The world famous writer - the father of the classic comedy Molière - was born in France (Paris) in 1622. Read below short biography Jean-Baptiste Molière to form an opinion about the life and work of the writer.
Jean-Baptiste's father belonged to a very interesting profession - he glued wallpaper at court, was a decorator, and even the valet of Louis XIII himself. His mother died when his son was only ten years old, and he stayed with his father, who fervently hoped that Jean-Baptiste would continue family tradition.
The boy at that time received an excellent education, studied at the Jesuit College (Clermont), perfectly comprehended Latin, and also, according to some information, studied the basics of jurisprudence.
Undoubtedly, such knowledge could make it possible to build a great career, but the young Moliere decided to put the theater in the first place in his life. In his early twenties, he was already immersed in theatrical art, and in 1643 he laid the foundation of the Brilliant Theater, which, however, experienced bankruptcy after only two years. Jean-Baptiste fell heavily in debt in connection with this course of events, and for some time he was even taken under arrest. Unfortunately, there are "dark spots" in the biography of Jean-Baptiste Moliere, so it is not known for certain who paid the debt - his father or one of the members of the troupe, but after a short time, Jean-Baptiste was released from prison.
In those days in France, being an actor was not fashionable, and even somewhat despised by society, so Jean-Baptiste decided not to put his father in an unsightly light. He took the pseudonym Molière.
After leaving prison, Moliere went on tour - he actively, for 12 years, gave theatrical performances and performances, traveling around the country. In the end, the success of the troupe attracted the attention of an important person - they were patronized by Philippe d'Orleans. A little later, Moliere returned to Paris, and the troupe played in front of the king. IN creative biography Jean-Baptiste Molière is interested in the fact that in 1659 the public saw the comedy "The Funny Pretenders", for which the troupe was provided with the Petit Bourbon Theater. Although the comedy caused a lot of talk and offended the ladies of the time, it went on to become a huge success. Since that time, the fame and glory of Molière has grown more and more.
In 1662, after Moliere moved to the Palais-Royal theater, he entered into a legal marriage with Armande. Their marriage gave rise to many rumors, since the origin of the girl was not completely known. This marriage caused such a strong resonance in society that even some of Moliere's friends were hostile. It was rumored that his wife was actually the daughter of an actor. However, the king still showed favor to Jean-Baptiste and in every possible way protected him from the attacks of either the church or representatives of the upper strata of society. Despite this, some of Molière's plays were banned.
In 1672, Moliere felt that his health had deteriorated greatly, and although he began to work less, in his literary biography at that time, such works as “Scientific Women”, “Tricks of Scapien”, “Imaginary Sick” appear. At the performance of the last play, Molière, who himself was an actor in it, had an attack, accompanied by a strong cough and bleeding - this made itself felt by pulmonary tuberculosis. It is believed that Jean-Baptiste acquired this disease in his youth while in prison. Although the king was determined to stop the performance, Molière decided to play to the end. As a result, the actor was overtaken by a second attack, which he could not stand.
Due to the ban on burying actors in the cemetery, which was in force at that time, Molière, despite the efforts of the king, could not be buried as expected. It turned out only to ensure that the great actor was buried in that part of the cemetery that was reserved for unbaptized children. Many years later, in 1817, he was reburied in Paris, at the cemetery in Père Lachaise.
Only preference in us will aggravate feelings;
And he who loves everyone loves no one.
But since you like the vices of our days,
You, damn it, are not one of my people.
That heart, which is equally indifferent to everyone,
It's too spacious and I don't need it.
I want to be excellent - and I'll tell you straight:
Who is a common friend for all, that I do not value!
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born in Paris on January 15, 1622. His father, a bourgeois, court upholsterer, did not even think about giving his son any great education, and by the age of fourteen the future playwright had barely learned to read and write. The parents ensured that their court position passed to their son, but the boy showed extraordinary abilities and a stubborn desire to learn, his father's craft did not attract him. At the insistence of his grandfather, Poquelin the father, with great reluctance, sent his son to a Jesuit college. Here, for five years, Molière successfully studied the course of sciences. He was fortunate to have as one of his teachers the famous philosopher Gassendi, who introduced him to the teachings of Epicurus. It is said that Molière translated Lucretius's poem "On the Nature of Things" into French (this translation has not been preserved, and there is no evidence of the authenticity of this legend; only sound materialistic philosophy, which comes through in all the works of Moliere, can serve as evidence).
Since childhood, Molière has been fascinated by the theater. The theater was his dearest dream. After graduating from the Clermont College, having fulfilled all the obligations for the formal completion of education and having received a law degree in Orleans, Moliere hastened to form a troupe of actors from several friends and like-minded people and open the Brilliant Theater in Paris.
Molière had not yet thought about independent dramatic work. He wanted to be an actor, and an actor of a tragic role, at the same time he took on his pseudonym - Molière. Some of the actors have already had this name before him.
That was an early time in the history of the French theatre. Only recently has a permanent troupe of actors appeared in Paris, inspired by the dramatic genius of Corneille, as well as the patronage of Cardinal Richelieu, who himself was not averse to sprinkling tragedies.
The undertakings of Molière and his comrades, their youthful enthusiasm, were not crowned with success. The theater had to close. Molière joined a troupe of itinerant comedians, which had been traveling around the cities of France since 1646. She could be seen in Nantes, Limoges, Bordeaux, Toulouse. In 1650, Molière and his companions performed at Narbonne.
Wanderings around the country enrich Molière with life observations. He studies the customs of various classes, hears the living speech of the people. In 1653, in Lyon, he staged one of his first plays, Madcap.
The talent of the playwright was revealed in him unexpectedly. He never dreamed of independent literary work and took up the pen, forced by the poverty of the repertoire of his troupe. At first, he only reworked Italian farces, adapting them to French conditions, then he began to move more and more away from Italian models, bolder to introduce an original element into them, and, finally, completely discarded them for the sake of independent creativity.
Thus was born the best comedian in France. He was a little over thirty years old. “Before this age, it is difficult to achieve anything in the dramatic genre, which requires knowledge of both the world and the human heart,” wrote Voltaire.
In 1658 Molière was again in Paris; this is already an experienced actor, playwright, a person who has known the world in all its reality. The performance of the Moliere troupe in Versailles in front of the royal court was a success. The troupe was left in the capital. Molière's theater first settled in the Petit Bourbon, performing three times a week (the other days the stage was occupied by the Italian theater).
