"L’Impromptu de Versailles" is Jean Baptist Moliere’s comedy which belongs to the Classicism, a literary movement well developed in France. The work was published after Moliere’s death in 1682.The comedy describes the French society of those days in a humoristic and satirical way. Moliere uses it as a weapon against the critics who were his enemies. He was inspired by reality, … [Read more...]
Moliere
Jean-Baptiste Poqelin Moliere was born in 1622 and is one of the most famous French comedy writers, next to Corneille and Racine. He is the best writer of the golden era in French playwriting that reached it’s peak in the 17th century.
Except for being a writer Moliere was also a screenwriter and contributed to the development of the humoristic satire.
He was going to become a lawyer but he gave up on that and decided to dedicate his life to the theater where he worked as an actor, writer, director till the rest of his life.
He wrote 33 comedies. Some of them were in verse and some of them were in prose and they are believed to be the mirror of the French society in the 17th century. Moliere always tried to give a detailed description of the social layers and their characteristics. He was judgmental and laughed out everything that wasn’t in harmony with the nature that he believed was the symbol of intellect.
His most famous comedies are: "The School for Husbands", "Tartuffe", "The Misanthrope", "Don Juan" …
He wanted to write tragedies but he became famous for his burlesques that were performed after the tragedies. Later on, he dedicated himself to writing musical comedies.
He suffered from tuberculosis and just a few hours after he coughed blood on stage he died on February 17th, 1673 in Paris.
The Miser
"The Miser" is one of the most famous and performed comedies by Moliere. It was the peak of the worldwide drama making and an inspiration for many other writers.The theme and the main inspiration of the work emerged from one of the capital human diseases - greed and miserliness. Miserliness is a theme that could be discussed in aspects of all social layers and times because it was a … [Read more...]
Tartuffe
The time in which Moliere made his famous works was classicism. It started in the mid 17th century and lasted until the end of the 18th and it was strongly developed in France. The authors paid close attention to the form, content and style of writing and all of those characteristic were inherited from the ancient writers. Human was in the center and his psychology was studied and … [Read more...]
The Imaginary Invalid
"The Imaginary Invalid" is a comedy-ballet by Jean Baptist Moliere in three acts. The work has the characteristics of an opera and a play and it was very popular during the reign of Louise XVI., and it was often preformed in his castle. The performances were great spectacles in which the text would intertwine with dancing and fireworks.This work is one of the best known comedies of … [Read more...]
The Misanthrope
Moliere’s work "The Misanthrope" talks about the sincerity of human’s emotions. In a world where honesty is a virtue but also an illusion everything is based on corruption, lies, money and the author wants to make us believe those who speak the truth.Moliere deeply believes that only on truth can one base his life. Alcesle did not understand that the social life demanded compromise … [Read more...]