Chronological order of Moliere's Plays
· The Jealous Husband (c. 1645)
· The Flying Doctor (c. 1648) · The Scatterbrain (1653) · A Lovers' Quarrel (1656) · Affected Young Ladies (1659) · The Imaginary Cuckold (1660) · The Jealous Prince (1661) · The School for Husbands (1661) · The Nuisances (1661) · The School for Wives (1662) · The School for Wives Criticized (1663) · A Versailles Improvisation (1663) · The Forced Wedding (1664) · The Princess of Elida (1664) · Tartuffe (1664, 1667, 1669) · Don Juan (1665) |
· Love's Cure All (1665)
· The Misanthrope (1666) · A Doctor Despite Himself (1666) · Mélicerte (1666) · A Comic Pastoral (1667) · The Sicilian (1667) · Amphitryon (1668) · The Confounded Husband (1668) · The Miser (1668) · Monsieur de Pourceaugnac (1669) · The Magnificent Suitors (1670) · The Bourgeois Gentleman (1670) · Psyche (1671) · Scapin's Schemings (1671) · A Pretentious Countess (1671) · Learned Ladies (1672) · The Hypochondriac, or The Imaginary Invalid (1673) (Shakespeare, p. 5) As a note these are all of the titles in English |
It is hard to say which of his plays are the most known. To theatre history scholars most, if not all of them, hold some meaning to history but I would like to talk about Moliere's first great success: The Affected Young Ladies and his most controversial piece: Tartuffe.
The Affected Young Ladies also known as Les Precieuses Ridicules was Moliere's first great success. This play was an exaggeration of two women who fantasized about how their prince charming would come to woo them, later in the play we find out their naive view of courtship makes them vulnerable to the trick of two servants of their expected suitors.
At the beginning of the story Gorgibus tries to convince Magdelon, his daughter, and Cathos, his niece, to consider two suitors for them. Magdelon explains to him that a man cannot just come in to take her hand in marriage and that there are rules or steps he must follow.
The Affected Young Ladies also known as Les Precieuses Ridicules was Moliere's first great success. This play was an exaggeration of two women who fantasized about how their prince charming would come to woo them, later in the play we find out their naive view of courtship makes them vulnerable to the trick of two servants of their expected suitors.
At the beginning of the story Gorgibus tries to convince Magdelon, his daughter, and Cathos, his niece, to consider two suitors for them. Magdelon explains to him that a man cannot just come in to take her hand in marriage and that there are rules or steps he must follow.
"A lover, to be agreeable, must understand how to utter fine sentiments, to breathe soft, tender, and passionate vows; his courtship must be according to the rules. In the first place, he should behold the fair one of whom he becomes enamoured ... and when he leaves her he should appear in a pensive and melancholy mood. For some time he should conceal his passion from the object of his love, but pay her several visits...When the day comes to make his declarations...it should be quickly followed by anger, which is shown by our blushing, and which, for a while, banishes the lover from our presence. He finds afterwards means to pacify us, to accustom us gradually to hear him depict his passion, and to draw from us that confession which causes us so much pain. After that come the adventures, the rivals who thwart mutual inclination, the persecutions of fathers, the jealousies arising without any foundation, complaints, despair, running away with, and its consequences....But to come out point-blank with a proposal of marriage--to make no love but with a marriage-contract, and begin a novel at the wrong end!..." (Frame, p. 25).
Like I explain in my blog, her words here make me chuckle. When she spoke these words she was genuine and knew what she wanted. Her father of course became frustrated and called them young foolish girls. When the men they believed to be the suitors arrive they start off almost following all of the rules. The ladies talk with the men and the men show off trying to impress the young ladies. At the climax of the show we see that these men whom we believed to be the suitors were actually the servants of the suitors. To the ladies surprise they are ashamed and scolded by Gorgibus once he arrives home and hopefully the ladies realize how foolish they were.
Out of all of his plays, Tartuffe is likely to be the most studied and the most controversial of its time. Moliere created it in 1664 and presented it to the King Louis XIV and Queen Anne, his mother, on May 12, 1664. King Louis XIV found it amusing but Queen Anne found the piece to be shocking. She felt it represented the growing differences of King Louis XIV and her. The Confraternity of Holy Sacrament shared this same view and denounced the play. Louis XIV compromised that this play could be seen at private screening for those in aristocratic standing (Fraser, p. 91-92).
