court to pursue a theatrical career. He later adopted the stage name Moliere out of respect for his father, who wanted to avoid being associated with the theatre, which was considerered to be opprobrious at the time.

With the help of Madelin Bejart and her family, Moliere established the Societe de l'Illustre Theatre, where Moliere acted and later became director and stage manager. However, due to expenses, inexperience, and Moliere's particularly poor acting skills led to the collapse of the Societe de l'Illustre Theatre in July of 1645. The collapse of the theatre led to Moliere being sued for bankruptcy and being temporarily imprisoned for the theatre's debts. However, this was not a deterent to Moliere's theatrical ambitions. He continued acting with Bejart and her family, touring provinces as strolling players. It was during this thirteen-year period that Moliere wrote his first plays - La jalousie de Barbouille (The Jealosy of Le Barbouille), Le medecin volant (The Flying Doctor), and L'etourdi (The Blunderer). After returning to Paris in 1658, Moliere put on the production of Le depit amoureux (The Amorous Quarrel). The play was greeted with unbridled enthusiasm and earned the favor of Louis XIV as well as allowing Moliere the opportunity of sharing a theatre with the renouned Italian performers of Scaramouche. In 1659, Les precieuses ridicules (The Affected Ladies) earned Moliere lasting recognition as a playwrite. The Affected Ladies is a one-act comedy about two bucolic women who foolishly imitate the spurious social mannerisms and overrefined elegancies of Parisian aristocracy. Moliere's accurate portrayal of ostenation in high society enraged many aristocrats who believed that they were the targets of the parody. Afterwards, Moliere and his plays were regularly the center of controversy. Moliere's irreverance for Parisan aristocracy peaked with the in 1664 with the production of one his best know works, Tartuffe. Tartuffe, while widely popular with audiences as well as King Louis XIV, became the center of condemnation from religious groups. In fact, the Archbishop of Paris issued a decree threatening excommunication to anyone who performed, attended, or even read the play.

After Tartuffe, Moliere continued a prolific career in theatre. Other plays he wrote include Dom Juan (Don Juan), Le misanthrope (The Misanthrope), L'avare (The Miser), and his last work, Le malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid). During a production of Le malade imaginaire, Moliere had already become extremely ill. It was during his fourth performance that he suddenly coughed up blood onstage and later died of pulmonary embolism.


List of Works


Influences on Moliere

Background

Moliere, was born Jean Baptiste Poqulinin the year 1622 in Paris, France. He was raised by his father who was a furniture upholsterer for King Louis XIII. Jean Polqulinin’s interest in drama and acting was first sparked by his grandfather who “took him to see productions at the famous Hotel de Bourgogne” (Seidel p5). He received an extremely good education at the Jesuit College de Clermont and went on to graduate from law school. “In 1642 he met and became romantically involved with Madeline Bejart a young actress” (Seidel p5). Jean Polqulin renounced his royal appointment to the court offered because of his father’s position and instead pursed an acting career, then changing his name to Moliere. Although in 1645 he spent time in debtors’ prison after the collapse of his acting troupe called the l’Illustre Theatre (Seidel 5), he continued traveling and performing for the next 13 years. He landed in front of King Louis XIV who became one of his patrons (Seidel p5).

Style

Moliere writing was influenced by a style called commedia dell’arte also called “comedy of art or comedy of the profession”. Commedia dell’arte is an Italian theater style which is improvised and unwritten. It is up to the actors to make the play and its concepts come together in a comedic way as this style focuses on subject rather than a structured set of lines (Bellinger 1). Moliere used this style in an enhanced version. His first plays are “all short adaptions of Italian farces in the tradition of commedia dell’arte” (Seidel 5). He also used a writing technique called a fabliau which is a short comedic two line verse that rhymes (Columbia). An example of this technique can be seen in his play Tartuff.

Time Period

Moliere lived from 1622-1673 in Europe during a time refered to as the Age of Reason or Neoclassical period. A theory known as Deism became very popular during this period. Deism suggests that God is likened unto a clockmaker and the universe is likened unto a clock. Once the creation was finished the Clockmaker went on to another project and left the clock to run on its own. This time period emphasized reason, truth and logic, over emotions stating that “reason is a faculty that properly developed can control unruly passions” (Gordon p3). “The main focus of Neoclassical writers was not the inner workings of the mind as with later Romantic writers, but on the behavior of humankind in general” (Gordon p3). The neoclassic period is also characterized by challenges to established religion, government, and social hierarchy.



External Links concerning Molière

[Theatre Database]

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Works Cited

  • Moliere, in Literature Resource Center. (An introduction to the author's life and works)
  • Moliere, in Literature Online Refereence Edition
  • Molière, in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 268: Seventeenth-Century French Writers. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Françoise Jaouën, Yale University. The Gale Group, 2002, pp. 239-263.
  • “Fabliau.” Columbia Encyclopedia. 2005 edition.

<http://www.encyclopedia.com/htmlfl/fabliau.asp.>

  • Bellinger, Martha. A short history of Drama. New York : Henry Holt and Company,

1927 pp153-157.

<http://www.theatrehistory.com/italian/commedia_dell_arte_001.html>

  • I.R.F. Gordon, Emiertus Angelia Polytechnic University, “Neo-classicism,

Neoclassicism.” The Literary Encyclopedia. 11 Apr. 2005. The Literary Dictionary Company.

<http://litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=767>

  • Seidel, Micheal. “European Authors.” Moliere Vol 3 pages 101-124. Literature Resource Center. GALILEO. Georgia Perimeter College Library, Clarkston,GA.

30 Jan 2006.

<http://www.galileo.usg.edu.>

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