Moliere (real name - Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) - an outstanding French comedian, theatrical figure, actor, stage art reformer, creator of classical comedy - was born in Paris. It is known that he was baptized on January 15, 1622. His father was a royal upholsterer and valet, the family lived very well. From 1636, Jean Baptiste was educated at a prestigious educational institution - the Jesuit Clermont College, in 1639, upon graduation, he became a licentiate of rights, but preferred the theater to the work of an artisan or lawyer.

In 1643, Molière was the organizer of the "Brilliant Theatre". The first documentary mention of his pseudonym dates back to January 1644. The troupe, despite the name, was far from brilliant, due to debts in 1645. Molière even went to prison twice, and the actors had to leave the capital to tour the provinces for twelve years. Due to problems with the repertoire of the Brilliant Theater, Jean Baptiste began to compose plays himself. This period of his biography served as an excellent school of life, turning him into an excellent director and actor, an experienced administrator, and prepared him for future resounding success as a playwright.

The troupe, which returned to the capital in 1656, performed at the Royal Theater the play The Doctor in Love based on Molière's play to Louis XIV, who was delighted with it. After that, the troupe played until 1661 in the Petit-Bourbon court theater provided by the monarch (subsequently, until the death of the comedian, the Palais-Royal theater was its place of work). The comedy The Funny Pretenders, staged in 1659, was the first success with the general public.

After the position of Molière in Paris was established, a period of intensive dramaturgical, directorial work begins, which will last until his death. For a decade and a half (1658-1673) Moliere wrote plays that are considered the best in his creative heritage. The turning point was the comedies The School for Husbands (1661) and The School for Wives (1662), which demonstrate the author's departure from farce and his turn to socio-psychological comedies of education.

Moliere's plays were a resounding success with the public, with rare exceptions - when the works became the object of severe criticism of certain social groups that were hostile to the author. This was due to the fact that Moliere, who had almost never resorted to social satire before, created images of representatives of the upper strata of society in his mature works, attacking their vices with all the might of his talent. In particular, after the appearance of "Tartuffe" in 1663, a loud scandal erupted in society. The influential "Society of Holy Gifts" banned the play. And only in 1669, when reconciliation came between Louis XIV and the Church, the comedy saw the light, while in the first year the performance was shown more than 60 times. The staging of Don Juan in 1663 also caused a huge resonance, but due to the efforts of the enemies, Molière's creation was no longer staged during his lifetime.

As his fame grew, he became closer to the court and increasingly put on plays specially timed to coincide with court holidays, turning them into grandiose shows. The playwright was the founder of a special theatrical genre - comedy-ballet.

In February 1673, Moliere's troupe staged The Imaginary Sick, in which he played the main role, despite the ailment that tormented him (most likely, he suffered from tuberculosis). Right at the performance, he lost consciousness and on the night of February 17-18 he died without confession and repentance. The funeral according to religious canons took place only thanks to the petition of his widow to the monarch. So that a scandal would not break out, the outstanding playwright was buried at night.

Molière is credited with creating the classic comedy genre. In the Comédie Française alone, based on the plays by Jean Baptiste Poquelin, more than thirty thousand performances were shown. Until now, his immortal comedies are “The Tradesman in the Nobility”, “The Miser”, “Misanthrope”, “School of Wives”, “Imaginary Sick”, “Tricks of Scapen” and many others. others - are included in the repertoire of various theaters of the world, without losing their relevance and causing applause.

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (fr. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin), stage name - Molière (fr. Molière; January 15, 1622, Paris - February 17, 1673, ibid.) - French comedian of the 17th century, creator of classical comedy, actor and director by profession theater, better known as the troupe of Moliere (Troupe de Molière, 1643-1680).

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin came from an old bourgeois family, for several centuries engaged in the craft of upholsterers and draperies.

Jean-Baptiste's father, Jean Poquelin (1595-1669), was the court upholsterer and valet of Louis XIII and sent his son to the prestigious Jesuit school - Clermont College (now the Lyceum of Louis the Great in Paris), where Jean-Baptiste thoroughly studied Latin, so he read freely in the original of Roman authors and even, according to legend, translated into French Lucretius' philosophical poem "On the Nature of Things" After graduating from college in 1639, Jean-Baptiste passed the exam in Orleans for the title of licentiate of rights.

A legal career attracted him no more than his father's craft, and Jean-Baptiste chose the profession of an actor, taking the theatrical pseudonym Molière.

After meeting the comedians Joseph and Madeleine Béjart, at the age of 21, Molière became the head of the Illustre Théâtre, a new Parisian troupe of 10 actors, registered by the metropolitan notary on June 30, 1643. Having entered into fierce competition with the troupes of the Burgundy Hotel and the Marais, already popular in Paris, the Brilliant Theater loses in 1645. Molière and his fellow actors decide to seek their fortune in the provinces by joining a troupe of itinerant comedians led by Dufresne.

Moliere's wanderings in the French provinces for 13 years (1645-1658) during the years of the civil war (Fronde) enriched him with worldly and theatrical experience.

Since 1645, Molière and his friends come to Dufresne, and in 1650 he leads the troupe.

The repertory hunger of Molière's troupe was the impetus for the beginning of his dramatic work. So the years of Molière's theatrical studies became the years of his author's studies. Many farcical scenarios he composed in the provinces have disappeared. Only the plays “The Jealousy of Barbouille” (La jalousie du Barbouillé) and “The Flying Doctor” (Le médécin volant) have survived, the belonging of which to Molière is not entirely reliable.

The titles of a number of similar plays played by Moliere in Paris after his return from the provinces are also known (“Gros-Rene schoolboy”, “Doctor-pedant”, “Gorgibus in a bag”, “Plan-plan”, “Three Doctors”, “Kazakin” , “The feigned goof”, “The brushwood binder”), and these titles echo the situations of Moliere’s later farces (for example, “Gorgibus in a sack” and “Scapin's Tricks”, d. III, sc. II). These plays testify to the influence of the old farce tradition on the major comedies of his adulthood.

The farcical repertoire performed by the troupe of Molière under his direction and with his participation as an actor contributed to the strengthening of its reputation. It increased even more after Molière composed two great comedies in verse - “Naughty, or Everything at random” (L’Étourdi ou les Contretemps, 1655) and “Love Annoyance” (Le dépit amoureux, 1656), written in the manner of Italian literary comedy. Borrowings from various old and new comedies are layered on the main plot, which is a free imitation of Italian authors, in accordance with the principle attributed to Moliere "take your good wherever he finds it." The interest of both plays is reduced to the development of comic situations and intrigue; the characters in them are developed very superficially.

Molière's troupe gradually achieved success and fame, and in 1658, at the invitation of the 18-year-old Monsieur, the king's younger brother, she returned to Paris.

In Paris, Molière's troupe made its debut on 24 October 1658 at the Louvre Palace in presence. The lost farce "The Doctor in Love" was a huge success and decided the fate of the troupe: the king gave her the Petit Bourbon court theater, in which she played until 1661, until she moved to the Palais Royal theater, where she already remained until the death of Molière.

From the moment Moliere settled in Paris, a period of his feverish dramatic work began, the intensity of which did not weaken until his death. During those 15 years from 1658 to 1673 Molière created all his best plays, causing, with few exceptions, fierce attacks from social groups hostile to him.

The Parisian period of Molière's activity opens with the one-act comedy The Funny Pretenders (French Les précieuses ridicules, 1659). In this first, completely original, play, Molière made a bold attack against the pretentiousness and mannerisms of speech, tone and manner that prevailed in aristocratic salons, which was widely reflected in literature and had a strong influence on young people (mainly its female part). Comedy painfully hurt the most prominent minnows. Moliere's enemies achieved a two-week ban on the comedy, after which it was canceled with double success.

January 23, 1662 Molière signed a marriage contract with Armande Béjart, Madeleine's younger sister. He is 40 years old, Armande is 20. Against all the decorum of the time, only the closest people were invited to the wedding. The wedding ceremony took place on February 20, 1662 in the Parisian church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerroy.

The comedy The School of Husbands (L'école des maris, 1661), which is closely related to the even more mature comedy The School of Wives (L'école des femmes, 1662), which followed it, marks Molière's turn from farce to socio-psychological comedy. education. Here Molière raises questions of love, marriage, attitudes towards women and family arrangements. The lack of monosyllabism in the characters and actions of the characters makes the "School of Husbands" and especially the "School of Wives" a major step forward towards the creation of a comedy of characters, overcoming the primitive schematism of the farce. At the same time, the "School of Wives" is incomparably deeper and thinner than the "School of Husbands", which in relation to it is, as it were, a sketch, a light sketch.

Such satirically pointed comedies could not but provoke fierce attacks from the enemies of the playwright. Molière answered them with a polemical play, La critique de L'École des femmes (1663). Defending himself against accusations of gaerstvo, he expounded here with great dignity his credo of a comic poet (“to delve into the ridiculous side of human nature and amusingly depict the shortcomings of society on stage”) and ridiculed the superstitious admiration for the “rules” of Aristotle. This protest against the pedantic fetishization of the "rules" reveals Moliere's independent position in relation to French classicism, to which, however, he adjoined in his dramatic practice.

In Le mariage forcé (1664) Marriage involuntarily, Molière raised the genre to great height, having achieved an organic connection between comedic (farcical) and ballet elements. In The Princess of Elis (La princesse d'Elide, 1664), Moliere went the opposite way, inserting clownish ballet interludes into a pseudo-antique lyric-pastoral plot. This was the beginning of two types of comedy-ballet, which were developed by Molière and further.

