MOLIERE THEMATICS AND REPERCUSSIONS
“I want to be distinguished from the rest; to tell the truth, a friend to all mankind is not a friend for me.”- Moliere
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin known by his stage name Moliere (January 15, 1622 – February 17, 1673) was an actor/director/playwright that was strongly influenced by Commedia dell'arte, a form of theatre (comedy through the art of improvisation) that began in Italy in the mid-16th century. Despite his preference for tragic plays; he was famous for his farces “<coursesindrama.com>”. His plays were based on actual people he met during his lifetime, but he would alter the characters from the actual individual by exaggerating them for the sake of comedy. The author was also very conscience of the characters he was writing due to the fact not only was he writing them in the play but also fine tuning it since he wrote it for specific actors in his troupe and only he knew what his actors can pull off on stage.
Although Moliere plays are filled warmth, generosity, and exuberance which created many admirers, during his time still managed to ruffle abundant feathers equally. He repeatedly was being accused of attacking the Catholic Church, and had troupe competitors always finding something to criticize about his work. In spite of all the criticism, Moliere continued writing, acting, and directing some brilliant work, transcending to great heights regardless of obstacles surrounding him and his troupe. There were three plays in particular that gained recognition and criticism equally which were School for Wives and Tartuffe. These works were highly regarded with great admiration but also suffered much bad publicity. This paper will discuss while analyzing two different plays and themes for each one and discover why those themes produced so much anger within the community to the point of censorship.
“It is a strange enterprise to make respectable people laugh.” La Critique de L'Ecole des Femmes - Moliere...