Later in 1667 L'Imposteur is put on which is a mild version of Tartuffe. The next day this version is again banned. Finally on February 5th, 1670 the version we know of today of Tartuffe is performed by Moliere and his troupe. When the play was first performed for the public it had to include an introduction that stated that Tartuffe did not represent a traditional Christian but a hypocrite. Crowds rushed to the box office to get tickets for the performance. It was a huge success and stays on the schedule until Easter. (Mander, p. 10-11).
At first screening an audience member might think the purpose of Tartuffe is to expose the despicable religious hypocrite that men like Tartuffe can be, however; Professor Lyman Allen Baker from Kansas State University points out that the supposed victim is much more to blame than he seems. Professor Baker explains that Orgon, the supposed victim, is an example of a type of Traditional Christian. Orgon is eager to believe Tartuffe for multiple reasons but one of these is that the type of Christianity Tartuffe is pretending to follow and Orgon follows, Moliere regards as insane. "According to this picture, mankind is totally depraved as a result of Original Sin, and therefore has to be subjected, for its own good, to dictatorial control by divinely appointed authorities (good puritan fathers [heads of households], for example)." (Baker). As a result, Tartuffe is a parody of St. Augustine's authoritarian Christianity rather than warning the public that these hypocrites exist.
The view that Moliere and Louis XIV shared was that original sin could be baptized away and that sin thereafter was inevitable. Because of this Moliere's Character Cleante in Tartuffe defends this view as reasonable believing that God would want us to enjoy our earthly existence rather than to curse it like Orgon. Orgon was at the point of his life where he realized his children were growing up and that he was getting old. Thinking he was doing the best for his family by being strict and bossy to get them to stay pure in God's eyes he nearly ruined their lives.
Out of all of his plays, Tartuffe is likely to be the most studied and the most controversial of its time. Moliere created it in 1664 and presented it to the King Louis XIV and Queen Anne, his mother, on May 12, 1664. King Louis XIV found it amusing but Queen Anne found the piece to be shocking. She felt it represented the growing differences of King Louis XIV and her. The Confraternity of Holy Sacrament shared this same view and denounced the play. Louis XIV compromised that this play could be seen at private screening for those in aristocratic standing (Fraser, p. 91-92).
Later in 1667 L'Imposteur is put on which is a mild version of Tartuffe. The next day this version is again banned. Finally on February 5th, 1670 the version we know of today of Tartuffe is performed by Moliere and his troupe. When the play was first performed for the public it had to include an introduction that stated that Tartuffe did not represent a traditional Christian but a hypocrite. Crowds rushed to the box office to get tickets for the performance. It was a huge success and stays on the schedule until Easter. (Mander, p. 10-11).
At first screening an audience member might think the purpose of Tartuffe is to expose the despicable religious hypocrite that men like Tartuffe can be, however; Professor Lyman Allen Baker from Kansas State University points out that the supposed victim is much more to blame than he seems. Professor Baker explains that Orgon, the supposed victim, is an example of a type of Traditional Christian. Orgon is eager to believe Tartuffe for multiple reasons but one of these is that the type of Christianity Tartuffe is pretending to follow and Orgon follows, Moliere regards as insane. "According to this picture, mankind is totally depraved as a result of Original Sin, and therefore has to be subjected, for its own good, to dictatorial control by divinely appointed authorities (good puritan fathers [heads of households], for example)." (Baker). As a result, Tartuffe is a parody of St. Augustine's authoritarian Christianity rather than warning the public that these hypocrites exist.
The view that Moliere and Louis XIV shared was that original sin could be baptized away and that sin thereafter was inevitable. Because of this Moliere's Character Cleante in Tartuffe defends this view as reasonable believing that God would want us to enjoy our earthly existence rather than to curse it like Orgon. Orgon was at the point of his life where he realized his children were growing up and that he was getting old. Thinking he was doing the best for his family by being strict and bossy to get them to stay pure in God's eyes he nearly ruined their lives.