In 1660, Moliere received a stage in the hall of the Palais Royal, built during the reign of Richelieu for one of the tragedies, part of which was written by the cardinal himself. The premises did not at all meet all the requirements of the theater - however, France then did not have the best. Even a century later, Voltaire complained: “We do not have a single tolerable theater - truly Gothic barbarism, of which the Italians rightly accuse us. There are good plays in France, and good theater halls in Italy.”
For fourteen years of his creative life in Paris, Moliere created everything that was included in his rich literary heritage(more than thirty pieces). His gift unfolded in all its splendor. He was patronized by the king, who, however, was far from understanding what a treasure in the person of Molière France possesses. Once, in a conversation with Boileau, the king asked who would glorify his reign, and was not a little surprised by the answer of a strict critic that this would be achieved by a playwright who called himself Molière.
The playwright had to fight off numerous enemies who were by no means occupied with questions of literature. Behind them hid more powerful opponents, hurt by the satirical arrows of Molière's comedies; the enemies invented and spread the most incredible rumors about a man who was the pride of the people.
Molière died suddenly, at the age of fifty-two. Once, during the performance of his play “The Imaginary Sick”, in which a seriously ill playwright played leading role, he felt unwell and died a few hours after the end of the performance (February 17, 1673). The Archbishop of Paris Harley de Chanvallon forbade the body of the “comedian” and “unrepentant sinner” to be buried in Christian rites (Molière did not have time to unction, as required by the church charter). A crowd of fanatics gathered near the house of the deceased playwright, trying to prevent the burial. The playwright's widow threw money out the window to get rid of the insulting interference of the crowd excited by the churchmen. Molière was buried at night in the Saint-Joseph cemetery. Boileau responded to the death of the great playwright with poems, telling in them about the atmosphere of hostility and persecution in which Molière lived and worked.
In the preface to his comedy Tartuffe, Molière, defending the right of the playwright, in particular the comedian, to interfere in public life, the right to depict vices for the sake of educational purposes, wrote: "The theater has great corrective power." "The best examples of serious morality are usually less powerful than satire ... We inflict a heavy blow on vices, exposing them to public ridicule."
Here Moliere defines the meaning of the purpose of the comedy: "It is nothing but a witty poem, exposing human shortcomings with entertaining teachings."
So, according to Molière, comedy faces two tasks. The first and foremost is to teach people, the second and secondary is to entertain them. If comedy is stripped of its instructive element, it becomes empty gibberish; if its entertaining functions are taken away from it, it will cease to be a comedy and moralizing goals will not be achieved either. In short, "the duty of comedy is to correct people by amusing them."
The playwright was well aware of the social significance of his satirical art. Everyone should serve people according to their talents. Everyone should contribute to the public welfare, but each does this according to his personal inclinations and talents. In the comedy "The Funny Cossacks," Moliere hinted very transparently at what kind of theater he liked.
Moliere considers naturalness and simplicity to be the main advantages of acting. Let us present the reasoning of the negative character of Mascarille's play. “Only the comedians of the Burgundy Hotel are able to show the goods with their faces,” says Mascarille. The troupe of the Burgundy Hotel was the royal troupe of Paris and, therefore, was recognized as the first. But Moliere did not accept her theatrical system, condemning the "stage effects" of the actors of the Burgundy Hotel, who could only "recite loudly."
“All the rest are ignoramuses, they read poetry as they say,” Mascaril develops his theory. These "others" include the theater of Molière. The playwright put the talk of the Parisian theatrical conservatives into the mouth of Mascarille, who were shocked by the simplicity and routine of the stage embodiment of the author's text in Molière's theater. However, according to the deep conviction of the playwright, it is necessary to read poetry exactly “as they say”: simply, naturally; and the dramatic material itself, according to Molière, must be truthful, modern language- realistic.
Moliere's thought was right, but he failed to convince his contemporaries. Racine did not want to stage his tragedies in Moliere's theater precisely because the method of stage disclosure of the author's text by the actors was too natural.
In the 18th century, Voltaire, and after him Diderot, Mercier, Sedin, Beaumarchais fought stubbornly against the pomposity and unnaturalness of the classic theater. But the enlighteners of the 18th century did not succeed either. Classical theater still adhered to the old forms. In the 19th century, romantics and realists opposed these forms.
Molière's attraction to stage truth in its realistic interpretation is very obvious, and only time, tastes and concepts of the century did not allow him to develop his talent with Shakespearean breadth.
Interesting judgments about essence theatrical art Molière says in Critique of the Lesson for Wives. Theater is “a mirror of society,” he says. The playwright compares comedy with tragedy. Obviously, already in his time, the grandiloquent classic tragedy began to bore the audience. One of the characters of the named play by Moliere declares: “on the presentation of great works - a terrifying emptiness, on nonsense (meaning Moliere’s comedies) - all of Paris.”
Molière criticizes the classic tragedy for its isolation from the present, for the sketchiness of its stage images, for the far-fetched provisions. In his day, no attention was paid to this criticism of tragedy, meanwhile, in it the future anti-classicist program was lurking, which was put forward by the French enlighteners in the second half of the 18th century (Didro, Beaumarchais) and the French romantics of the first half of XIX century.
Before us are realistic principles, as they could be conceived in the time of Molière. True, the playwright believed that “working from nature”, “resemblance” to life are necessary mainly in the comedy genre and do not go beyond it: “Depicting people, you write from nature. Their portraits should be similar, and you have achieved nothing if people of your age are not recognized in them.
Moliere also expresses conjectures about the legitimacy of a kind of mixture of serious and comic elements in the theater, which, in the opinion of his contemporaries and even subsequent generations, until the war of romantics with classicists in the 19th century, was considered unacceptable.
In short, Molière paves the way for the coming literary battles; but we would sin against the truth if we declared him the herald of the theatrical reform. Moliere's ideas about the tasks of comedy do not go beyond the circle of classic aesthetics. The task of comedy, as he imagined it, was "to give on the stage a pleasing portrayal of common defects." He shows here the classicists' inclination towards rationalistic abstraction of types.
Molière does not object at all to the classicist rules, seeing in them a manifestation of "common sense", "unconstrained observations of sensible people on how not to spoil their pleasure from this kind of play." It was not the ancient Greeks who suggested to modern peoples the unity of time, place and action, but sound human logic, argues Molière.
In a little theatrical joke "The Versailles Impromptu" (1663), Moliere showed his troupe preparing the next performance. Actors talk about the principles of the game. We are talking about the theater of the Burgundy hotel.
