Line #61 Creator/Moliere


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/220px-Molire_-_Nicolas_Mignard_1658_8522.jpg]]
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3	Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, [[StageNames better known as]] "Molière" (15 January 1622 – 17 February 1673), was a French playwright, stage director and stage actor.
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5	One of the many children of a French [[UsefulNotes/LetatCestMoi royal]] tapestry-maker, he tried to follow his father's footsteps and later, to become a lawyer, but his heart wasn't in it, and he ended up writing and directing {{comed\|y}}ic stage plays, and playing in them. He became renowned enough to become a protégé of UsefulNotes/CardinalMazarin then King UsefulNotes/LouisXIV, and his name ended up known in the whole kingdom as a result. Heavily influenced by UsefulNotes/{{Italy}}'s ''CommediaDellArte'', his plays are full of slapstick, snark, misunderstandings, and thwarted lovers.
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7	Legend has it he died on the stage, in 1673, playing the main role in ''Theatre/TheImaginaryInvalid''. In fact, he collapsed on stage due to a coughing fit, while playing the hypochondriac of the title. Molière had long suffered from tuberculosis, but insisted on finishing the performance, then was taken home and died there a few hours later.
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9	He's so big in French culture that the language itself is nicknamed ''"La langue de Molière"''. In many ways, he's a rough French equivalent to Creator/WilliamShakespeare (the aforementioned nickname is also applied to European languages as "la langue de Shakespeare/Cervantes/Dante..." etc.) though solely focused on comedies.
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11	The most prestigious French stage awards, the Molière Awards, are named after him.
12	----
13	!!Among his works are:
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15	[[index]]
16	* ''The Flying Doctor'' (''Le Médecin volant'')
17	* ''The Blunderer, or The Mishaps'' (''L'Étourdi, ou Les Contretemps'')
18	* ''The Doctor in Love'' (''Le Docteur amoureux'')
19	* ''Theatre/TheAffectedYoungLadies'' (''Les Précieuses ridicules'')
20	* ''Sganarelle, or the Imaginary Cuckold'' (''Sganarelle, ou Le Cocu imaginaire'')
21	* ''Don Garcia of Navarre, or the Jealous Prince'' (''Dom Garcie de Navarre, ou Le Prince jaloux'')
22	* ''The School for Husbands'' (''L'École des maris'')
23	* ''The Pests'' (''Les Fâcheux'')
24	* ''The School for Wives'' (''L'École des femmes'')
25	* ''Critique of the School for Wives'' (''La Critique de l'école des femmes'')
26	* ''The Forced Marriage'' (''Le Mariage forcé'')
27	* ''The Princess of Elid'' (''La Princesse d'Élide'')
28	* ''Theatre/{{Tartuffe}}, or The Hypocrite'' (''Tartuffe, ou L'Imposteur'')
29	* ''Theatre/DonJuan, or The Feast with the Statue'' (''Dom Juan, ou Le Festin de pierre'')
30	* ''Doctor Love'' (''L'Amour médecin'')
31	* ''Theatre/TheMisanthrope, or The Malcontent in Love'' (''Le Misanthrope, ou L'Atrabilaire amoureux'')
32	* ''Theatre/TheDoctorInSpiteOfHimself'' (''Le Médecin malgré lui'')
33	* ''Mélicerte''
34	* ''The Sicilian, or Love the Artist'' (''Le Sicilien, ou L'Amour peintre'')
35	* ''Amphitryon''
36	* ''George Dandin, or the Husband Abashed'' (''George Dandin, ou Le Mari confondu'')
37	* ''Theatre/TheMiser, or The School for Lying'' (''L'Avare, ou L'École du mensonge'')
38	* ''Monsieur de Pourceaugnac''
39	* ''The Magnificent Lovers'' (''Les Amants magnifiques'')
40	* ''Theatre/TheBourgeoisGentleman'' (''Le Bourgeois gentilhomme'')
41	* ''Psyche''
42	* ''Theatre/TheSchemesOfScapin'' (''Les Fourberies de Scapin'')
43	* ''The Countess of Escarbagnas'' (''La Comtesse d'Escarbagnas'')
44	* ''Theatre/TheLearnedLadies'' (''Les Femmes savantes'')
45	* ''Theatre/TheImaginaryInvalid'' (''Le Malade imaginaire'')
46	[[/index]]
47
48	!!Molière's works provide examples of the following tropes:
49	* AerithAndBob: In Molière's plays, there is a mix of real names and fictional names, like Argan/Orgon, Cléante/Cléonte, Harpagon, Dorimène...
50	* ArrangedMarriage: Always thwarted by the lovers.
51	* AuthorTract: Molière really, ''really'' hated doctors and the clergy, and had very snarky comments on bourgeois. He let ''everyone'' know about it. Why'd you think that ''Theatre/{{Tartuffe}}'' was banned for several years?
52	* CatchPhrase: One of Molière's favourite source of comedy involves a character repeating the same line over and over again in one scene. In some cases they became proverbial (''e.g.'', "What the devil was he doing on that galley?" (« ''Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère ?'' ») from ''Theatre/TheSchemesOfScapin'', and "Poor man!" (« ''Le pauvre homme !'' ») from ''Theatre/{{Tartuffe}}'').