"Tartuffe" (Le Tartuffe, 1664-1669). Directed against the clergy, this mortal enemy of the theater and all secular bourgeois culture, in the first edition the comedy contained three acts and depicted a hypocrite priest. In this form, it was staged in Versailles at the festival "The Amusements of the Magic Island" on May 12, 1664 under the name "Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite" (Tartuffe, ou L'hypocrite) and caused discontent from religious organization Société du Saint Sacrement. In the image of Tartuffe, the Society saw a satire on its members and achieved the prohibition of Tartuffe. Molière defended his play in the "Placet" (Placet) addressed to the king, in which he directly wrote that "the originals have achieved the prohibition of the copy." But this request came to nothing. Then Molière weakened the sharp places, renamed Tartuffe to Panyulf and took off his cassock. In a new form, the comedy, which had 5 acts and was entitled "The Deceiver" (L'imposteur), was allowed to be presented, but after the first performance on August 5, 1667, it was again withdrawn. Only a year and a half later, Tartuffe was finally presented in the 3rd final edition.

Written by the terminally ill Molière, comedy "Imaginary Sick"- one of the most cheerful and cheerful of his comedies. At her 4th performance on February 17, 1673, Molière, who played the role of Argan, felt ill and did not finish the performance. He was taken home and died a few hours later. The archbishop of Paris forbade the burial of an unrepentant sinner (the actors on his deathbed were supposed to repent) and lifted the ban only at the direction of the king. The greatest playwright of France was buried at night, without rites, outside the cemetery fence, where suicides were buried.

Plays by Molière:

Jealousy of Barbullieu, farce (1653)
The Flying Physician, farce (1653)
Shaly, or Everything out of place, a comedy in verse (1655)
Love Annoyance, comedy (1656)
Funny coynesses, comedy (1659)
Sganarelle, or the Pretending Cuckold, comedy (1660)
Don Garcia of Navarre, or the Jealous Prince, comedy (1661)
School of Husbands, comedy (1661)
Boring, comedy (1661)
School for Wives, comedy (1662)
Criticism of the School for Wives, comedy (1663)
Versailles Impromptu (1663)
Reluctant marriage, farce (1664)
Princess of Elis, gallant comedy (1664)
Tartuffe, or the Deceiver, comedy (1664)
Don Juan, or the Stone Feast, comedy (1665)
Love the Healer, comedy (1665)
Misanthrope, comedy (1666)
The Reluctant Doctor, comedy (1666)
Melisert, pastoral comedy (1666, unfinished)
Comic pastoral (1667)
The Sicilian, or Love the Painter, comedy (1667)
Amphitryon, comedy (1668)
Georges Dandin, or The Fooled Husband, comedy (1668)
Miser, comedy (1668)
Monsieur de Poursonac, comedy-ballet (1669)
Brilliant Lovers, comedy (1670)
Tradesman in the nobility, comedy-ballet (1670)
Psyche, tragedy-ballet (1671, in collaboration with Philippe Cinema and Pierre Corneille)
The Antics of Scapin, comedy-farce (1671)
The Countess d'Escarbagna, comedy (1671)
Learned Women, comedy (1672)
The imaginary patient, a comedy with music and dancing (1673)

Missing plays by Molière:

Doctor in Love, farce (1653)
Three Rival Doctors, farce (1653)
Schoolmaster, farce (1653)
Kazakin, farce (1653)
Gorgibus in a sack, farce (1653)
Whisperer, farce (1653)
Jealousy of the Gros Resnais, farce (1663)
Gros Rene schoolboy, farce (1664)

In 1622, a boy was born in the Poquelin family. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but in the church books there is an entry dated January 15, reporting on his baptism under the name Jean-Baptiste. The child's parents, Jean and Marie, got married in April of the previous year. They were good Catholics, and therefore, over the next three years, Jean-Baptiste had two brothers - Louis and Jean, as well as a sister, Marie. It must be said that the Poklenov family was not simple - Jean-Baptiste's grandfather served as the first court upholsterer and valet of the king. When my grandfather died in 1626, Jean-Baptiste's uncle Nicola succeeded his position and title. But five years later, Nicola sold this position to the father of the future comedian.

In 1632, Marie Poquelin died, and Molière's father remarried, to Catherine Fleurette. A girl was born from this marriage, and almost simultaneously Jean-Baptiste was assigned to Clermont College. At the age of fifteen, the boy, following the family tradition, becomes a member of the upholstery shop, without interrupting his studies at the college. Over the next three years, he studied law and in 1640 became a lawyer. But he was not attracted to jurisprudence at all.

The young lawyer plunges headlong into social life and becomes a regular at Councilor Lhuillier's house. It was here that he met such prominent people as Bernier, Gassendi and Cyrano de Bergerac, who would become his true friend. Young Poquelin absorbs Pierre Gassendi's philosophy of joy and attends all of his lectures. According to the theory of the philosopher, the world was created not by the mind of God, but by self-creating matter, and is obliged to serve the joys of man. Such thoughts fascinated Poquelin, and under their influence he made his first literary translation - it was Lucretius's poem "On the Nature of Things."

On January 6, 1643, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin takes a step that surprised everyone - he categorically refuses the position of upholsterer of the royal court that he inherited and gives the position to his brother - and absolutely free of charge. His career as a lawyer is also over. The first step towards a new life was moving into a rented apartment in the Maare quarter. The Bejart acting family lived not far from this apartment. June 30, 1643 Béjart, Jean-Baptiste and five other actors sign a contract for the founding of the Brilliant Theater. The theater, on which its founders pinned a lot of hopes, opened on January 1, 1644 - and a year later it completely went bankrupt. However, this enterprise gave the world a name adopted by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin as a pseudonym - Molière. Since it was he who was the director of the theater, after the bankruptcy he spent several days in a debtor's prison in Chatelet.

Freed, Molière leaves for the provinces, and several actors of the ruined theater go with him. They all joined the Dufresne troupe, which was under the auspices of the Duke de Epernon. For several years, Molière moved from city to city with a wandering troupe, and in 1650, when the duke refused to support the artists, Molière led the troupe. Two years later, the premiere of the comedy "Naughty or All Out of Place" took place - its author was Molière himself. After watching the comedy, Prince Conti showed his favor to the troupe, and later the comedian would become his secretary.

The French theater of those times mainly staged alterations of medieval farces, and therefore the meeting of Molière in Lyon in 1655 with Italian artists was, one might say, significant. He was very interested in the Italian theater of masks - both as a comedian, and as an actor, and as a director. The main ones on the stage were masks, among which the four main ones stood out - Harlequin (a rogue and a fool), Brighella (a dodgy and evil peasant), Doctor and Pantalone (a stingy merchant). Actually, the "commedia dell'arte" was a theater of improvisations. A flexible script plan was strung with text, which the actor practically created himself during the game. Molière enthusiastically set about sketching roles, plots and adapting "del arte" to French life. In the late work of the great comedian, masked characters are quite recognizable, and perhaps it was they who made his plays close and understandable to the people.

The fame of the troupe of talented actors is growing, and they begin to tour such big cities like Grenoble, Lyon and Rouen. In 1658, the troupe decides to perform in Paris. Moliere goes to the capital and literally seeks the patronage of Monsieur - Philippe d'Orleans, brother of the king. The thrifty Madeleine Bejart, who by that time had accumulated a sufficient amount, rented a hall for performances in Paris for a whole year and a half. In the autumn of the same year, Moliere's troupe plays at the Louvre for the courtiers and the king himself. Corneille's tragedy "Nycomedes" was the first to be performed. This choice turned out to be unsuccessful, but Molière's "Doctor in Love" not only corrected the situation, but caused a storm of applause. After watching the comedy, Louis XIV ordered that a hall in the Petit-Bourbon Palace be transferred to Molière for the theater.

The second success among Molière's plays was the premiere of The Funny Pretenders in Paris (November 18, 1659). It is curious that in the documents of Peter the Great, sheets were found on which the first Russian emperor personally translated this comedy into Russian.

Molière did not bother inventing names for his characters and often used either the real names of the actors in his troupe or symbolic names. For example, in "Funny Cossacks" the name of one of the characters - Mascaril - is derived from "mask". But classicism in Moliere's dramaturgy quickly gave way to the creation of new genres. Before moving to Paris, Moliere composed plays of a more entertaining nature. However, the change in the audience prompted the author to use more sophisticated methods, and, accordingly, the tasks also changed. Moliere's plays become revealing and directly show the audience themselves - without any condescension. Molière took a pretty big risk, creating images in which the aristocrats recognized themselves. Plays begin to scourge hypocrisy, swagger, stupidity in a parodic style, and their author has certainly reached unthinkable heights in depicting these vices.

However, Moliere was lucky - his risky creations came in very handy for Louis XIV. The meaning of the plays perfectly resonated with the tasks of the sun king, who was in a hurry to put an end to the opposition in parliament and turn parliamentarians into obedient courtiers. Since 1660, Moliere's troupe has received a full royal pension and has been working in the Palais Royal. Then Moliere decided to arrange his personal life and married Armande Bejart, but twenty years of difference played a cruel joke - the marriage was not very successful. But the marriage of Moliere, as, indeed, of almost any famous person, gave rise to a lot of rumors. It was even claimed that Armande is not a sister, but the daughter of Molière's stage friend Madeleine. Note that biographers cannot refute this gossip to this day.

But not only gossip overshadowed the life of a comedian at that time. Serious attacks begin on him, they try to denigrate his reputation in a variety of ways. Moliere was accused of violating literally all moral and aesthetic laws, but the comedian brilliantly answered all the accusations with his plays. This happens in The Critique of A Lesson to Wives, and in the magnificent Versailles Impromptu, and in many other magnificent plays. Moliere's characters speak openly, and in their judgments follow common sense rather than moral prejudice. Perhaps the theater of Moliere would have been closed, but this unfortunate event was prevented from happening by the unfailing support of the young king. The favor of Louis XIV was so great that the comedian was even invited to stage a brilliant May Day celebration at Versailles in 1664.

