One of the most mysterious and eccentric figures of the 17th century in France is Jean-Baptiste Moliere. His biography consists of complex and at the same time majestic stages in his career and work.
A family
Jean-Baptiste was born in 1622 in an aristocratic family, which was a continuation of a very ancient bourgeois family of draperies. At that time, this occupation was considered quite profitable and respected. The father of the future comedian was an honorary adviser to the king and the creator of a specialized school for court children, which Moliere subsequently began to attend. In this educational institution, Jean-Baptiste diligently studied Latin, which helped him easily understand and study all the works of famous Roman authors. It was Moliere who translated the poem “On the Nature of Things” by the ancient Roman philosopher Lucretius into his native French language. Unfortunately, the manuscript with the translation was not distributed, and soon disappeared. Most likely, it burned down during a fire in Moliere's workshop.
By the will of his father, Jean-Baptiste received a prestigious academic degree in law at that time. Moliere's life was complex and eventful.
early years
In his youth, Jean was an ardent admirer and representative of the then popular epicureism (one of the philosophical movements). Thanks to this interest, he made many useful acquaintances, because among the then Epicureans there were quite wealthy and influential people.
A career in law was not so important for Moliere, just like his father’s craft. That is why the young man chose a theatrical direction for himself. Moliere’s biography once again proves to us his desire for perfection and the desire to achieve world heights in theatrical art.
It is worth noting that initially Moliere is a theatrical pseudonym that Jean-Baptiste Pauquelin chose for himself to give the full name of melodies. But gradually this name began to be called not only in the framework of theatrical activities, but also in everyday life. A meeting with the then very famous French comedians Bezhars turned the life of Jean-Baptiste upside down, because later he began to lead the theater. At that time he was only 21 years old. The troupe consisted of 10 beginner actors, and Moliere's task was to improve the theater and bring it to a more professional level. Unfortunately, other French theaters competed with Jean-Baptiste, so the institution was closed. After such a first failure in life, Jean Baptiste with a strolling troupe began to travel to provincial towns in the hope of gaining recognition, even if there, and to earn money for the further development and construction of his own building for performances.
Moliere spoke in the province for about 14 years (the exact dates regarding this fact of his life, unfortunately, have not been preserved). By the way, at the same time in France there was a civil war, mass protests and confrontations of the people, so the troupe's endless journeys were even more difficult, the official biography of Moliere indicates that already at this period of his life he was seriously determined to start his own business.
In the province, Jean-Baptiste composed a large number of his own plays and theatrical scripts, because the troupe's repertoire was quite boring and uninteresting. Few of the works of that period have been preserved. List of some plays:
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"Jealousy of Barboulier." Moliere himself was very proud of this play. The works of the nomadic period received positive reviews from critics.
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The Flying Healer.
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"Doctor Pedant."
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"Three doctors."
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"Fake laziness."
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"Horbibus in the bag."
Personal life
In 1622, Moliere officially bound himself by marriage with his beloved Amanda Bejart. She was the sister of the same comedian Madeleine, whom Jean-Baptiste met at the beginning of her career and thanks to her husband, he began to lead a theater of ten people.
The age difference between Jean-Baptiste and Amanda was exactly 20 years old. At the time of his marriage, he was 40 years old, and she was 20. The wedding was not public, so only the closest friends and relatives were invited to the celebration. By the way, the bride’s parents were not happy with their daughter’s choice in every way tried to make her terminate the engagement. However, she did not succumb to the entreaties of her relatives, and soon after the wedding she stopped communicating with her mother and father.
Throughout the married life, Amanda gave birth to her husband three children, however, we can say that the couple was not happy in their union. A huge difference in age and different interests made themselves felt. Moliere's work during his marriage reflected mainly stories close to his own family situations.
Personality characteristic
Jean-Baptiste can be described as a rather extraordinary person. He was completely dedicated to his work, his whole life is endless theaters and performances. Unfortunately, most researchers of his biography still cannot come to an unambiguous decision about his personal portrait, because there is no data left, so just like in the case of Shakespeare, they relied only on word-of-mouth stories and legends about this person and on their basis already tried using psychological methods to determine his character.
Also, studying the many works of Jean-Baptiste, we can draw some conclusions about his life in general. For some reason, Moliere did everything to ensure that very little data remained on his personality. He destroyed a large number of his works, so over 50 of his plays and data on productions did not reach us. The characteristic of Moliere, based on the words of his contemporaries, suggests that he was a revered man in France, whose opinion was listened to by most of the court people and even several individuals from the royal family.
He was extremely freedom-loving, therefore, he wrote many works about personality, about how to rise above your consciousness and constantly rethink your values. It is worth noting that not one of the works speaks of freedom in a direct context, because such a step could be regarded at the same time as a call for rebellion and a civil war, which already continued in medieval France.