Comedy's job is to "accurately depict human imperfections," he says, but comedic characters are not portraits. It is impossible to create a character that does not resemble someone around, but "you have to be crazy to look for your doubles in a comedy," says Molière. The playwright clearly hints at the collectivity artistic image, saying that the features of a comedic character "can be seen in hundreds of different faces."
All these true thoughts, thrown in passing, will later find their place in the system of realistic aesthetics.
Molière was born for the realistic theatre. The sober materialistic philosophy of Lucretius, which he studied in his youth, and rich life observations during the years of wandering life prepared him for a realistic warehouse of creativity. The drama school of his time left its mark on him, but Molière kept breaking the shackles of the classicist canons.
The main difference between the classical system and the realistic methods of Shakespeare is manifested in the method of character building. The scenic character of the classicists is predominantly one-sided, static, without contradictions and development. It is a character-idea, it is as wide as the idea embedded in it requires. The author's tendentiousness manifests itself quite straightforwardly and nakedly. Talented playwrights - Corneille, Racine, Moliere - were able to be truthful within the limits and narrow tendentiousness of the image, but the normative aesthetics of classicism still limited their creative possibilities. They did not reach the heights of Shakespeare, and not because they lacked talent, but because their talents often conflicted with established aesthetic norms and retreated before them. Molière, who worked on the comedy Don Juan hastily, not intending it for a long stage life, allowed himself to violate this basic law of classicism (the static and one-linear image), he wrote, in accordance not with theory, but with life and his author's understanding, and created a masterpiece, a drama in the highest degree realistic.
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin was a French comedian of the 17th century, the creator of classical comedy, who gained popularity under the theatrical pseudonym Molière. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin was born on January 15, 1622, in Paris, the capital of France.
The head of the family, Jean Poquelin, and both grandfathers of the playwright were upholsterers. Judging by the fact that the writer's father bought himself the position of royal upholsterer and valet of the king, he had no problems with finances. Mother, Marie Cresset, died of tuberculosis at a young age.
Jean Poquelin saw in the first-born the successor to his court position and even ensured that the king officially assigned him a place. Since this business did not require special education, Jean-Baptiste had barely learned to read and write by the age of fourteen. However, the grandfather insisted that the grandson be sent to the Clermont Jesuit College.
At that time it was the best educational institution in Paris, which taught ancient languages, natural sciences, philosophy, as well as Latin literature. This knowledge was enough for the future author of the comedy "The Misanthrope" to read Plautus and Terentius in the original and make a verse translation of Lucretius's poem "On the Nature of Things".
He received a teacher's diploma, having the right to lecture. From the biography of the writer it is known that in his life there was also the experience of speaking in court as a lawyer. As a result, Moliere did not become either a lawyer or a court upholsterer.
Having renounced the rights to his father's position and taking his share from his mother's inheritance, he went on about the desire to become a tragic actor and began to master the acting path. Just at that time, the theater was moving from street stages to the stages of luxurious halls, turning from fun for the common people into exquisite entertainment and philosophical instruction for aristocrats, abandoning hastily concocted farces in favor of high literature.
Together with several actors, Jean-Baptiste created his own theater, which, without doubting its success, he called "Brilliant", took the pseudonym Moliere and began to try himself in tragic roles. It is worth noting that the "Brilliant Theater" did not last long, unable to withstand competition with professional Parisian troupes. The most persistent enthusiasts, together with Moliere, decided to try their luck in the provinces.
During thirteen years of wanderings throughout France (1646-1658), Moliere retrained from a tragedian to a comedian, since it was the farcical performances that the provincial public then liked. In addition, the need to constantly update the repertoire forced Moliere to take up the pen in order to compose plays himself. So Jean-Baptiste, who dreamed of playing the main characters in performances, involuntarily became a comedian.
Molière's first original play was the comedy Le ludicrous cockerels staged in Paris in November 1659. The success was overwhelming and scandalous. Then came the comedy "School of Husbands" (1661) - about the methods of educating young girls, and the work "School of Wives" (1662). Next comedies- "Tartuffe, or the Deceiver" (1664), "Don Juan, or the Stone Guest" (1665) and "The Misanthrope" (1666) - are considered the pinnacles of Moliere's work.
Three ways of understanding the world are expressed in the image of the main characters of the works: the saintly Tartuffe, who believes that for any sins there is an excuse for good intentions, the atheist Don Juan, who challenges the heavens and dies under lamentations from the tenacious hand of the Stone Guest, and Alceste, who does not recognize his vices and weaknesses.
All these three comedies, which gave the author literary immortality, brought him nothing but trouble in life. "Tartuffe" after the first performances was banned due to the fact that believers saw in the mockery of the religious hypocrisy of Tartuffe attacks on the church.
Molière's book of comedies It is known that the archbishop of Paris even threatened his flock with excommunication for any attempt to get acquainted with comedy, and a couple of priests even offered to burn the sacrilegious author at the stake. Even the king was careful not to interfere in this matter, preferring to support Moliere behind the scenes. Comedy did not appear on the scene for five years, until the social regulations softened a little.
"Misanthrope" was also not accepted by the public. In Alceste, the audience saw a reflection of the gloomy state of mind of the author himself, who was correlated with the main character. There were reasons for this. At that time, Molière had a black streak in his life. Not having lived even a year, his son died, and conflicts began with Armanda, who entered the theater and was intoxicated with her first stage successes and victories.
"Don Giovanni" was written by Jean-Baptiste after the prohibition of "Tartuffe" in order to feed the troupe, but an unpleasant story happened to him. After the fifteenth performance, despite the resounding success with the public, the play suddenly disappeared from the stage.
After Tartuffe, Molière aroused increased attention among the Jesuit order, and, perhaps, here, too, it could not have done without his intervention. The king, in order to save the Molière theater, raised it in rank, giving the name "Actors of the King", and the troupe began to pay salaries from the treasury.
It should be noted that Molière's creative audacity (the so-called "innovation") was far ahead of the evolution of aesthetic and ethical norms, and his artistic looseness, which he called "charming naturalness", at that time bordered on a violation of moral standards.
In total, Molière left 29 comedies, some of them were written on the occasion of court festivities - The Princess of Elis (1664), Monsieur de Poursonac (1669), The Brilliant Lovers (1670).
Some creations belong to the genre of family comedies, such as Georges Danden, or the Fooled Husband, Reluctant Marriage, Miser, Scapin's Dodgers, Learned Women. The last significant works of Molière - "The Bourgeois Man in the Nobility" (1670) and "The Imaginary Sick" (1673) - were written as comedies-ballets.
