Molière

Molière (1622–1673), born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, was a French playwright, actor, and troupe leader who made social observation inseparable from stage comedy. Tartuffe exposes religious hypocrisy through a household whose trust is captured by a calculating impostor. The Imaginary Invalid turns fear of illness and dependence on medical authority into physical comedy, while The Miser places money at the center of parental power, marriage, and suspicion. The Misanthrope darkens the comic field: Alceste's demand for absolute honesty becomes both a critique of polite society and a source of private failure. Repetition, interruption, disguise, and misunderstanding give these plays their speed, but the laughter continually reveals who controls speech, property, and reputation. Tartuffe opens hypocrisy and belief; The Imaginary Invalid shows the stage machinery, while The Misanthrope adds inward conflict.