Bitter Comedy: The Life of Molière

Molière, the world-famous classic dramatist, lived, played and wrote three hundred years ago. Son of the court tapestry-maker to Louis XIV of France, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin became an actor, and then, taking the stage-name Molière, himself brought to the stage all the weakness and gaucheness that the tumultuous age set before him every day as France developed a middle class. He depicted the social climber in Les Fâcheux, turned his murderous humour on the hypocrite in Tartuffe, disparaged th...