Jean-Baptiste Moliere. Biography and creativity
Like the work of all writers and playwrights, Moliere’s path is divided into certain stages (he does not have a clear time frame, but they are different directions and reflect a peculiar change in polarity in the work of the playwright).
During the Paris period, Jean-Baptiste was popular with the king and the elite of the country, and therefore received recognition. After a long wandering around the country, the troupe returns to Paris and performs at the Louvre Theater with a new repertoire. Now professionalism is evident: the time spent and endless practice make themselves felt. At that performance, “The Doctor in Love, ” the king himself was present, who, at the end of the performance, personally thanked the playwright. After this incident, a white streak began in the life of Jean Baptiste.
The following performance of “Funny Simpers” also achieved great success among the public and received very good reviews from critics. Moliere's plays at that time were collecting full house.
The second stage in the work of Jean-Baptiste is represented by such works:
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Tartuffe. The storyline of the novel is aimed at ridiculing the clergy, which at that time enjoyed low popularity among the inhabitants of France due to constant requisitions and complaints about the activities of some of the supreme representatives of the church. The play was released in 1664 and was played on the stage of the theater for five years. The play was of a sharp satirical to some extent comedic character.
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"Don Juan". If in the previous play Jean-Baptiste negatively showed the theme of the church and ridiculed all its employees, then in this work he satirically reflected the laws of people's lives, their behavior and moral principles, which, according to the author, were very far from ideal and brought the world only negative and debauchery. With this play, the theater traveled almost all of Europe. In some countries there was such a full house that the performance was played two or three times. Jean-Baptiste Moliere made many useful contacts during this trip to Europe.
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"Misanthrope". In this work, the author further ridiculed the medieval foundations of life. This play is the most successful example of high comedy of the XVII century. Due to the too much seriousness and complexity of the plot, the production was not accepted by people in the same way as the past works of Jean Baptiste. This forced the author to rethink some aspects of his work and theatrical activities, so he decided to take a break in staging performances and writing scripts.
Moliere Theater
Performances of the author's troupe, in which he also participated, almost always caused a flurry of emotions among the audience. The fame of his productions spread throughout Europe. The theater has become popular far beyond France. Great admirers of Moliere were British connoisseurs of high theater art.
The Moliere Theater was distinguished by action-packed productions of modern human values. The play of the actors always remained at their best. By the way, Jean-Baptiste himself never missed his roles, he did not refuse to speak even when he felt ill and was sick. This indicates a great love of a person for his work.
Characters of the author
Jean-Baptiste Moliere presented many interesting personalities in his works. Consider the most popular and eccentric:
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Sganarelle - this character was mentioned in a number of works and plays of the author. In the play Flying Doctor, he is the main character, he was a servant of Valera. Due to the success of the production and the work as a whole, Moliere decided to use this hero in his other works (for example, Sganarel can be seen in “The Imaginary Cuckold”, “Don Giovanni”, “The Medic Willed”, “School of Husbands”) and other works of the early period of creativity of Jean Baptiste.
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Geront is a hero who can be found in the comedies of Moliere in the era of classicism. In plays it is a symbol of insanity and dementia of certain types of people.
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Harpagon is an old man who is distinguished by such qualities as deceit and a passion for enrichment.
Comedy ballets
Moliere's biography indicates that this type of work belongs to the mature stage of creativity. Thanks to strengthened ties with the court, Jean-Baptiste creates a new genre that aims to present new plays in the form of ballet. By the way, such an innovation was a real success among the audience.
The first comedy ballet was called The Unbearable and was written and presented to the general public in 1661.
Interesting personality legends
There is an unconfirmed legend that Moliere’s wife was in fact his own daughter, born of a relationship with Madeleine Bejart. The whole story that Madeleine and Amanda were sisters was considered by some people to be false. However, this information is not confirmed and is only one of the legends.
Another story says that in fact, Moliere was not the author of his works. He allegedly acted on behalf of Pierre Cornell. This story is widespread. However, scientists argue that the biography of Moliere does not contain such a fact.
Late stage of creativity
A few years after the failure of “Misanthrope”, the author decides to return to work and adds the story “The Doctor inevitably” to this play.
The biography of Jean Moliere says that during this period he ridiculed the bourgeoisie and the rich class. The plays also raised the issue of marriage, not concluded by mutual consent.
Interesting facts about the activities of Moliere
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Jean-Baptiste invented a new genre of comedy-ballet.
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He was one of the most controversial personalities of France of that period.
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Moliere practically did not communicate with his family, preferring to travel the world with concerts without their accompaniment.