At the same time, Molière wrote the comedy The Boring Ones and the first three acts of Tartuffe. However, "Tartuffe" aroused the wrath of the Parisian priests, and at their request the play still had to be banned. The saints generally offered to send Moliere to the stake, but, fortunately, the matter did not come to that. It must be said that an exceptionally powerful force was behind the attack on the playwright - the "Society of the Holy Gifts", which is under the patronage of the Queen Mother. Even the king could not push "Tartuffe" onto the stage, and for the first time a much softened version called "The Deceiver" was shown in 1667 - after the death of Anna of Austria. Although main character instead of the robe of a monk, he wore a secular camisole, the very next day the Paris court ruled to ban the production. It wasn't until 1669 that Tartuffe was played as we know it today. However, attempts to impose a ban on the play did not stop, which is the best evidence of the sharpness and accuracy with which Moliere diagnosed and castigated the vices of society. The name "Tartuffe" has forever become a household name for a hypocrite and a deceiver.

However, gradually the king loses interest in the works of Moliere, and, moreover, the playwright is exhausted by family troubles. But he continues to work, creating a kind of trilogy of Tartuffe, Don Giovanni (1665), which was banned from showing after fifteen performances, and The Misanthrope (1666). By the way, many literary critics perceive the main character of The Misanthrope as a direct predecessor of Chatsky from the comedy Woe from Wit.

During this difficult time, Moliere not only writes plays, but also continues to work in the theater. His comedies are magnificent, which not only entertain, but also provide food for the mind - "The Miser" (1668), "The Learned Women" and "The Tradesman in the Nobility" (1672), "The Imaginary Sick" (1673). The most surprising thing is that during the life of Moliere there was only one edition of his plays - printed in 1666 in the printing house of Guillaume de Luynes. The first book of the two-volume edition had almost six hundred pages.

The career of the great playwright had a tragic end. Moliere was long and seriously ill (it is believed that he died of tuberculosis). In the comedy The Imaginary Sick, staged in February 1673, the author played the main role. The fourth performance of The Imaginary Sick ended with Moliere losing consciousness on the stage. He was taken away, and after another half an hour he began to bleed from the lungs.

However, after death, unforeseen, but understandable circumstances arose. The parish priest, by his authority, forbade the burial of the ashes of Molière in the cemetery. Only the appeal of the widow of the comedian to the king made it possible to obtain permission for a religious burial.

Seven years later, in 1680, Louis XIV signed a decree that united Molière's troupe with the artists of the Burgundy Hotel. So a new theater arose - the famous "Comedy Francaise", which is also called the "House of Moliere". The Comédie Francaise has staged Molière's plays on its stage over thirty thousand times.

Jean-Baptiste Molière.

The 17th century is the century of the theatre. To the people who are too poorly literate, he is the theater - EVERYTHING! The artist is his servant.

He is everywhere. He is everywhere, he is oncoming-transverse;
Spagon-bearing smerd; the needs of the wanderer eternal;
parrot of the Lord; always funny looking
He is full of stupidity, but he masters it,
A skillful swimmer in her boundless seas;
A living mirror of fleeting moments;
Amusing Aristipus; in the temple of laughter guard;
Shadow embodied; chattering mirage. (Constantine Haygens)

The playwright is the God of the theatre, its Creator. Monsieur de Molière was the god of the theatre, and he also had the great honor of being bedridden for many years by King Louis XIV. He made the royal bed with dignity and a sense of accomplishment. He was proud of his position. Such was the time, such were the circumstances of life.

The Russian writer Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov, who devoted many pages of his work to the life of Mr. de Molière, was mentally transported to the 17th century and appeared before the astonished gaze of “a certain midwife who studied her art in the obstetric House of God in Paris. On January 13, 1622, she received the first child from the dearest Madame Poquelin - a premature male infant. I can say with confidence, - the writer writes, - that if I had a chance to explain to the venerable midwife exactly whom she was taking, it is possible that from excitement this midwife would cause some harm to the baby, and at the same time to France.

“Wax candles are burning in front of me, and my brain is inflamed,” Mikhail Afanasyevich recalls the event that occurred in his imagination.

Seeing the baby in the hands of the midwife, he turns to her:

Madam! Turn the baby around carefully! Do not forget that he was born prematurely. The death of this baby would mean a grave loss for the whole country!

My God! Madame Poquelin will give birth to another.

Madame Poquelin will never again give birth to such a thing, and no other lady will give birth to such a thing for several centuries.

You amaze me, sir. I have held more noble babies in my arms.

What do you understand by the word noble? This baby will become more famous than your king, Louis XIII, who is now alive. He will become more famous than the next king, madam, and this king will be called Louis the Great or the Sun King. This baby was born to the applause of the Muses. The words of this child will be translated into many languages ​​of the world.

Is it possible, sir? - the midwife was inexpressibly amazed.

I could name dozens of writers who have been translated into foreign languages, while they do not even deserve to be printed in their own language. Scientists various countries they will write detailed studies of the works of this child and will try to trace his mysterious life step by step. They will prove to you that this very man, who now shows only faint signs of life in your hands, will influence many writers of future centuries.

Let us, like Mikhail Afanasyevich, allow ourselves to fantasize a little about the birth of the great playwright of the world, who saw the first glimmers of light in France. We know that when great rulers and conquerors of the world are born, their mothers, as a rule, see the violence of the elements of nature in their visionary dreams. And what dreams did mother Poquelin, who was afraid of the first birth, dream about? Perhaps, instead of thunder and lightning, she dreamed of various letters pouring from heaven in an endless stream? And another dream is also possible: is the jester and the king sitting peacefully and talking to each other? But suddenly her dream was filled with terrible visions: clods of earth, rotten eggs and rotten apples are flying at her boy?

Was a newborn baby able to shout to the world about his appearance, or was his premature body not strong enough for this, and he, like a small kitten, only squeaked softly, in the depths of his subconscious feeling that his hour would come, and he would be able to speak out loud?

Who knows about it?..

It is thoroughly known that the boy was born in the family of a court furniture upholsterer and decorator, now he would be called a designer, Mr. Jean Baptiste Poquelin. A sufficiently high position of the father of the child provided him with a decent material existence. However, fate does not put all the delicious peas in one spoon. She will definitely take something.

“In the spring of 1632, the tender mother of little Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, who later took the literary pseudonym Molière, fell ill. Her eyes were bright and worried. In one month, she became so thin that it was difficult to recognize her, and bad spots bloomed on her pale cheeks. Then the poor thing began to cough up blood, and doctors began to come to the house on mules, in sinister caps. On May 15, the plump little contemplator wept bitterly, wiped his tears with dirty fists, and the whole house wept with him. Quiet Marie Poquelin lay motionless, her arms crossed over her chest.

When she was buried, it was like continuous twilight in the house. The father fell into melancholy and absent-mindedness, and several times his first-born saw him sitting alone in the twilight and crying on summer evenings. The contemplative was upset by this and wandered around the house, not knowing what to do with him. But then the father stopped crying and often visited a certain family. And then the eleven-year-old Jean-Baptiste was announced that he would have a new mother. (M. Bulgakov)

The new mother, in all likelihood, was a kind woman. In any case, there is no evidence in history that she treated her stepson badly. The native grandfather of little Poquelin, who had lost his beloved daughter, turned all his attention to his grandson and began to take him to all the theater establishments in Paris. The fact is that grandfather Louis Cresset was fascinated by this world, could not live without it, and wholeheartedly wanted to give it to his granddaughter. And he did it in the best possible way.

“In the eyes of Jean-Baptiste, spinning, as in a carousel, flying smeared with flour and paint or disguised pedants, doctors, stingy old men, boastful and cowardly captains. To the laughter of the public, frivolous wives deceived grouchy fools of their husbands, and farcical gossip panders rattled like magpies. Cunning, dexterous as fluff, the servants led the old men by the nose, beat the old bastards with sticks and stuffed them into bags. And the walls of the theater called the Burgunsky Hotel shook with the laughter of the French. Grandfather and grandson laughed and applauded together with them.” (M. Bulgakov)

But one cannot live in theater alone. A boy from a wealthy family had to study, and his father managed to place him in such a prestigious educational institution that he was not disdained even by persons of royal blood. Three princes studied at the same time as the upholsterer's son. At the age of nineteen, Jean-Baptiste received a degree in law and stayed in it for some time. But not for long. This life path was not to his liking.

Added fuel to the fire of confrontation everyday life famous actress Madeleine Bejart in those days. “Madeleine was red-haired, charming in manner, intelligent, possessed fine taste and, besides, - which, of course, is a great rarity - she is literary educated and wrote poetry herself. Besides, she was admittedly a real big talent. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that Madeleine enjoyed great success with men.

At the age of twenty, she gave birth to a girl, christened Francoise. Her father was the Comte de Moden. The actress Bejart not only did not hide her connection with de Moden, but, on the contrary, as far as one can understand at least from the act of baptism of her daughter, she advertised. The godfather of the girl was the young son of the Comte de Modena. Jean-Baptiste by this time had managed to get behind the scenes of the theater, and there is nothing surprising in the fact that the charming fire-haired actress completely captivated a young man who was four years younger than her. (M. Bulgakov)

Surprisingly successful and beautiful actress drew attention to a very yellow-mouthed young man and gave him her life. Jean-Baptiste, who fell in love with her and never stopped loving the theater, resolutely told his father that he was leaving the prestigious legal field forever and leaving for the theatrical stage. To this the father replied: in that case I deprive him of his inheritance. Apparently, for the future comedian, training in legal practice was not in vain and he managed to take a certain amount from the enraged father from the part of the Poquelin family's property that was due to him. He invested all this money in the creation of a theater troupe. Madeleine also invested her money there.

The theater troupe reappeared in Paris rented a dirty and cramped hall, but at the same time proudly took on a magnificent and majestic name - "Brilliant Theater". Such an action was quite in the nature of Molière. He is self-confident. “He is hot-tempered. He had sudden mood swings. He easily moved from moments of fun to moments of heavy reflection. He finds funny sides in people and loves to joke about it. At times, he inadvertently falls into frankness. At other times, he tries to be secretive and cunning. At other moments he was recklessly brave, but at once he could fall into indecision and cowardice. It must be said that under these conditions a difficult life awaited him, and he successfully made many enemies for himself.