The first and only wife of Molière was the sister of his former mistress Madeleine Véjart, Armande, who was half the age of the playwright. Evil tongues claimed that Armande was not a sister, but the daughter of Madeleine, and condemned the "immorality" of Jean-Baptiste, who married his child.
According to the memoirs of his contemporaries, as is often the case with writers of the comedy genre, Moliere was prone to melancholy, easily broke out and was often jealous of the chosen one. It is known that the author of the work "The tradesman in the nobility" entered into marriage at an advanced age, while Armande was young, charming and flirtatious.
Among other things, this simple story aggravated by gossip and Oedipal allusions. The king put an end to everything. , who at that time was in love with Mademoiselle Louise de La Vallière, and therefore generous and broad-minded.
The autocrat took the freethinker under the protection of the play and, in addition, agreed to become the godfather of the firstborn of Moliere and Armande, which was more eloquent than any decree on the immunity of the creator. It is known that the writer's son died a year after birth.
Moliere preferred to perform the main roles in the performances of his theater troupe himself, not trusting them to other actors. On his last day of life, February 17, 1673, Jean-Baptiste also took the stage to play for the fourth time in the play "Imaginary Sick". Right during the performance, the playwright became ill. Relatives carried the writer coughing blood home, where he died a couple of hours later.
It is known that the Archbishop of Paris at first forbade the burial of Molière, since the artist was a great sinner and had to repent before his death. The intervention of King Louis XIV helped to correct the situation.
The burial ceremony of the eminent comedian took place at night. The grave was located behind the fence of the cemetery of the Church of St. Joseph, where, according to tradition, suicides and unbaptized children were buried. Later, the remains of Jean-Baptiste Moliere were reburied with great reverence and pomp in the Pere Lachaise cemetery. The creative heritage of the founder of the comedy genre has been preserved in books containing a collection of his the best works.
In 2007, director Laurent Tirard made the film Molière, which is based on the life story of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin. In addition, at different times such works of the writer as "The Miser", "Tartuffe, or the Deceiver", "School of Wives" and "Don Juan, or the Stone Feast" were filmed.
In September 2017, at the Lenkom Theater, the premiere of the play “The Dreams of Monsieur de Molière” based on the play “The Cabal of the Hypocrites”, the run of which was back in July, took place. It is known that Jean-Baptiste was played by an actor.
Leading roles in the performances of his theater troupe molière preferred to perform himself, not trusting them to other actors. And on his last day, February 17, 1671, he played in the play "The Imaginary Sick". However, unlike his character, Molière was not ill at all imaginary. Back in December last year, he began to cough, sometimes he experienced dizziness and severe weakness. And in the play, he portrayed a healthy person suffering from the fear of death.
That evening, wandering nuns asked for shelter at Molière's house for the night. While Molière prepared to leave for the theatre, they sang their psalms, preventing him from concentrating. Shortly before leaving, the Baron, a pupil of Molière and an actor, dropped by. He expressed doubt: is it worth it to go on stage in such a state. But, as the biographer writes, Molière "could not deprive the workers of their daily wages, the public - the pleasure they expected, and most importantly, he could not resist the call of the stage, which he never betrayed ...
And then the curtain rose again in the Palais Royal theater, and again sonorous voices, music, dances, as if by magic, transformed the gloomy walls of the old hall, where the shadow of old Richelieu still seemed to hover, and irrepressible fun, like sunlight, spilled over on people's faces.
Doctors in black caps and apothecaries with clysters in their hands danced around Argan, initiating him as a doctor, and, overcoming pain, Moliere cheerfully shouted back to them the words of an absurd oath, composed of a funny gibberish of Latin and French words.
Twice Argan swore allegiance to the medical "faculty". It was time for the third oath, and suddenly, instead of answering, Molière groaned and fell into an armchair, but immediately, overcoming terrible pain, he laughed and shouted: "Yuro!"
He did not hear the friendly applause with which the audience saw off the pharmacists and doctors from the stage, who ended this cheerful performance with a dashing dance. Wrapped up and hushed, with his hands thrust into the Baron's elegant muff, he sat in a sedan chair, which porters quickly carried towards his house.
Molière was put to bed. They sent for a doctor and a priest. Not a single doctor, not a single priest came to the dying man. At his request, a pillow with hops was brought to him.
I love everything that should not be taken orally, but I am afraid of drugs. Why should I ruin the rest of my life? He coughed up blood.
Don't worry, it's been worse. Just go get your wife. Let him come. Something dark. Would like more parmesan cheese.
The nuns fussed and helped the patient as best they could. While they were carrying candles and looking for cheese, he died. The blood gushing from his throat flooded the bed and the body of the dying man.
When Armande and her daughter entered the bedroom, they no longer found him alive. The nuns sadly sang psalms. Lying on his blood-red bed, Molière seemed as calm and peaceful as ever.
It remains to be added that the church did not allow Moliere to be buried according to the Christian rite, and the intervention of the king himself was required. Louis XIV so that the body of the playwright and actor will calm down in the cemetery of St. Joseph, where suicides and unbaptized children were buried.
fr. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin , theater pseudonym - Molière , fr. Moliere
French comedian of the 17th century, creator of classical comedy, actor by profession and director of the theater, better known as the troupe of Molière
molière(real name - Jean Baptiste Poquelin) - an outstanding French comedian, theatrical figure, actor, stage art reformer, creator of classic comedy - was born in Paris. It is known that he was baptized on January 15, 1622. His father was a royal upholsterer and valet, the family lived very well. From 1636, Jean Baptiste was educated at the prestigious educational institution- Jesuit Clermont College, in 1639, upon graduation, he became a licentiate of rights, but preferred the theater to the work of an artisan or lawyer.
In 1643 Molière was the organizer of the "Brilliant Theatre". The first documentary mention of his pseudonym dates back to January 1644. The troupe’s business, despite the name, was far from brilliant, due to debts in 1645. Molière even went to prison twice, and the actors had to leave the capital to tour the provinces for twelve years. Due to problems with the repertoire of the Brilliant Theater, Jean Baptiste began to compose plays himself. This period of his biography served as an excellent school of life, turning him into an excellent director and actor, an experienced administrator, and prepared him for future resounding success as a playwright.
The troupe, which returned to the capital in 1656, performed at the Royal Theater the play The Doctor in Love based on Molière's play to Louis XIV, who was delighted with it. After that, the troupe played until 1661 in the Petit-Bourbon court theater provided by the monarch (subsequently, until the death of the comedian, the Palais-Royal theater was its place of work). The comedy The Funny Pretenders, staged in 1659, was the first success with the general public.
