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 Molière (Jean-Baptiste
Poquelin) was born in Paris on January 15, 1622. His father was
one of eight valets de chambre tapissiers who tended the
king's furniture and upholstery, so the young Poquelin received
every advantage a boy could wish for. He was educated at the
finest schools (the College de Clermont in Paris.) He had access
to the king's court. But even as a child, Molière found
it infinitely more pleasant to poke fun at the aristocracy than
to associate with them. As a young boy, he learned that he could
cause quite a stir by mimicking his mother's priest. His mother,
a deeply religious woman, might have broken the young satirist
of this habit had she not died before he was yet twelve-years-old.
His father soon remarried, but in less than three years, this
wife also passed away. At the age of fifteen, Jean-Baptiste was
left alone with his father and was most likely apprenticed to
his trade.
The boy never showed much of an interest for the business
of upholstering. Fortunately, his father's shop was located near
two important theatrical sites: the Pont-Neuf and the Hôtel
de Bourgogne. At the Pont-Neuf, comedians performed plays and
farces in the street in order to sell patent medicines to the
crowds. Although not traditional theatre in the strictest sense,
the antics of these comic medicine-men brought a smile to Jean-Baptiste's
face on many an afternoon. At the Hôtel de Bourgogne--which
the boy attended with his grandfather--the King's Players performed
more traditional romantic tragedies and broad farces. Apparently,
these two theatrical venues had quite an impact on the young
Poquelin, for in 1643, at the age of twenty-one, he decided to
dedicate his life to the theatre.
Jean-Baptiste had fallen in love with a beautiful red-headed
actress named Madeleine Béjart. Along with Madeleine,
her brother Joseph and sister Genevieve, and about a dozen other
young well-to-do hopefuls, Jean-Baptiste founded a dramatic troupe
called The Illustrious Theater. It was about this time
that he changed his name to Molière, probably to spare
his father the embarrassment of having an actor in the family.
Molière and his companions made their dramatic debut
in a converted tennis court. Although the company was brimming
with enthusiasm, none of them had much experience and when they
began to charge admission, the results proved disastrous. Over
the course of the next two years, the little company appeared
in three different theatres in various parts of Paris, and each
time, they failed miserably. Several of the original members
dropped out of the company during this period. Finally, the seven
remaining actors decided to forget Paris and go on a tour of
the provinces. For the next twelve years, they would travel from
town to town, performing and honing their craft.
It was during this period that Molière began to write
plays for the company. His first important piece, L'Étourdi
or The
Blunderer, followed the escapades of Mascarille, a shrewd
servant who sets about furthering his master's love affair with
a young woman only to have his plans thwarted when the blundering
lover inadvertantly interferes. The five-act piece proved quite
successful, and a number of other works followed. By the spring
of 1658, Molière and his much-improved company decided
to try their luck once more in Paris. When they learned that
the King's brother, the Duke of Anjou, was said to be interested
in supporting a dramatic company which would bear his name, they
immediately set about gaining an introduction to the Court.
On the evening of October 24, 1658, Molière and his
troupe performed for the first time before Louis XIV and his
courtiers in the Guard Room of the old Louvre Palace. They made
a crucial mistake, however, by performing a tragedy (Cornielle's
second-rate Nicoméde) instead of one of their popular
farces. The Court was not impressed. Fortunately Molière,
realizing their blunder, approached the King at the conclusion
of the tragedy and asked permission to perform one of his own
plays, The Love-Sick Doctor. The King granted his request,
and the play was such a success that the little company--which
would thereafter be known as the Troupe de Monsieur--was granted
use of the Hôtel du Petit Bourbon, one of the three most
important theaters in Paris.
The first of Molière's plays to be presented at the
Petit Bourbon was Les Précieuses Ridicules or The Pretentious Ladies which satirized
Madame de Rambouillet, a member of the King's court who had set
herself up as the final judge of taste and culture in Paris.
The play proved so successful that Molière doubled the
price of admission and was invited to give a special performance
for the King. The King was delighted and rewarded the playwright
with a large gift of cash, but Molière had made powerful
enemies of some of the King's followers. Madame de Rambouillet
and her coterie managed to have performances of the play suspended
for fourteen days and, in an attempt to drive Molière
from the city, eventually managed to have the Petit Bourbon closed
down completely. But the King immediately granted Molière
use of the Théâtre du Palais Royal where he would
continue to perform for the rest of his life.
Over the course of the next thirteen years, Molière
worked feverishly to make his company the most respected dramatic
troupe in Paris. (Eventually, they were awarded the coveted title
"Troupe of the King.") He directed his own plays and
often played the leading role himself.
On February 17, 1673, Molière suffered a hemorrhage
while playing the role of the hypochondriac Argan in The Imaginary
Invalid. He had insisted on going through with the performance
in spite of the advice of his wife and friends saying, "There
are fifty poor workers who have only their daily wage to live
on. What will become of them if the performance does not take
place?" He passed away later that night at his home on the
Rue Richelieu. The local priests refused to take his confession,
for actors had no social standing and had been excommunicated
by the church. Nor would they permit him to be buried in holy
ground. Four days later, the King interceded and Molière
was finally buried in the Cemetery Saint Joseph under the cover
of darkness.
Molière left behind a body of work which not only changed
the face of French classical comedy, but has gone on to influence
the work of other dramatists the world over. The greatest of
his plays include The School for Husbands
(1661), The School for Wives
(1662), The Misanthrope (1666),
The
Doctor in Spite of Himself (1666), Tartuffe
(1664,1667,1669), The
Miser (1668), and The Imaginary Invalid (1673).
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