In this brilliant piece Molière lifted French comedy to a new level and gave it a new purpose-the satirizing of contemporary manners and affectations by frank portrayal and criticism. The first of the greater works of Molière was "Les Précieuses Ridicules," produced in 1659. On February 17, 1673, while acting in "La Malade Imaginaire," the last of his masterpieces, he was seized with illness and died a few hours later. Nor did he find much solace at home for he married unfortunately, and the unhappiness that followed increased the bitterness that public hostility had brought into his life. He had his share of applause from the king and from the public but the satire in his comedies made him many enemies, and he was the object of the most venomous attacks and the most impossible slanders. His life was spent in Paris and in the provinces, acting, directing performances, managing theaters, and writing plays. Born at Paris in January, 1622, where his father held a position in the royal household, he was educated at the Jesuit College de Clermont, and for some time studied law, which he soon abandoned for the stage. Jean Baptiste Poquelin, better known by his stage name of Molière, stands without a rival at the head of French comedy. This online edition was created and published by Global Grey on the 26th September 2021. This translation by Curtis Hidden Page was originally published in 1909.
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