After the position of Molière in Paris was established, a period of intensive dramaturgical, directorial work begins, which will last until his death. For a decade and a half (1658-1673) Moliere wrote plays that are considered the best in his creative legacy. The turning point was the comedies The School for Husbands (1661) and The School for Wives (1662), which demonstrate the author's departure from farce and his turn to socio-psychological comedies of education.
Molière's plays were a resounding success with the public, with rare exceptions - when the works became the object of severe criticism of certain social groups that were hostile to the author. This was due to the fact that Moliere, who had almost never resorted to social satire before, in his mature works created images of representatives of the upper strata of society, attacking their vices with all the power of his talent. In particular, after the appearance of "Tartuffe" in 1663, a loud scandal erupted in society. The influential "Society of Holy Gifts" banned the play. And only in 1669, when reconciliation came between Louis XIV and the Church, the comedy saw the light, while in the first year the performance was shown more than 60 times. The staging of Don Juan in 1663 also caused a huge resonance, but due to the efforts of the enemies, Molière's creation was no longer staged during his lifetime.
As his fame grew, he became closer to the court and increasingly put on plays specially timed to coincide with court holidays, turning them into grandiose shows. The playwright was the founder of a special theatrical genre - comedy-ballet.
In February 1673, Moliere's troupe staged The Imaginary Sick, in which he played the main role, despite the ailment that tormented him (most likely, he suffered from tuberculosis). Right at the performance, he lost consciousness and on the night of February 17-18 he died without confession and repentance. The funeral according to religious canons took place only thanks to the petition of his widow to the monarch. So that a scandal would not break out, the outstanding playwright was buried at night.
Molière is credited with creating the classic comedy genre. In the Comédie Française alone, based on the plays by Jean Baptiste Poquelin, more than thirty thousand performances were shown. Until now, his immortal comedies are “The Tradesman in the Nobility”, “The Miser”, “The Misanthrope”, “The School of Wives”, “The Imaginary Sick”, “The Tricks of Scapen” and many others. others - are included in the repertoire of various theaters of the world, without losing their relevance and causing applause.
(French Jean-Baptiste Poquelin), stage name - Molière (French Molière; January 15, 1622, Paris - February 17, 1673, ibid.) - French comedian of the 17th century, creator of classical comedy, actor and theater director by profession, better known as the troupe of Moliere (Troupe de Molière, 1643-1680).
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin came from an old bourgeois family, for several centuries engaged in the craft of upholsterers and draperies. Jean-Baptiste's mother, Marie Poquelin-Cressé (d. May 11, 1632), died of tuberculosis, father, Jean Poquelin (1595-1669), was a court upholsterer and valet of Louis XIII and sent his son to the prestigious Jesuit school - Clermont College (now Lyceum of Louis the Great in Paris), where Jean-Baptiste thoroughly studied Latin, therefore he freely read Roman authors in the original and even, according to legend, translated Lucretius's philosophical poem "On the Nature of Things" into French (the translation is lost). After graduating from college in 1639, Jean-Baptiste passed the exam in Orleans for the title of licentiate in law.
A legal career attracted him no more than his father's craft, and Jean-Baptiste chose the profession of an actor, taking a theatrical pseudonym molière. After meeting comedians Joseph and Madeleine Béjart, at the age of 21, Moliere became the head of the Brilliant Theater ( Illustre Theater), a new Parisian troupe of 10 actors, registered by a metropolitan notary on June 30, 1643. Having entered into fierce competition with the troupes of the Burgundy Hotel and the Marais, already popular in Paris, the Brilliant Theater loses in 1645. Molière and his fellow actors decide to seek their fortune in the provinces by joining a troupe of itinerant comedians led by Dufresne.
Molière's wanderings in the French provinces for 13 years (1645-1658) in the years civil war(Fronde) enriched him with worldly and theatrical experience.
Since 1645, Molière and his friends come to Dufresne, and in 1650 he leads the troupe. The repertory hunger of Molière's troupe was the impetus for the beginning of his dramatic work. So the years of Molière's theatrical studies became the years of his author's works. Many farcical scenarios he composed in the provinces have disappeared. Only the pieces "Jealousy of Barboulier" have survived ( La jalousie du Barbouille) and "Flying Doctor" ( Le medecin volant), whose belonging to Molière is not entirely reliable. The titles of a number of similar plays played by Moliere in Paris after his return from the provinces are also known (“Gros-Rene schoolboy”, “Doctor-pedant”, “Gorgibus in a bag”, “Plan-plan”, “Three Doctors”, “Kazakin” , “The feigned goof”, “The brushwood binder”), and these titles echo the situations of Moliere’s later farces (for example, “Gorgibus in a sack” and “Scapin's Tricks”, d. III, sc. II). These plays testify to the influence of the old farce tradition on the mainstream comedies of his adulthood.
The farcical repertoire performed by Moliere's troupe under his direction and with his participation as an actor contributed to the strengthening of its reputation. It increased even more after Molière composed two great comedies in verse - "Naughty, or Everything out of place" ( L'Étourdi ou les Contretemps, 1655) and Love Annoyance ( Le depit amoureux, 1656), written in the manner of Italian literary comedy. Borrowings from various old and new comedies are layered on the main plot, which is a free imitation of Italian authors, in accordance with the principle attributed to Moliere "take your good wherever he finds it." The interest of both plays is reduced to the development of comic situations and intrigue; the characters in them are developed very superficially.
Molière's troupe gradually achieved success and fame, and in 1658, at the invitation of the 18-year-old Monsieur, the king's younger brother, she returned to Paris.
In Paris, Molière's troupe made its debut on October 24, 1658 at the Louvre Palace in the presence of Louis XIV. The lost farce "The Doctor in Love" was a huge success and decided the fate of the troupe: the king gave her the Petit Bourbon court theater, in which she played until 1661, until she moved to the Palais Royal theater, where she already remained until the death of Molière. From the moment Moliere settled in Paris, a period of his feverish dramatic work began, the intensity of which did not weaken until his death. During those 15 years from 1658 to 1673, Molière created all of his best plays, which, with a few exceptions, provoked fierce attacks from social groups hostile to him.
The Parisian period of Molière's activity opens with the one-act comedy The Funny Pretenders (French Les précieuses ridicules, 1659). In this first, completely original, play, Moliere made a bold attack against the pretentiousness and mannerism of speech, tone and manner that prevailed in aristocratic salons, which was widely reflected in literature ( see Precise Literature) and had a strong influence on young people (mainly the female part of it). Comedy painfully hurt the most prominent minnows. Moliere's enemies achieved a two-week ban on the comedy, after which it was canceled with double success.