53	* CelebrityParadox:
54	** In ''Theatre/TheImaginaryInvalid'', which satirizes the medicine of the era, the brother of Argan (the hypochondriac main character) asks him if he would like to see a Molière play. Argan angrily berates Molière for making fun of doctors. Double as SelfDeprecation since in the original plays, Molière himself was taking the first role.
55	** Early in ''Theatre/TheMisanthrope'', Philinte name-drops ''School for Husbands'', another Molière play.
56	* ChildMarriageVeto: ''Les Précieuses ridicules'' starts with the protagonists, two fashionable young ladies, rejecting the offer of marriage made to them by two young men that Gorgibus, their father and uncle, had chosen for them, and that are more or less unknown to them, because they don't like the notion of their relationship beginning with marriage as opposed to a protracted courtship.
57	* TheDandy: Mascarille and Jodelet in ''Les Précieuses ridicules'' are played for laughs as two period fops. [[spoiler:They are actually the rejected suitors' valets, sent by their masters to fool the young ladies who rejected the latter into thinking they are suitors more to their taste.]]
58	* FrenchMaid: The ''soubrette'' found in several of his plays; Dorine in ''Theatre/{{Tartuffe}}'' is perhaps the clearest example.
59	* GoldDigger: Beline, Argan's second wife in ''The Hypochondriac'' (also translated as ''Theatre/TheImaginaryInvalid''), is a two-faced woman: she flatters and pampers her husband, but schemes all the time, trying to figure out how to get all his money after his death, and she wants to deprive his two daughters of their share.
60	* GrandeDame: Mme. Pernelle; Arsinoé has some affinities with the type.
61	* JealousRomanticWitness: ''L'École des femmes'' has a scene where the UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist Arnolphe (who keeps his [[TheIngenue naïve sixteen-year-old ward Agnes]] cooped up in his house and forbids her from talking to anyone outside [[OldManMarryingAChild to ensure her faithfulness]]) learns that Agnes has been seen talking to a man and demands that she explain herself. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Oa4tUsvGNk She starts giving a blow-by-blow account of how it happened]] (and because of her ditziness, doesn't understand why flirting might be considered bad), not once seeing how tortured by jealousy he is. Arnolphe learned of it in an earlier scene where he runs into Horace (a friend of his son Oronte, and the man Agnes spoke to), who starts going on and on about his love for Agnes, and his disdain for the ridiculous old fart keeping her locked up (Arnolphe recently tried to go by a more aristocratic-sounding name, so Horace doesn't know he's talking to that same old fart). Arnolphe has to grin and bear it until Horace leaves.
62	* LeftHanging: The ending of ''Les Précieuses ridicules'' leaves the protagonists' situation unresolved. Gorgibus furiously chases Magdelon and Cathos away with the injunction: "Out of my sight and hide yourselves, you jades; go and hide yourselves forever." Will he kick his daughter and niece out of the house? Force them into a convent like he had threatened earlier? Or will he calm down and will everything go back to normal? Have Magdelon and Cathos changed their opinion about the fashionable manners that informed their behavior throughout the play? It's anyone's guess.
63	%%* LongLostSibling
64	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: ''The Blunderer'' is MADE of this. The main character keeps defeating the GuileHero's schemes undertaken in his favor.
65	* RhymesOnADime: Much of Molière's dialogue rhymes, as per the conventions of his day.
66	* TheScrooge: Harpagon from ''The Miser''.
67	* SelfPlagiarism: He reused some dialogues in his plays.
68	* ServileSnarker: There's one in every one of his plays.
69	* SmugSnake: Don Juan
70	* StrawHypocrite: Theatre/{{Tartuffe}}
71	* TakingTheVeil: In ''Les Précieuses ridicules'', Gorgibus threatens Magdelon and Cathos that if they are not married soon, "you shall be nuns", I.E. he will dispose of his daughter and niece in a convent.
72	* ThinksLikeARomanceNovel: Magdelon and Cathos, the two cousins in ''Les Précieuses ridicules'' imagine that their courtship with their future husbands should play out according to a formula lifted from romance novels. This is diametrically opposite to their father/uncle's resolve that they accept what amounts to an ArrangedMarriage as the right and proper thing to do.
73	* WorldOfSnark
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75	!!Molière appears in the following works:
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77	[[AC:Films:]]
78	* ''Molière'' (1978). Played by Philippe Caubère.
79	* ''Molière'' (2007). Played by Creator/RomainDuris.
80	* ''Le Molière imaginaire'' (2024). Played by Laurent Lafitte.
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82	[[AC:Theatre:]]
83	* ''L'Impromptu du Palais-Royal'', 1962 stage play by Creator/JeanCocteau.
84	* ''La Petite Molière'', stage play by Jean Anouilh and Roland Laudenbach.
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86	[[AC:Western Animation:]]
87	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Molierissimo}}'' (1989). Voiced by Creator/ClaudeGiraud in French.

Context Creator / Moliere