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Drama
Molière
 Jean-Baptiste Poquelin was born
in 1622 in Paris, the eldest of six children, to a highly successful upholstery
and rug merchant, Jean Poquelin, and his wife, Marie. Well-educated in Jesuit
schools, the young Poquelin studied drama, Latin, and other subjects designed
for a privileged student body. He took a law degree and succeeded his father
into the position of royal bedmaker for Ling Louis XIII. Forging an intimate
a relationship with an actress, he quickly moved to work with a theatre troupe
and, in 1643, co-founded the Illustre Théâtre in Paris. After it failed the
following year, he begins thirteen years of provincial touring with acting
troupes, assuming the name Molière in 1645. A decade later he began writing
plays, and in 1659 inaugurated what many at the time viewed as a new kind
of comedy with Les Précieuses ridicules.
In 1662, Molière married a woman
half his age, Armande and wrote one of his most popular plays, The School
for Wives. More than a popular success, The School for Wives,
as critic Hallam Walker describes it, was also a landmark in "theatrical innovation"
and a "bombshell" in inciting religious, philosophical and social controversy.
It proved the cause of significant and varied criticism of Molière: he was
irreligious, obscene, and so on. Nonetheless, he would become a favorite
of King Louis XIV, who offered his stage at Versailles for Molière's theatrical
responses to his critics. This kind of controversy often accompanied his
major plays, particularly Tartuffe, which Molière revised three times
and petitioned the king for permission to have the play produced.
The Flying Doctor, reproduced
in the text, is one of two surviving texts from the beginning of Molière's
career as a dramatist. It and The Jealous Husband were most likely
written between 1646 and 1650, as the young playwright was developing his
craft. Not surprisingly, as many critics note, the plots of both plays imitate
those of many earlier Comedies: those of Plautus and Terence, for example,
Roman playwrights known for their robust and entertaining "knockabout" (that
is, physical) comedies. That is to say, while such later works as The
Misanthrope and Tartuffe are most often remembered as sharp social
satires, these earlier plays—and many of Molière's one-act plays—offer broad
entertainment achieved, at least in part, by sight gags and the physical dexterity
of the actors. The Flying Doctor demonstrates both of these characteristics.
Illness and marital tensions also
marked Molière's life in the later 1660s, although by 1672 he and his wife
were reconciled. Their son was born in the same year. In 1673, Molière was
locked in a rivalry for royal favor with opera producer Jean-Baptiste Lully,
who ultimately won royal favor. That same year, Molière was forced to stage
The Imaginary Invalid in Paris, not at court, and while acting in the
fourth performance of the play he became gravely ill. Finishing the performance,
he returned home and was dead within an hour, leaving a legacy of brilliant
social comedy and satire for future generations.
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Selected Bibliography of Molière's Work
Les Amants magnifiques, 1670
L'Amour médecin, 1665
Amphitryon, 1667.
L'Avare [The Miser], 1668
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, 1670
La Comtesse d'Escarbagnas, 1672
La Critique de L'École des femmes, 1663
Dépit Amoureux, 1658?
Dom Garcie de Navarre ou Le Prince jaloux, 1661
Dom Juan, 1665
L'École des femmes [The School for Wives], 1662
L'École des maris [The School for Husbands], 1661
L'Étourdi ou les Contretemps, 1658
Les Fâcheux [The Nuisances], 1661
Les Femmes Savants, 1672
Les Fourberies de Scapin, [The Scams of Scapin], 1671
George Dandin ou le mari confondu, 1668
L'Imposteur (version of Tartuffe), 1667
L'Impromptu de Versailles, 1663
La Jalousie du Barbouillé [The Jealous Husband], 1646-1650
Le Malade imaginaire [The Imaginary Invalid], 1673
Le Mariage forcé [The Forced Marriage], 1664
Le Médecin malgré lui, [The Doctor in Spite of Himself], 1666
Le Médecin volant [The Flying Doctor], 1646-1650
Le Misanthrope, 1666
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, 1669
Les Précieuses ridicules [Two Precious Maidens Ridiculed], 1659
La Princesse d'Élide, 1664
Sganarelle ou Le Cocu imaginaire [Sganarelle, or The Imaginary Cuckold], 1660
Tartuffe, 1664 [1669, first performance of the third version of the play]
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Further Reading About Moliere and his Work
Biography and Social History
Bray, René. Molière: homme de théâtre. Paris: Mercure de France, 1954.
Chatfield-Taylor, Hobart. Molière: A Biography. New York: Duffield, 1906.
Chevally, Sylvie. Molière en son temps 1622-1673. Paris: Éditions Minkoff, 1973.
Matthews, Brander. Molière: His Life and Works. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1916.
Scott, Virginia. Molière: A Theatrical Life. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000.
Criticism
Bermel, Albert. Molière's Theatrical Bounty: A New View of the Plays. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1990.
Calder, Andrew. Molière: The Theory and Practice of Comedy. London: Athlone, 1993.
Carmody, James Patrick. Rereading Molière: Mise en Scène from Antoine to Vitez. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1993.
Dock, Stephen V. Costumer and Fashion in the Plays of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière: A Seventeenth-Century Perspective. Geneva: Slatkine, 1992.
Knutson, Harold C. Molière: An Archetypal Approach. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1976.
______________. The Triumph of Wit: Molière and Restoration Comedy. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 1988.
Lalande, Roxanne Decker. Intruders in the Play World: The Dynamics of Gender in Molière's Comedies. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 1996.
Norman, Larry F. The Public Mirror: Molière and the Social Commerce of Depiction. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1999.
Spingler, Michael, ed. Molière Today. Amsterdam: Harwood, 1997.
Walker, Hallam. Molière, Updated Edition. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990.
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