So, the theater of Molière is in front of us. In the damp and gloomy hall, tallow candles were burning in crappy tin chandeliers. And the squeak of four violins did not at all resemble the thunder of a large orchestra. Great playwrights did not look here. Molière stuttered on the stage, and the devil, into whose clutches he really fell, as soon as he contacted the comedians, inspired him to play tragic roles.

Every day things got worse and worse. The audience acted ugly and indulged in dark antics, such as swearing aloud during the performance. Madeleine, a wonderful actress, but she alone could not act out the whole tragedy! Oh dear friend of Jean-Baptiste Molière! She made every effort to save the theater, named Brilliant. When her old lover, the Comte de Moden, appeared in Paris after the exile, Madeleine turned to him, and he procured the theater the right to be called the Troupe of His Royal Highness Prince Gaston of Orleans. This name provided a more or less worthy material existence.

But success and decent income did not come. When Madeleine's savings ran out, the Children of the Family went to the market to Poquelin the father. The most painful scene took place in the shop. In response to a request for a loan of money, Poquelin at first could not utter a single word. And... imagine, he gave money. Then the tenant appeared before the comedians and asked whether they would pay the rent or not. He was given a vague answer filled with oaths and promises.

So get out of here! exclaimed the tenant. “Together with their violins and red-haired actresses.

The latter was already superfluous, because there was only one redhead in the group, Madeleine.

I was about to leave this filthy ditch myself! cried Molière, and the brotherhood rushed after their commander.

Soon the leader of the theater was taken to prison. Behind him came the usurer, the linen maker, and the candle-maker. Again they ran to Poquelin the father.

How? .. You? .. - Jean-Baptiste Poquelin said in a gasp. - You ... Did you come? .. Again to me? .. What is it?

He's in jail, Monsieur Poquelin, and we won't say anything more. He's in jail!

Father Poquelin ... gave money.

But then lenders rushed from all sides, and Molière would not have left prison until the end of his life, if Leonard Aubry had not vouched for the debt of the Brilliant Theater, who at one time built a brilliant and useless, due to the non-arrival of spectators, a pavement in front of the entrance of the first Moliere theater.

May the name of Leonard Aubrey pass on to posterity!

And yet, despite all efforts, in the fall of 1645, the Brilliant Theater ceased to exist. Three difficult years, debts, usurers, prison and humiliation dramatically changed Molière. At the corners of his lips there were caustic folds of experience, but as soon as he peered into his face to understand that no misfortunes would stop him, because this man could not become either a lawyer, or a notary, or a furniture dealer, he could only be a comedian. .

Today, standing in front of the red-haired Madeleine was a seasoned professional twenty-four-year-old actor who had seen all sorts of things. The remnants of his caftan dangled from his shoulders, and in his pockets, as he paced about the room, the last sous jangled. The completely burned-out head of the Brilliant Theater went up to the window and in virtuoso terms cursed Paris with all its suburbs. He chatted for a long time, but finally, in despair, he asked his beloved and the leading actress of his theater:

Now will you leave me too?

The red-haired Madeleine listened to all this nonsense, paused, and then the lovers began to whisper and whisper until morning. How else. After all

Sacred fire of the first feelings of love
It burns with such unchanging power,
That life must forever deprive yourself
Rather than allow a second love.

When the Brilliant Theater died, Molière brought out the remnants of a loyal fraternal army from under the ruins and put it on wheels. This man could not exist without a theater for a single second, and he had the strength to move to the position of a wandering comedian, swallowing the dust of French roads.

At first, the nomads had an extremely difficult time. It happened that they had to sleep in the hayloft, and play in the villages - in the sheds, hanging some dirty rags instead of curtains. Sometimes, however, the actors ended up in rich castles, and if the noble owner out of boredom expressed a desire to see the comedians, the servants of Melpomene, dirty and smelling of road sweat, played in the reception rooms.

The clergy, on the other hand, met the hypocrites everywhere with uniform hostility. Then it was necessary to resort to cunning tricks, for example, to offer the first collection in favor of the monastery or for the needs of charity. In this way, very often it was possible to save the performance.

In one of the wagons, under the vigilant care and supervision of Madeleine, a new creature rode. This creature was only ten years old, and it was an ugly, but very lively, intelligent and coquettish girl. Madeleine explained the appearance of the girl as follows: this is her little sister.

Once a beggarly existence receded, and the actors managed to linger in the ducal possessions. For the first time they heard the pleasant chime of gold coins. And here one very important circumstance became clear. It turned out that Monsieur Molière felt an inclination not only to acting in performances, but also to writing plays himself. Despite the hard labor of the day, he began to compose things at night in a dramatic way.

It is somewhat strange that a person who has devoted himself to the study of tragedy and was considered to be in a tragic role does not return to tragedy at all in his writings, but writes cheerful, reckless one-act farces. Moliere's companions liked these farces very much, and they were introduced into the repertoire. And here we meet with another oddity. Biggest Success in these farces, Moliere himself began to use the public, playing funny roles. After the premiere of his farces, the audience rushed to the box office shaft. There was a case when two nobles mortally quarreled in a stampede and fought a duel for an extra ticket.

But how to explain such oddities? Why is this? The tragic failed in the tragic, but was successful in the comic? There can only be one explanation, and a very simple one. It was not the world that was blind, as Molière, who considered himself sighted, believed, but it was just the opposite: the world saw superbly, and only Monsieur de Molière was blind. And, oddly enough, over a very long period of time. He alone among all those around him did not understand that by nature he was a brilliant comic actor, but he could not be a tragedian. Both Madeleine's gentle hints and roundabout speeches of her comrades did not help at all: the troupe commander stubbornly strove to play roles that were not his own. This was one of the reasons for the tragedy of the fall of the Brilliant Theater. She hid in Molière itself.

In the theater that felt successful, new young actresses began to appear. Jean-Baptiste fell first, struck down by one of them. Passion seized him, and he began to seek reciprocity. So, in front of Madeleine, who endured all the hardships of nomadic life, Molière's romance broke out. He was unsuccessful." (M. Bulgakov)

But Jean-Baptiste did not stop this. In a cold refusal, he saw something else:

I am always glad to appreciate the mystery in love.
Sweeter victory to us, since there are many obstacles,
And fills our soul with bliss with pure light
The slightest conversation when he's banned.

Neither conversations nor courtship could lead to a love victory. And Molière kept dragging after the beautiful actress. Perhaps she was not as good as he thought, perhaps he later noticed this, and put his own experience into a poetic form, forever telling about the eternal truth: that love is blind:

The lover is always proud of his choice.
Everything is an extra reason to be praised.
Love is always prone to blindness:
She considers any vice for quality:
And in virtue he will produce it.
Pale - only a branch can compare with her jasmine;
Black to horror - a lovely brunette;
Huda - so nothing is easier and slimmer;
Tolst - the greatness of posture can be seen in it;
Small as a dwarf - then small miracle;
Hulk - fate is a sweet whim;
Sloppy, feminine charms and taste deprived -
The beauty is full of careless charm;
Be cunning - a rare mind, be a fool - a meek angel;
Be an intolerable talkative ratchet -
Gift of eloquence; silent as a stump always -
Bashful and modest, and virginally proud.
So if in a lover the impulses of feelings are deep,
In the creature he loves, he also loves vices.

Moliere's second love did not take place, but he never returned to Madeleine. It was rumored that a third novel had played out - and it turned out to be successful. Poor Madeleine, who had been spinning men's heads in the recent past, felt abandoned. A few years later, she will utter a monologue of an unfortunate wife, from a play not yet written by Moliere:

He gives affection to others, perhaps to many,
And the wife is paid by fasting quite strict.
But most husbands do not blow in the mustache:
What is permitted loses all taste.
At first they all seem to be excellent,
Their feelings are hot and very noble,
But soon our passion bothers them
And they carry our property to others.
Oh, it's a pity that the law does not give us concessions
Change your husbands like dirty shirts!
And it would be good! And not one wife
It would have to the heart, not only me.

Abandoned, Madeleine did not leave the theater and continued to travel with him along the roads of France.

Almost twelve years have passed.

“It was the autumn sunset of 1658 when the theater wagons approached the capital. Molière stopped the caravan and stepped out of the wagon to stretch his legs. He stepped aside and began to peer into the city, which twelve years ago, ruined and disgraced, drove him out. Shreds of memories flashed through Jean-Baptiste's head. For a moment he was scared and pulled back. He thought he was old. He grew cold and thought that he had nothing in his wagons but farces and his other first comedies. He thought that in the theater of the Boulogne Hotel the strongest royal actors were playing. And he was again drawn to Lyon to his old winter apartment. He was suddenly frightened by the ghost of a damp and vile prison, which had almost swallowed up the novice director of the theater troupe twelve years ago, and he said, moving his lips in solitude:

To turn back? Yes, turn back.

Then Molière turned abruptly, went to the head of the caravan, saw the heads of actors and actresses leaning out of their carts and said to the advanced:

Well, go ahead!

And so Prince Condi invited the troupe of Molière to permanent service and assigned the artists a permanent pension. These are truly golden days for actors. The cunning stutterer Molière, as it were, bewitched the prince. The performances went on uninterruptedly, and all sorts of benefits flowed to the comedians in an uninterrupted stream.

Needless to say - art flourishes with strong power!

And suddenly the prince gave the order to remove the name Conti assigned to the troupe. Ah, in the life of a comedian there are not only roses and laurels! The spat on the troupe was waiting for explanations, and they were not slow to come: over the past two years, everything has turned upside down in the soul of his highness. The former frondeur, and then a passionate lover of the theater, now found himself surrounded by the clergy and immersed in the study of religious and moral issues. One of the bishops, who possessed a magnificent gift of speech, inspired him that, first of all, it was necessary to flee from comedian performances, as from fire, so as not to fall into eternal fire later on. The bishop received lush shoots from the seeds that he sowed in Conti's soul.