For all its great literary and social value, "Zhemannitsa" is a typical farce that reproduces all the traditional techniques of this genre. The same farcical element, which gave Molière's humor an areal brightness and juiciness, also permeates Molière's next play Sganarelle, or the Illusory Cuckold ( Sganarelle, ou Le cocu imaginaire, 1660). Here, the clever rogue servant of the first comedies - Mascaril - is replaced by the silly, ponderous Sganarelle, who was later introduced by Moliere into a number of his comedies.
On January 23, 1662, Molière signed a marriage contract with Armande Béjart, Madeleine's younger sister. He is 40 years old, Armande is 20. Against all the decorum of the time, only the closest people were invited to the wedding. The wedding ceremony took place on February 20, 1662 in the Parisian church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerroy.
Comedy "School of Husbands" ( L'école des maris, 1661), which is closely related to the even more mature comedy The School for Wives that followed it ( L'école des femmes, 1662), marks Molière's turn from farce to socio-psychological comedy of education. Here Molière raises questions of love, marriage, attitudes towards women and family arrangements. The lack of monosyllabism in the characters and actions of the characters makes the "School of Husbands" and especially the "School of Wives" a major step forward towards the creation of a comedy of characters, overcoming the primitive schematism of the farce. At the same time, the "School of Wives" is incomparably deeper and thinner than the "School of Husbands", which in relation to it is, as it were, a sketch, a light sketch.
Such satirically pointed comedies could not but provoke fierce attacks from the enemies of the playwright. Molière answered them with a polemical piece "Critique of the School for Wives" ( La critique de "L'École des femmes", 1663). Defending himself from reproaches of gaerstvo, he expounded here with great dignity his creed as a comic poet (“to delve into the ridiculous side of human nature and amusingly depict the shortcomings of society on stage”) and ridiculed the superstitious admiration for the “rules” of Aristotle. This protest against the pedantic fetishization of the "rules" reveals Moliere's independent position in relation to French classicism, to which, however, he adjoined in his dramatic practice.
Another manifestation of the same independence of Moliere is his attempt to prove that comedy is not only not lower, but even “higher” than tragedy, this main genre of classical poetry. In the “Critique of the “School of Wives””, through the mouth of Dorant, he criticizes classical tragedy from the point of view of inconsistency with its “nature” (sc. VII), that is, from the standpoint of realism. This criticism is directed against the themes of classical tragedy, against its orientation towards court and high-society conventions.
Molière parried the new blows of the enemies in the play Impromptu of Versailles ( L'impromptu de Versailles, 1663). Original in concept and construction (its action takes place on the stage of the theater), this comedy provides valuable information about Moliere's work with actors and the further development of his views on the essence of the theater and the tasks of comedy. Subjecting his rivals, the actors of the Burgundy Hotel, to devastating criticism, rejecting their method of conventionally pompous tragic acting, Molière at the same time rejects the reproach that he brings certain people onto the stage. The main thing is that he, with unprecedented courage, mocks the court shamblers-marquises, throwing the famous phrase: “The current marquis makes everyone laugh in the play; and just as ancient comedies always depict a simpleton servant who makes the audience laugh, in the same way we need a hilarious marquis who amuses the audience.
Title=" Portrait of Molière. 1656 by Nicolas Mignard">!} Portrait of Molière. 1656
brushes by Nicolas Mignard
From the battle that followed the "School of Wives", Moliere emerged victorious. Along with the growth of his fame, his ties with the court were also strengthened, in which he increasingly performs with plays composed for court festivities and giving rise to a brilliant spectacle. Moliere creates here a special genre of “comedy-ballet”, combining ballet (a favorite form of court entertainment, in which the king himself and his entourage acted as performers) with comedy, giving plot motivation to individual dance “outputs” (entrées) and framing them with comic scenes . Molière's first comedy-ballet is The Unbearables (Les fâcheux, 1661). It is devoid of intrigue and presents a series of disparate scenes strung on a primitive plot core. Molière found here so many well-aimed satirical and everyday features to depict secular dandies, players, duelists, projectors and pedants that, for all its formlessness, the play is a step forward in the sense of preparing that comedy of manners, the creation of which was the task of Molière (“The Unbearables” were set to "Schools for Wives").
The success of The Unbearables prompted Molière to further develop the comedy-ballet genre. In Le Marriage forcé (1664), Moliere raised the genre to great heights, achieving an organic connection between comedic (farcical) and ballet elements. In The Princess of Elis (La princesse d'Elide, 1664), Moliere went the opposite way, inserting clownish ballet interludes into a pseudo-antique lyric-pastoral plot. This was the beginning of two types of comedy-ballet, which were developed by Molière and further. The first farcical-everyday type is represented by the plays Love the Healer (L'amour médécin, 1665), The Sicilian, or Love the Painter (Le Sicilien, ou L'amour peintre, 1666), Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, 1669), "The bourgeois in the nobility" (Le bourgeois gentilhomme, 1670), "The Countess d'Escarbagnas" (La comtesse d'Escarbagnas, 1671), "The Imaginary Sick" (Le malade imaginaire, 1673). Despite the enormous distance separating such a primitive farce as The Sicilian, which served only as a frame for the "Moorish" ballet, from such developed social comedies as "The Tradesman in the Nobility" and "The Imaginary Sick", we still have development here. one type of comedy - a ballet that grows out of an old farce and lies on the highway of Molière's creativity. These plays differ from his other comedies only in the presence of ballet numbers, which do not at all reduce the idea of the play: Moliere makes almost no concessions to court tastes here. The situation is different in the comedies-ballets of the second, gallant-pastoral type, which include: “Melicerte” (Mélicerte, 1666), “Comic Pastoral” (Pastorale comique, 1666), “Brilliant Lovers” (Les amants magnifiques, 1670), "Psyche" (Psyché, 1671 - written in collaboration with Corneille).
(Le Tartuffe, 1664-1669). Directed against the clergy, in the first edition the comedy contained three acts and depicted a hypocrite priest. In this form, it was staged in Versailles at the festival "The Amusements of the Magic Island" on May 12, 1664 under the title "Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite" ( Tartuffe, ou L'hypocrite) and caused discontent on the part of the religious organization "Society of Holy Gifts" ( Société du Saint Sacrement). In the image of Tartuffe, the Society saw a satire on its members and achieved the prohibition of Tartuffe. Molière defended his play in the "Placet" (Placet) addressed to the king, in which he directly wrote that "the originals have achieved the prohibition of the copy." But this request came to nothing. Then Molière weakened the sharp places, renamed Tartuffe to Panyulf and took off his cassock. In a new form, a comedy that had 5 acts and was entitled "Deceiver" ( L'imposteur), was allowed to be presented, but after the first performance on August 5, 1667, it was again removed. Only a year and a half later, Tartuffe was finally presented in the 3rd final edition.