So Moliere first encountered such a concept as the bondage of saints.

Molière's creative predisposition set its own conditions for his theatre. The solemn and proud heroes of Corneille left the stage, they were replaced by characters of farces, many of which Molière wrote himself. The French farce was a short piece with an uncomplicated plot, abundantly equipped with salty words, stick blows, immodest gestures, mocking songs.

As soon as the hero of the farce, the doctor in love, ran out to the audience, smiles blossomed in the hall. At the first grimace of the newly-minted comedian, they burst into laughter. Immediately after the first remark, they laughed. And after a few minutes, the laughter turned into a roar. And one could see how the arrogant man in the chair fell back on his back and began, sobbing, to wipe his tears. It was then that the great comic actor felt a sweet chill in the back of his head. He thought: "Victory!" - and added tricks. Then the last to laugh were the musketeers who were on duty at the door. And they were not supposed to laugh under any circumstances. (M. Bulgakov)

In his farces and plays, Moliere often shamelessly uses plots from previously written works and his own rich observations, which life generously presents to the future great playwright who carefully observes it. As for the plots used, Moliere was not the first and not the last so-called "graphomaniac". And even then say how small the arsenal of these plots. Everything has long been said and retold. The difficulty of the task was how to say what has already been repeatedly said and retold in one's own, new language.

The heroes of farces and plays by the French comedian often treat women with disdain. Here one compares her to ivy wrapped around a man who

Embracing a tree - beautiful and strong,
But he falls to the ground when he is separated from him.

In matters of love, his negative characters do not see and are not even going to throw a cursory glance at her romantic side. They curse stupid love books that fool foolish girlish heads:

You will not be torn off from this nonsense,
Your brains are full of love chatter.

The farces say: one must look at life from a practical point of view. Wealth in marriage is the foundation of the foundations.

The husband has a solid treasury,
What else do you want?
Ugly gold will transform wonderfully,
And the rest is completely uninteresting.

The rights of a man in marriage are sacred and must be respected at all costs. Here is one of the heroes dictating his way of life for an unhappy wife:

I will make mine
Live not with your mind, but as I direct.
Let the modest twill be her clothes
And the dress is black only for Sundays;
So that, shutting up at home, she didn’t walk everywhere
And she devoted her thoughts to the economy,
She repaired my linen, if she chooses an hour,
For fun - she could knit a stocking,
So that the chatter of the rake was not familiar to her,
She did not leave home without a guide.
I know the flesh is weak. I foresee noise and dispute
But I do not want to wear a dress made of horns.
And I know that a woman will remain forever
Just a woman. Hence: a certain Greek
He said that her head was loose sand.
Here is the reasoning, now I give you a case
Think it all over; as you know
For the body, the head plays the role of the head,
And the body without a head, like a wild beast, is dangerous;
When not everything is adjusted according to them,
And neither a compass nor a compass is used,
That trouble happens sometimes.

Another hero argues rationally:

Severity is superfluous, it seems to me, harmful.
Isn't it true, it would be an unparalleled find
To see a woman under duress true?
In vain will we observe them every step,
Wouldn't it be better to win hearts for yourself?
And I would consider my honor unprotected,
If she were in the hands of the enslaved,
She, having tested her desires, the power,
I was looking for, maybe, just a chance to fall.

But is it possible to convince a stubborn husband who keeps on and on only one thing:

But can a woman be completely trusted?
Of these, the best is one continuous malice;
After all, this sex was born to torment us to the grave.
For all eternity I am glad to curse him,
So that he fails - and straight to hell in the mouth.

Many of Molière's heroes suffer mercilessly from violent attacks of jealousy, apparently well known to the author, if one of the heroes treats this feeling rather peacefully and says:

Jealousy made me lose fat.

The other suffers seriously:

Shameless insolent like an evil hell
Insane jealousy injected poison into my heart.

But this hero of the play gives quite reasonable love advice:

Who is always sad, jealous and gloomy,
That debut in love is often unsuccessful,
And he makes himself unhappy on credit.

Moliere carefully peers into the world around him and then describes it. Here is the theme of fashion - a perpetual motion machine that moves no one knows what, no one knows where. Blindly following fashion means

Wear not for yourself - for the light of your outfit.
So it is not pleasing to you to dishonor me,
I'm worthy of setting your dandies as an example
And force me to wear tight hats
Tailored so that the forehead in them is a weak chill?
Or false hair, overgrown beyond measure,
What drowned my face in them?
Short camisoles - here fashion is again stingy, -
But collars - to the navel?
Huge sleeves - such that they fit into the soup,
And skirts, which are now called pants,
Or tiny shoes, each with a skein of ribbons,
And you look - a man, like a dove, mokhnonog?
Or such pants, huge and swollen,
That each leg is in them, like a slave in bonds.
And here is a fashionably dressed blockhead,
Like an inverted shuttlecock bristles.

But the metropolitan thing came to the theater - a whip-rake. And immediately Moliere caught him on the hook of his sharpened pen:

And now this insufferable whip is adopted at court, in the Louvre itself it hangs around, sprinkles there with bored utterly beaten jokes and puns, picked up in market dirt, like this - “Madame! You are so delightful that you should be brought to justice: you have stolen a whole lot of hearts!

Pah, pah, pah, Mr. de Molière spits.

The rumor about the new theater quickly spread around Paris, and in 1658 Molière's troupe was invited to the Louvre. It was a miracle! Unrest and confusion are innumerable. What to show? The performance will be attended by the young King Louis XIV himself. We decided to stage the tragedy of Corneille.

Poor Monsieur de Molière! He again got into trouble with his predilection for tragedy. The actors on the stage felt the complete indifference of the audience, yawns and phrases reached their ears:

And for what they praised this troupe? Boredom is unimaginable. Moreover, the main character stutters at every word.

The actors and Molière were seized with fear. He then gave strength and impudence to Jean-Baptiste, who stepped forward and asked the gracious permission of the king to show a little farce. The king graciously agreed. And I wasn't wrong.

A scene similar to this was played out in front of the courtyard. She talked about an innocent girl who knows nothing in life, who is brought up by a guardian who wants to take her as his wife. And then one day the girl asks her guardian if it is true that babies are born from the ear. The guardian is tender: oh, how simple-hearted and naive she is. But it is precisely this innocence that almost leads to trouble.

Madeleine on stage, playing innocence itself, says to her guardian, disguised as the old man Molière:

You won't believe how strange it all happened.
Once I sat down on the balcony with sewing,
Suddenly I saw: under a nearby tree
Handsome gentleman; he apparently met my eyes
And then he answered me with a polite bow,
And I, not wanting to be known as impolite,
She answered him, crouching respectfully.
And after a new courteous bow,
I also had to answer for the second time from the balcony;
Then a third followed at the same hour;
I answered immediately for the third time.
In the morning, as soon as I the door opened,
Some old woman came to me,
Whispering, "My child, may God protect you
And your beauty will be protected for a long time!
Not for this the Lord created you beautiful,
So that his heavenly gift was the culprit of evil.
Yes, you need to know: you have done evil,
You hurt someone hard in the heart."

The guardian is horrified by what he heard and says, turning to the audience: “Oh, to hell with the bastard failed!”

The hall erupts with laughter.

The girl continues her story:

- "Did I hurt my heart?" - I was so surprised!
"Yes! - she says, - you hurt just
The one who was yesterday not far from you.
“I won’t put my mind to it,” I said to the old woman,
Surely something heavy fell from the balcony?
“No,” she says, “the eyes are to blame:
Your patient suffers from your gaze.”
"How! - I was amazed, - Oh my God! Evil from the eye!
Where did the infection come from in my eyes?
“Yes,” he says, “they hide all the damage.
They contain, my child, a poison unknown to you.
The poor thing is not jokingly in danger,
And if, - the good old woman continues, -
Deny him your help,
He will be in the coffin these days, she-she!
"Oh my God! I say. - If so, and I suffer,
But I don't know how to help him."
“He,” she said, “is not difficult to cure:
He wants to see you and talk to you,
To protect him from death
The very eyes that caused grief.
“Well,” I say, “if so, I will always help;
He can even now come to me here.
So he came to me, and the illness left him.
Well, tell me, what was my fault?
And how in my conscience could I agree,
Let him die and not help him heal,
When I feel sorry for everyone who suffered grief?
If the chicken dies, I will not hide my tears.

The hall was rolling and rolling with laughter. As a reward for the pleasure given, the king transferred the troupe under the patronage of his brother the Duke of Orleans, and from now on it became known as the "Troupe of the only brother of the king", because Louis no longer had other brothers.

The time will come and Jean-Baptiste Moliere will write poems about Louis, by no means hypocritical, but sincere and truthful.

Majestic and young, all - courage, courtesy,
So gentle, how harsh
So strict, how generous with mercy,
He knows how to rule France and himself,
Lead a high order among the important affairs of fun,
In great plans, do not be mistaken in anything,
To see everything, to understand, to give oneself to deeds with one's soul;
Who can be like that, he can do everything. Himself
Obedience will prescribe to heaven -
And the terms will shift, and, honoring its laws,
The oaks will speak wiser than the trees of Dodona.
His beautiful age will be filled with miracles,
Is it not right to expect the same from heaven?

And when Louis XIV won one of his many battles, Molière wrote these lines:

Avalanche? Vortex? Fire? Worthless comparisons...
As the Thunderer Zeus is full of marvelous powers,
You called a whole new land to obedience
And united him with his native France.

The success of the troupe inspired Molière to write new plays and new productions. His first full-fledged comedy was a comedy called "Naughty or all out of place." The brilliance and wit of her dialogues differed significantly against the backdrop of farces that existed at that time. In the play, a young nobleman longs to marry a slave, but his father, of course, does not allow him to do so. Then a servant is called to help.

I know that your mind is full of tricks,
That he is resourceful, and flexible, and omnipotent,
That you should be the king of all servants, - says the young nobleman.

The servant answers his master by no means obsequiously:

I don't need to be so flattering!
When our brother servant is needed for some reason,
He is more precious than diamonds and pearls,
Well, in an unkind hour, your hand is angry -
Then we are a vile rabble, and then wait for a kick.
Dreamer, sir, you build chimeras,
And your father, you know, he'll take action
Often he has bile in his liver,
It's so cool he parts and scolds you,
When your youthful fervor bores him!
Only he will know that you are so in love,
What do you not want their chosen wife,
What a fatal passion for a lovely creature
Obedience brings you out of filial, -
Here comes the thunder, don't bring the creatures!

But soon the servant changes his anger to mercy:

Hey, I think these old people
We only fool the masters
They envy: having lost the sweetness of life,
They want to steal love and joy from the young.
Have me. I am ready to serve.

Servant - quick-witted, smart, cunning comes up with all sorts of ways to help his master, but he does everything inappropriately, spoils, as they say, the business conceived by the servant in the bud. And every time he counts the owner:

You all misunderstood!
But by the way, after all, expect every moment of a dirty trick from you,
You perform so often out of place,
That your failures do not surprise me.

It must be said that Molière's servants always surpass their masters in ingenuity and often play a leading role in the play. The author unobtrusively expressed one of the axioms of human life: difficulties harden a person, and an imposing life makes him an unadapted sissy. Often the servants of Molière express their will and in no case refuse it. Here's an example for you:

Am I fighting? No! I'm not good for this
I am not like the brave knight Roland.
I'm too sweet for myself, and I should remember
That steel two inches is quite enough,
So that the doors of the coffin immediately open before me,
How strange anger seizes me.
My good lord! Alas! 'Cause life is beautiful
And they die once - and for a long time.

Mr. de Molière, who has seen a lot in life with his own eyes and felt it with his own soul, knows firsthand about human vices and talentedly transfers them first to a sheet of paper, and then to the stage, himself depicting his negative characters on it.

Here Jean-Baptiste, dressed in all sorts of cast-offs, crooked, with hands trembling with greed, represents the Miser. But his Miser isn't just mean, he's extremely aggressive. At the end of the play, a vile old man who has lost his money utters vile words: “Torturing, hanging, wheeling everyone to one. I will hang myself. If I don’t find money, I’ll hang myself.”

Terrible, eternal inexorable passion for money.

But here is a completely different image of a man consumed by other passions. This is a tradesman who wants to penetrate the society of the nobility with passion. To do this, Jourdain hires teachers of dance, music, fencing, and philosophy. They play along with him - “after all, you can’t live on incense alone, and, whatever you say, money still straightens the curvature of his judgments,” all understanding teachers decide for themselves. And Jourdain - puffed up by a dandy and a scientist, looks ridiculous and ridiculous.

Purge nobles all the time borrow money from him, not at all intending to return it back. Jourdain is proud of his debtors, because they talk about him in the royal bedroom itself. Daughter Jourdain wants to give out without fail for a nobleman, albeit a skinny one. My daughter has completely different intentions. Therefore, a performance with dressing up is arranged urgently in the house of her friends. Her lover is dressed in the costume of the Turkish Sultan and, in this capacity, they marry a sweet girl. Jourdain, as they say, was led by the nose.

Such was the philistine's obsession with the nobility and secular manners.

To the playwright Molière, the confusion that arises among his heroes seems insufficient in his works. Not only do they constantly change clothes, but it happens that some heroes turn out to be completely different: in particular, it turns out that some young men or girls turn out to be the natural children of the heroes they lost at an early age. This time Monsieur de Molière calls upon himself to help in creating the confusion of the ancient gods. But confusion is a secondary task, while the main thing is to transform the same themes constantly wandering from one work to another.

Here Mercury, seated on a cloud, speaks to the Night, which rushes across the sky in its chariot. Mercury says to the Night:

Lush night! Slow down a moment.
I have to tell you a dozen words.
I have an order for you
From the very father of the gods.

Night replies:

Are you Mr Mercury?
Who would guess you in such a figure?

Oh, I have such a bunch of orders
Jupiter told me that I was quite tired.
And quietly sat down on this cloud
And you were expected here.

Please over me, Mercury, you laugh?
Is it proper for the gods to confess to being tired?

We are not made of iron.

But you should always
Divinity to keep the decorum.

Mercury sighs:

Yes, it's good to talk to you!
You, beauty, have a chariot.
Lounging lazily, you proudly, like a queen,
Let the horses ride you through the sky.
I can't compare to you!
In my misfortunes I know no evil,
Whatever I wish the poets!
And right, what an arbitrariness!
Other gods are given possession
All modes of transportation
And I'm like a messenger in the villages
Walking from end to end!
And this is me, who got the lot
Ambassador of Jupiter to be on Earth and in the Sky!

Let's leave it, and what's the matter,

Tell me without distant words, - Night interrupted the roulades of Mercury.

You see, the father of the gods
Skillful service awaits from your mantle.
It's all about the new love
Promises him, as before, an adventure.
It is not new for us to marvel at his leprosy:
After all, Olympus is often neglected for the Earth!
You yourself know: all the images to him
It happened to be accepted because of the passionate beauty,
And ways he knows darkness
To master even the most uncontrollable.

This time, Jupiter desired to meet with Alcmene, the wife of the Theban king Amphitrion, who in this moment was absent due to a military campaign.

Jupiter took the face of Amphitryon himself
And, as a reward for all labors,
Accepts joy in the arms of his wife.
And with the ardent passion of the newlywed
He made good use of it.

The night is perplexed:

I marvel at Jupiter, but why, why
Does he come up with quirk after quirk?

Mercury explains:

He wants to be one by one.
For God, he is not behaving badly.
And no matter how the human race looks at it,
I would consider him unhappy
Whenever, always shining with a golden crown,
He hovered in the heavens solemn and imperious.
In my opinion, there is nothing more stupid -
Be a prisoner of your own greatness.
When the heart is full of passion,
Sometimes shine and uncomfortable power.
Jupiter knows how to leave his chamber,
Descend from the heights of the supreme Glory,
For the woman whose gaze ignited his dream.
Rejecting the majestic image,
He is no longer a god to her.

Ah, only in bold transformations
He kept within human limits!
And then after all, we then see him as a bull,
Now a swan, then a snake, then what else?
And if we sometimes laugh at him,
I don't see it as strange.

Let us leave such condemnations to the censors.
They do not understand that these transformations
Full of special charm.
Jupiter's decisions are always considered.
And animals, if they are in love,
No less than people are smart.

What does he need, and what does my cloak have to do with it?

Let your horses slow down the fast run,
And let, in order to quench all the ardor of passions,
The night will linger in the sky,
The longest becoming of all nights.
Let him fully enjoy the delight
And do not let Dawn into the sky,
with which to return
The hero whose name he took.

Night agrees to fulfill the request of Jupiter. Meanwhile, a servant of Amphitryon named Sosius goes to his master's house in order to tell his young wife about her husband's exploits on the battlefield and that he returns home in the morning. And then, towards Sozius, Mercury comes out of the house in the form of his own - Soziya. The true Sosius is perplexed: is he in a dream or has he lost his mind, seeing himself in front of him? Mercury, on the other hand, walked excellently and with pleasure on the back of the discouraged Sosius and drove him out. While Jupiter is in the form young husband enjoying the charming Alcmene, Mercury, without wasting time, looked in vain at Sosius's wife, taking advantage of his own appearance, and began to lavish tenderness and courtesy on her. After a short stay with her, he is going to retire.

Cleanthes is unhappy:

But doesn't it hurt me
Why are you running from me so fast?

That's the importance, if you look!
We had enough time to annoy each other.

Traitor! You leave me like a beast!
And won't you say a kind word to me now?

Have mercy, where do you order to look
Courtesy to me at this hour?
At fifteen years of marriage you will say everything,
And everything has been said for a long time.

Are you standing then for me to feed the heat
To you, as a woman, what honor observes approximately?

Oh! You were too faithful to me!
I don't like it very much.
Less fidelity, more peace would be -
And I will bless you.

What? What? For honesty, I stand some reproaches?

Kindness in my wife is everything, everything is dearer to me,
Honesty is of little use.
Shawls, but only on the sly!

Cleanthes is furious, but when Mercury, in the form of her husband, leaves the discouraged woman, she says with anguish:

To tell the truth, it's very embarrassing
That I do not dare to avenge such a conversation.
Alas! Sometimes it's so embarrassing
Be a good wife!

At this time, the true Sosius returned to his master and announced to Amphitryon that he had found the second Sosius in the house of his mistress, who kneaded his sides in order. Amphitrion, of course, does not believe him, but the servant continues to convince the owner:

And I myself did not believe until I was beaten.
Seeing that there are two of us, at first I was confused,
And I wanted to consider the other a liar,
But by force he forced himself to admit
And that he is definitely "I", I soon became convinced:
He looks like me from heel to temple -
He's smart, he's handsome. Look proud, noble;
I'll say two drops of milk
Not so similar to each other.
And if only his hand was not so heavy,
I would love a doppelgänger!

Amphitrion, hearing such nonsense, exhaled in anger:

Let the sky smash you for nonsense with thunders!

Ah, all this, alas, is not nonsense!
“I” is the other, I am more dexterous;
He is as bold as he is cunning,
And he proved it on my own neck.

Amphitrion rushes to his young wife, and she meets him with an unexpected question:

How! Are you back already?

Amphitryon is perplexed:

In this meeting
I don't see much Alcmene of tenderness.
"How! Are you back already?" - these speeches
Show how great your love is for me!
It seemed to me that infinity
I have been away from you.
Wishing to be together, we consider for eternity
Day, every hour and moment that passed in the distance.
For those who love to be different - flour,
And, be it small, all the same endless separation.
I confess - such a reception
My love was tested.
I was waiting for you to meet me
You with a new fervor of passion and desire.