Although Tartuffe is not a clergyman in it, the latest edition is hardly softer than the original. Expanding the outlines of the image of Tartuffe, making him not only a hypocrite, a hypocrite and a libertine, but also a traitor, an informer and a slanderer, showing his connections with the court, the police and court spheres, Molière significantly increased the satirical sharpness of the comedy, turning it into a social pamphlet. The only light in the realm of obscurantism, arbitrariness and violence is the wise monarch, who cuts the tight knot of intrigue and provides, like a deus ex machina, a sudden happy ending to the comedy. But precisely because of its artificiality and improbability, the successful denouement does not change anything in the essence of the comedy.
If in "Tartuffe" Moliere attacked religion and the church, then in "Don Juan, or the Stone Feast" ( Don Juan, ou Le festin de pierre, 1665) the feudal nobility became the object of his satire. Molière based the play on the Spanish legend of Don Juan, the irresistible seducer of women, who violates the laws of God and man. He gave this wandering plot, which has flown around almost all the scenes of Europe, an original satirical development. The image of Don Juan, this favorite noble hero, who embodied all the predatory activity, ambition and lust for power of the feudal nobility in its heyday, Moliere endowed with everyday features of a French aristocrat of the 17th century - a titled libertine, rapist and "libertin", unprincipled, hypocritical, arrogant and cynical. He makes Don Juan a denier of all foundations on which a well-ordered society is based. Don Juan is deprived of filial feelings, he dreams of the death of his father, he mocks petty-bourgeois virtue, seduces and deceives women, beats a peasant who stood up for his bride, tyrannizes a servant, does not pay debts and sends creditors away, blasphemes, lies and hypocrites recklessly, competing with Tartuffe and surpassing him with his frank cynicism (cf. his conversation with Sganarelle - d. V, sc. II). Molière puts his indignation against the nobility, embodied in the image of Don Juan, into the mouths of his father, the old nobleman Don Luis, and the servant Sganarelle, who each in their own way denounce the depravity of Don Juan, uttering phrases foreshadowing Figaro's tirades (for example, : "Origin without valor is worth nothing", “I would rather honor the son of a porter, if he is an honest man, than the son of a crowned bearer, if he is as dissolute as you.” and so on.).
But the image of Don Juan is not woven from one negative traits. For all his viciousness, Don Juan has great charm: he is brilliant, witty, brave, and Moliere, denouncing Don Juan as the bearer of vices, at the same time admires him, pays tribute to his chivalrous charm.
If Molière introduced a number of tragic features into Tartuffe and Don Juan, appearing through the fabric of comedic action, then in Misanthrope ( Le Misanthrope, 1666), these features have become so intensified that they almost completely pushed aside the comic element. A typical example of a “high” comedy with an in-depth psychological analysis of the characters’ feelings and experiences, with a predominance of dialogue over external action, with a complete absence of a farcical element, with an excited, pathetic and sarcastic tone of the protagonist’s speeches, The Misanthrope stands apart in Molière’s work.
Alceste is not only the image of a noble exposer of social vices, looking for "truth" and not finding it: he is also less schematic than many previous characters. On the one hand, this is positive hero whose noble indignation arouses sympathy; on the other hand, he is not devoid of negative features: he is too unrestrained, tactless, devoid of a sense of proportion and a sense of humor.
Portrait of Molière. 1658
brushes by Pierre Mignard
Too deep and serious comedy "The Misanthrope" was coldly received by the audience, who were looking for entertainment in the theater first of all. In order to save the play, Molière added to it the brilliant farce The Unwilling Doctor (French Le médécin malgré lui, 1666). This trifle, which had a huge success and is still preserved in the repertoire, developed the theme of Moliere's favorite theme of charlatans and ignoramuses. Curiously, just at the very mature period of his work, when Moliere rose to the heights of socio-psychological comedy, he increasingly returns to a farce splashing with fun, devoid of serious satirical tasks. It was during these years that Molière wrote such masterpieces of entertaining comedy-intrigue as "Monsieur de Poursonac" and "The Tricks of Scapin" (fr. Les fourberies de Scapin, 1671). Moliere returned here to the primary source of his inspiration - to the old farce.
In literary circles, a somewhat dismissive attitude towards these rude plays has long been established. This attitude goes back to the legislator of classicism, Boileau, who condemned Moliere for buffoonery and pandering to the coarse tastes of the crowd.
The main theme of this period is the ridicule of the bourgeois, who seek to imitate the aristocracy and intermarry with it. This theme is developed in "Georges Dandin" (fr. George Dandin, 1668) and in "The Tradesman in the Nobility". In the first comedy, which develops the popular “wandering” plot in the form of the purest farce, Molière ridicules the rich “upstart” (fr. parvenu) from the peasants, who, out of stupid arrogance, married the daughter of a ruined baron, openly cheating on him with the marquis, making him a fool and finally forcing him to ask her forgiveness. The same theme is developed even sharper in The Tradesman in the Nobility, one of Molière's most brilliant ballet-comedies, where he achieves virtuoso ease in constructing a dialogue approaching in its rhythm to a ballet dance (cf. the quartet of lovers - d. III, sc. x). This comedy is the most vicious satire on the bourgeoisie, imitating the nobility, which came out from under his pen.
In the famous comedy "The Miser" (L'avare, 1668), written under the influence of Plautus' "Kubyshka" (Fr. Aulularia), Molière skillfully draws a repulsive image of the miser Harpagon (his name has become a household name in France), whose passion for accumulation has taken on a pathological character and drowned out all human feelings.
Moliere also poses the problem of family and marriage in his penultimate comedy Les Femmes Savantes (French: Les femmes savantes, 1672). The object of his satire is here female pedants who are fond of science and neglect family responsibilities.
The question of the disintegration of the bourgeois family was also raised in Molière's last comedy The Imaginary Sick (French Le malade imaginaire, 1673). This time, the reason for the breakup of the family is the mania of the head of the house, Argan, who imagines himself sick and is a toy in the hands of unscrupulous and ignorant doctors. Molière's contempt for doctors ran through all his dramaturgy.