And I confess I don't understand
What are you talking about in front of me.
I don't know why
You are not happy with our meeting.
Everything you are waiting for, I
Last night I ardently expressed to you,
When I first saw you here in the house,
When, raptures are not melting,
I didn't know how best to express my love.

What are you saying?
Was it not a dream that preceded my return to you?

Isn't it a dense fog in your imagination
Enveloped, my husband, and you, at the return
Forgetting yesterday completely
Forgetting how passionately I received you yesterday,
Now you think that in reality in vain
Are you fair to me?

The fog you talk about
Alcmene - he is somehow strange!

Like the dream you want
Impose me, Amphitrion!

O sky! My blood boils and freezes.
Hearing this nonsense, well, who would not be amazed?

Both spouses remain in complete bewilderment. Here Amphitryon says that he was going to send Alcmene, as a sign of his ardent love, his gift - a diamond crown, which he obtained in the war. The wife unexpectedly confirms the receipt of this crown:

You gave me a precious gift -
The crown that you took as spoils of war.
You opened before me
All my passion, all sorrow, and hearts of torment:
War-related worries
The delight of being at home again, the languor of separation;
Like a young man who is in love for the first time,
Confessed how eagerly you rushed to me,
And never seemed so tender
Your confessions to me, Amphitrion.

I'm stunned to death by these words!

Realizing that there was another man with his wife, Amphitrion throws her last word to her, supposedly a traitor:

There is no mercy in the soul when honor is hurt!
Enough for me to know that you were in bed!
And now I have only one thing in my heart:
Curse and revenge.

Who is to take revenge? Your anger is like madness.
What is my honor guilty of before you?

Don't know. I'm on fire and I'm capable of anything.
But know one thing: yesterday I was not here!

The honor of Alcmene is offended in the same way as the honor of her husband. In anger she throws:

Away! You are no longer worthy of me.
Events are clearer than day
Your deceptions are obscene...
How! Accuse me of being unfaithful?
Perhaps you are looking for a dark pretext,
To break the bonds that have united us?
You have worked hard in vain
I made up my mind at this hour:
From now on, each of us has his own path.

Yes, after your confession, this is what
What, of course, you need to prepare for.
But this is less! Nobody knows
Where will my anger, my annoyance find its limit.
I'm dishonored, yes! My shame is clear to everyone;
They try in vain to cover him up;
But all the details are unclear,
And my fair eye wants to see everything.
That today they did not depart from the troops until morning
We, your brother can swear,
And I'm following him: he can effortlessly
He will open your eyes to my imaginary return.
Will we be able to cope with this strange mystery,
Let's analyze the whole question in depth,
And woe to the one who voluntarily or accidentally
I've been insulted!
When the soul burns under a bloody ulcer,
I would give all my honors, right,
At least for one quiet hour!
No, jealousy will not get tired of counting
Rows of my terrible troubles.
The more I try to think
Those in the black chaos are more difficult to find the answer.
Perhaps it was all just a random dream,
A dream that her illness gave life to.
Oh gods, I'm talking to you!
Let me not be mistaken in this
Luckily for me, she's gone crazy.
O sky! Everything scares me.
Contradicts the reality of the laws of the world to everyone,
And my honor trembles before
What my mind can't take.

The servant Sozius and his wife have an equally stormy scene in the house.

And finally, Amphitrion sees another Amphitrion, like two drops of water similar to him. To break this spell, Amphitryon draws his sword. Jupiter, having filled with ideas from misunderstandings, decides to depart for his heavenly penates. Then Mercury will open to the warring couples the true state of things:

For there to be no doubt
I will say in advance that the king of the gods
Under this image, kind to you, to Alcmene
Came down from high clouds.
As for me, who brings you news,
I am Mercury, I have the honor!

There was a terrible thunder. And from the cloud Jupiter spoke:

Look, Amphitrion: here is your deputy!
Recognize Jupiter in your features. Appeared
With thunder I, so that you know who is here in front of you.
This is enough for you to reconcile your soul,
May you find happiness and peace again.
The name that the whole world, timidly, pronounces,
Dispel here all slander and lies:
With Jupiter division
It does not bring dishonor.
Knowing now that your opponent - god of gods,
You can be proud and call yourself happy.
There is no place here for bitter words,
Not you, but I'm ready now
Though I reign in the sky, admit to being jealous.
Alcmena all yours, conjugal honor
She keeps from foe and friend.
To please her, there is one way:
Present to her in the form of a spouse.
You can rejoice that Jupiter himself, I,
I did not defeat her with all my glory;
All that is given to me by her,
She hid in her soul for you.

Here the servant, unable to bear it, inserts his word:

Needless to say: the god of gods knows how to gild pills.

A, interrupted by a servant, Jupiter continues:

I want the trace of worries in your soul to disappear,
So that all doubts in you fall asleep forever.
You will have a glorious son Hercules,
He will fill all the ends of the universe with glory.
Great gifts of Fortune unchanging
From now on they will reveal to everyone: you are the favorite of heaven.

In the play "Don Juan or the Stone Guest" Moliere used the work of Tirso de Molina about this tireless womanizer and joined the series of authors who used the traditional "Don Juan" plot.

The servant of Don Juan hates his master and tries to warn his future victims against a disastrous step. He says:

- “Don Juan is the greatest of all villains that the earth has ever worn, a monster, a dog, a devil, a Turk, a heretic who does not believe in heaven, nor in saints, nor in God, nor in the devil, who does not want to listen to Christian teachings, who lives like vile cattle, like an Epicurean pig. For the sake of his passion, he can marry a woman, her dog, and her cat as many times as he likes. It doesn't cost him anything to get married. He uses it as a trap to lure beauties into it.

Don Juan directly expresses his life credo: “How! Do you want me to connect myself with the very first object of my passion, so that for its sake I would renounce the light and would not look at anyone else? It is an excellent undertaking to put loyalty to oneself in some imaginary merit, to bury oneself forever for the sake of one hobby, and from the very youth to die for all other beauties that can strike my eye. No, persistence is for weirdos.

Any beauty is free to enchant us, the advantage of the first meeting should not deprive the rest of the legal rights that they have in my heart. For example, beauty fascinates me wherever I meet it, I easily succumb to the gentle violence with which it captivates me. Nothing can stop the frenzy of my desires. My heart, I feel, could love the whole earth. Like Alexander the Great, I wish there were other worlds where I could continue my love victories.

The insidious womanizer, without pity, without a twinge of conscience, seduces women on his way. He is sure that many people are engaged in the same craft and put on a mask that he has in order to deceive the world. At the end of the play, as it should be according to the plot, Don Juan dies in the hands of the Commander.

Molière tirelessly denounces all sorts of human vices, and perhaps the most hated vice is hypocrisy. He writes: “Now hypocrisy is a fashionable vice, and all fashionable vices pass for virtues. In our time, hypocrisy has a huge advantage. Thanks to this art, deceit is always held in high esteem: even if it is revealed, no one will dare to say a single word against it.

All other human vices are subject to criticism, everyone is free to openly attack them, but hypocrisy is a vice that enjoys special privileges: it shuts everyone up with its own hand and calmly enjoys complete security. Pretense unites those who are bound by the mutual guarantee of hypocrisy. If you hit one, everyone will fall upon you, and those who act obviously honestly and in whose sincerity there is no doubt remain fools: in their innocence, they fall for the bait of these grimaces and help them do their business.

High society itself, with tireless enthusiasm, provided Molière with their subjects. Take, for example, the story of Finance Minister Fouquet. “What happened in the Ministry of Finance under Fouquet was unthinkable. Appropriations were issued for payment from funds already spent, false figures were written in the reports, bribes were taken ...

Fouquet was not a vile miser, he was a broad, elegant embezzler. He surrounded himself not only with the best mistresses of France, but also with artists, and thinkers, and writers, and La Fontaine and Molière were among the latter. Only honest people live boringly! Thieves, on the other hand, at all times arrange themselves magnificently, and everyone loves thieves, because they are always satisfying and fun around them.

But the arbiters of destinies can control all destinies, with the exception of their own, and Fouquet did not know only one thing, that at the time when he was preparing for the holidays, the king was engaged in a financier - he checked the statements of the ministry. This check was urgent and secret. The king was young, but he was cold and smart and calmly looked at the false and real statements presented to him. Fouquet, carried away by fate, completed the preparation for his death by inscribing the Latin motto on the pediment of his palace: “What have I not yet achieved?”

And so King Louis XIV with his retinue came to Fouquet. Witnesses say that the never-changing face of the king seemed to tremble when he looked up and saw the Fouquet motto on the pediment, but the next moment the royal face returned to normal. And the festivities took place, opening with a breakfast for five hundred people, followed by theatrical performances, ballets, masquerades and fireworks.

The theater of Moliere showed a play in which he satirically portrayed the types of high society. Here the question arises: how did he dare to present his courtiers in an ironic light in front of the king? However, Moliere had a completely accurate and correct calculation. The king did not at all treat the high nobility of France well and did not consider himself the first among the nobles. According to Louis, his power was divine, and he stood completely apart and immeasurably above everyone in the world. He was somewhere in heaven, in close proximity to God, and was very sensitive to the slightest attempt by any of the major lords to rise to a greater height than was required. In a word, it would be better to cut your own throat with a razor than to draw such a motto as Fouquet drew. Louis remembered what happened during the Fronde, and held the grand lords in his steel hands. With him, one could laugh at the courtiers.

You are under arrest, - the captain said quietly to the Minister of Finance.

It was with these two words that Fouquet's life ended.

Meanwhile, dissatisfaction with the playwright grew in society. Soon they began to say that Moliere shamelessly uses the works of Italian authors, borrowing from them. In the course of time, it became so fashionable to point out Molière's thefts that if it was impossible to say with certainty where and what exactly he borrowed, it was said that he "apparently" borrowed. In the end, Moliere was even credited with a loud and cheeky phrase: "I take my goods where I find them." One thing can be said in justification: what was borrowed in his processing was immeasurably higher in quality than in the originals.