Written by the mortally ill Molière, the comedy "Imaginary Sick" is one of his most cheerful and cheerful comedies. At her 4th performance on February 17, 1673, Molière, who played the role of Argan, felt ill and did not finish the performance. He was taken home and died a few hours later. The Parisian Archbishop Arles de Chanvallon forbade the burial of an unrepentant sinner (the actors on his deathbed were supposed to repent) and lifted the ban only at the direction of the king. The greatest playwright of France was buried at night, without rituals, outside the cemetery fence, where suicides were buried.
The first edition of the collected works of Molière was carried out by his friends Charles Varlet Lagrange and Vino in 1682.
Molière's artistic method is characterized by:
He preferred the external comedy of situations, theatrical buffoonery, the dynamic deployment of farcical intrigue and lively folk speech, dotted with provincialisms, dialectisms, common folk and slang words, sometimes even words of the gibberish language and pasta. For this, he was repeatedly awarded the honorary title of "people's" playwright, and Boileau spoke of his "excessive love for the people."
Molière's plays are characterized by great dynamism of comedic action; but this dynamic is external, it is different from the characters, which are basically static in their psychological content. This was already noticed by Pushkin, who wrote, opposing Molière to Shakespeare: “The faces created by Shakespeare are not, like those of Moliere, types of such and such a passion, such and such a vice, but living beings, full of many passions, many vices ... In Molière stingy stingy but only".
Nevertheless, in his best comedies (Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, Don Juan), Molière tries to overcome the monosyllabic nature of his images, the mechanistic nature of his method. Nevertheless, the images and the whole structure of his comedies bear a certain artistic limitation of classicism.
The question of Moliere's attitude towards classicism is much more complicated than it seems. school history literature, unconditionally sticking the label of a classic on him. There is no doubt that Molière was the creator and the best representative of the classical comedy of characters, and in a whole series of his "high" comedies, Molière's artistic practice is quite consistent with the classical doctrine. But at the same time other plays by Molière (mainly farces) contradict this doctrine. This means that in his worldview Molière is at odds with the main representatives of the classical school.
Molière had a tremendous influence on the entire subsequent development of bourgeois comedy both in France and abroad. Under the sign of Molière, the entire French comedy of the 18th century developed, reflecting the entire complex interweaving of the class struggle, the entire contradictory process of the formation of the bourgeoisie as a “class for itself”, entering into a political struggle with the noble-monarchist system. She relied on Molière in the 18th century. both the entertaining comedy of Regnard and the satirically pointed comedy of Lesage, who developed in his "Turcar" the type of tax-farmer-financier, briefly outlined by Molière in "Countess d'Escarbagnas". The influence of the "high" comedies of Moliere was also experienced by the secular everyday comedy of Piron and Gresse and the moral-sentimental comedy of Detouche and Nivelle de Lachausse, reflecting the growth of the class consciousness of the middle bourgeoisie. Even the resulting new genre of philistine or bourgeois drama, this antithesis of classical dramaturgy, was prepared by Molière's comedies of manners, which so seriously developed the problems of the bourgeois family, marriage, and the upbringing of children - these are the main themes of philistine drama.
From the school of Moliere came the famous creator of The Marriage of Figaro, Beaumarchais, the only worthy successor to Moliere in the field of social satirical comedy. Less significant is the influence of Molière on the bourgeois comedy of the 19th century, which was already alien to the main orientation of Molière. However, the comedic technique of Molière (especially his farces) is used by masters of entertaining bourgeois vaudeville comedy of the 19th century from Picard, Scribe and Labiche to Meilhac and Halévy, Pieron and others.
No less fruitful was the influence of Molière outside of France, and in various European countries, translations of Molière's plays were a powerful stimulus for the creation of a national bourgeois comedy. This was the case primarily in England during the Restoration (Wycherley, Congreve), and then in the 18th century, Fielding and Sheridan. So it was in economically backward Germany, where acquaintance with the plays of Molière stimulated the original comedy creativity of the German bourgeoisie. Even more significant was the influence of Moliere's comedy in Italy, where, under the direct influence of Moliere, the creator of the Italian bourgeois comedy Goldoni was brought up. Molière had a similar influence in Denmark on Holberg, the creator of the Danish bourgeois satirical comedy, and in Spain on Moratin.
In Russia, acquaintance with the comedies of Molière begins already at the end of the 17th century, when Princess Sophia, according to legend, played the “Doctor involuntarily” in her tower. At the beginning of the XVIII century. we find them in the Petrine repertoire. From the palace performances Molière then moves on to the performances of the first state-owned public theater in St. Petersburg, headed by A.P. Sumarokov. The same Sumarokov was the first imitator of Molière in Russia. The most “original” Russian comedians of the classical style, Fonvizin, V.V. Kapnist and I.A. Krylov, were also brought up at Molière’s school. But the most brilliant follower of Molière in Russia was Griboyedov, who, in the image of Chatsky, gave Molière a congenial version of his "Misanthrope" - however, a completely original version, which grew up in the specific situation of Arakcheev-bureaucratic Russia of the 20s. 19th century Following Griboyedov, Gogol also paid tribute to Molière by translating one of his farces into Russian (“Sganarelle, or the Husband who thinks he is deceived by his wife”); traces of Molière's influence on Gogol are noticeable even in The Government Inspector. The later aristocratic (Sukhovo-Kobylin) and bourgeois comedy (Ostrovsky) also did not escape the influence of Molière. In the pre-revolutionary era, bourgeois modernist directors attempted a stage reassessment of Moliere's plays from the point of view of emphasizing in them elements of "theatricality" and stage grotesque (Meyerhold, Komissarzhevsky).
After the October Revolution, some new theaters that arose in the 1920s included Molière's plays in their repertoire. There were attempts at a new "revolutionary" approach to Molière. One of the most famous was the production of Tartuffe at the Leningrad State Drama Theater in 1929. Directing (N. Petrov and Vl. Solovyov) transferred the action of the comedy into the 20th century. Although the directors tried to justify their innovation with not very convincing politicized props (say, the play " works along the line of denunciation of religious obscurantism and hypocrisy and along the line of Tartuffe of the social compromisers and social fascists”), it helped for a while. The play was accused (albeit post factum) of "formalist-aesthetic influences" and removed from the repertoire, while Petrov and Solovyov were arrested and died in the camps.
Later, official Soviet literary criticism announced that “for all the deep social tone of Moliere’s comedies, his main method, based on the principles of mechanistic materialism, is fraught with dangers for proletarian dramaturgy” (cf. Bezymensky’s The Shot).
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