This is how recently Moliere began to notice with surprise that fame looks a little different from how some people imagine it, but is expressed mainly in unrestrained abuse at all intersections. One day, an insulting incident happened to him. Having met with the playwright in the Versailles Gallery, a certain nobleman, pretending to want to hug Moliere, grabbed him, pressed him to himself and tore his face with precious buttons of his caftan to the blood. Jean-Baptiste endured a disease from such troubles - fatigue and a strange state of mind, and only later realized that this condition has a very impressive name in medicine - hypochondria.

Molière moved in the highest Parisian society and watched how salons appeared there, where the women's society gathered. In honor of her mistress shining in the salon, the poets composed a whole wreath of madrigals. The madrigals were followed by first-rate witticisms, but so complex that they required lengthy explanations to understand them. Until now, all this would have been half a grief if, following the madrigals and witticisms, the ladies had not taken up great literature in earnest.

The further, the higher the sophistication rose, and the thoughts expressed in the salon became more and more mysterious, and the forms in which they were clothed became more and more pretentious. A simple mirror in which they looked turned into an “advisor of grace” in their language, and a turnip into a “garden phenomenon”. After hearing some courtesy from the marquis, the lady answered:

You, Marquis, are adding kindness to the fireplace of friendship.

And now a huge cartload of nonsense has entered French literature. In addition, the ladies, having completely clogged the language, put spelling itself at risk. In one of their heads a wonderful plan was ripened: in order to make spelling accessible to women, who were far behind men, the lady suggested writing words the way they are pronounced.

But then disaster struck over the salon ladies. Monsieur de Molière released a new comedy, The Funny Pretenders, from the very first words of which the stalls were joyfully on their guard. Since the fifth apparition, the ladies in the boxes have been goggling. In the eighth appearance, the marquises, who, according to the custom of that time, sat on the stage, on its sides, were amazed, and the parterre began to laugh and laughed until the very end of the play.

This was its content. Two young ladies-fools drove away their suitors for the reason that they seemed to them insufficiently refined people. The suitors took revenge on them. They dressed up their two lackeys as marquises, and these scoundrels came to visit the fools. They accepted the crooks-servants with open arms, One insolent person was talking all sorts of nonsense for an hour, and the other was lying about his military exploits. He sang a song of his own composition with an impudent mug, something like this:

Until I keep my eyes on you
I admired you in the radiance of the day,
Your eye has stolen my heart
Stop the thief, thief, thief!

To have a wife so pompous with imaginary wisdom and affectation is a living hell.

Wives cost a lot
Who is gifted with a great mind.
I would be burdened by a wife from those scientists,
Which would try to shine in salons,
I used to write a heap of prose and poetry
And would accept nobles and wits,
Meanwhile, as I, the husband of such a creature,
I would languish like a saint deprived of reverence.

The salons in which such poems were composed turned out to be spat on by the play, but, in addition, the authors and visitors to these salons turned out to be spat upon. A daring farce was played on the stage, and by no means innocent. It was a farce of the mores and customs of the then Paris, and the owners of these mores and creators of the customs sat right there, in the boxes and on the stage. Parterre cackled and could poke his fingers at them. He recognized the saloon bars that the former upholsterer had put to shame in front of all the honest public. The marquises on the stage sat purple.

However, we must pay tribute to the fact that not all ladies were like those of whom it was said above. Moliere was friends with one of the smartest and most interesting women in France, Nino de Lanclos, nicknamed the French Aspasia, in whose salon the playwright, without much publicity, read excerpts from his comedies.

But then the night came. The show ended. The chandeliers went out. The streets were completely dark. Moliere, wrapped in a cloak, with a lantern in his hands, coughing from the November dampness, strives for Madeleine. The fire in the hearth beckoned him, but something else beckoned more. He wanted to see Madeleine's sister and ward, Armande Bejart, the same girl who had played Ether six years before. Now she has turned into a sixteen-year-old girl. Molière was in a hurry to see Armande, but winced painfully at the thought of Madeleine's eyes. Madeleine forgave him all his previous loves, and now a demon seems to have taken possession of her. Her eyes became unpleasant whenever Jean-Baptiste entered into a lively conversation with the coquettish and fidgety Armande.

Won't you deceive me he asked. - You see, I already have wrinkles, I'm starting to turn gray. I am surrounded by enemies and shame will kill me.

No, no, how can you do it! .. - Armande answered.

I want to live another century with you! With you! But don't worry, I'll pay for it. I will create you. You will be the first, you will great actress. This is my dream, and, therefore, it will be so. But remember, if you do not keep your vow, you will take everything from me.

I don't see wrinkles on your face. You are so brave and so great that you cannot have wrinkles. You are Jean...

I am Baptiste...

You are Molière!

We will marry you. True, I will have to endure a lot because of this.

In November darkness, in a dank fog, a lamplighter runs along the embankment. Mister Moliere! Whisper to us, no one can hear us, how old are you? Thirty-eight and she's sixteen! And besides, where was she born? Who is her father and mother? Are you sure she is Madeleine's sister?

The next day, Monsieur Molière received an official notice from the Parisian authorities that his play "The Funny Pretenders" was prohibited from further performances. It should be noted that the playwright experienced for the first time what he would have to experience often in the future. There is no need to describe this state. Anyone who has not had their plays filmed after the first successful performance will never understand this anyway, and one who has had them filmed does not need it.

There was a meeting with Madeleine, an alarmed troupe ran in, Moliere went somewhere to make inquiries and bow, and, returning, decided to resort to another method in order to bring the play back to life. This method has long been known to playwrights and consists in the fact that the author, under the pressure of force, deliberately cripples his work. Ultimate way! This is what lizards do, which, being grabbed by the tail, break it off and run away. Because every lizard understands that it is better to live without a tail than to lose life altogether. Moliere reasoned thoroughly: the royal censors do not know that no alterations in the work will change its basic meaning one iota. And he broke off part of the play. Then he found some patrons among the mighty of this world, very successfully referred to the fact that he would ask for protection from the king, and two weeks later the comedy was allowed to be presented.

Denouncing hypocrisy himself, Molière, for the sake of the opportunity to put on a performance, sent hypocritical letters to the king: “I want to express my gratitude to you for the success of my comedy. This success, which exceeded my expectations, I owe, firstly, to your gracious approval, which Your Majesty, from the very beginning, honored my comedy, thereby arousing universal goodwill to it, and secondly, to your order to add the character of another hero. ; at the same time, you were so kind, Your Majesty, that you revealed his features to me, and then this image was recognized as the best in the whole comedy. I confess that nothing has hitherto been given to me so easily as precisely that place in the comedy on which you, Your Majesty, ordered me to work - the joy of obeying you inspired me more than Apollo and all the muses put together, and now I see what I could create if I wrote all the comedy under your direction.

But it is possible that these words were sincere and truthful, because the king and the comedian were on friendly terms.

When the play was finally allowed, the troupe rejoiced. Madeleine whispered only one phrase to Molière:

Double your prices!

The practical actress was right: the news of the ban added fuel to the fire, and the true barometer of the theater - the box office - showed a storm.

The storm was foreshadowed by the personal life of Molière himself. He was married to Armande. Next to the stooping, coughing director of the Palais-Royal troupe, Jean-Baptiste Moliere, stood under the crown a girl of about twenty - ugly, large-mouthed, with small eyes, but full of inexpressible attractive power. The girl was dressed in the latest fashion and stood with her head thrown back proudly. The organ hummed over those who were getting married, but neither the organ waves nor the well-known Latin reached the groom, who was burning with a diabolical passion for his bride. Behind the couple stood the actors, a group of relatives and Madeleine, with a strange and as if petrified face.

Rumors circulated in Paris that Armande was not a sister, but Madeleine's daughter. The anonymous author of the libelous book wrote: "She was the daughter of Madeleine Béjart, a comedian who enjoyed tremendous success with young people at the time of her daughter's birth." But the most important thing is ahead. But who was the father of Armande? First of all, suspicion fell on the Comte de Modena, Madeleine's first lover and father of her first child, Francoise, already known to us. And it immediately turns out that this suspicion is unfounded.

There is a lot of evidence that Madeleine at one time wanted the count to complete his relationship with her by legal marriage, which is why she not only did not try to hide the birth of Francoise from de Modena from people, but, on the contrary, noted this event in an official act. The appearance of a second child by the count would have connected Madeleine even more with de Modene, fully contributing to her marriage plans. There was absolutely no need to hide this baby and attribute it to its mother. Here, completely opposite circumstances took place: it was not the Modena child that Madeleine hid from the people with the help of an accomplice-mother, but, while mysteriously giving birth, Madeleine hid the child from de Modena.

Amanda's father could be a gentleman who was closely acquainted with Madeleine in the summer of 1642, when the future mother was in the south of France. It was on the waters where King Louis XIII drank healing waters, and in the retinue of the king as a valet and upholsterer was ... Jean-Baptiste Poquelin. Undoubtedly, the closeness at that time of Moliere and Madeleine caused terrible rumors - Armande was considered the daughter of Jean-Baptiste. From all sides crawled, poisoning the life of Molière, rumors that he had committed the gravest incest, that he had married his own daughter. However, in fact, everything was refuted by the leading French historians, who fully proved the absurdity of this assumption.

Some witnesses say that Armande's marriage took place after such terrible and difficult scenes between Molière and Madeleine that life next to each other of these three persons became unbearable.

One day before the marriage, Jean-Baptiste said to Madeleine:

Madeleine, there is a very important matter. I want to get married.

On your sister.

I beg you. Say you're kidding. And what about me? Tears welled up in Madeleine's eyes.

God be with you. Well, Madeleine, we are connected with you by a long friendship, you are a true comrade, but there has been no love between us for a long time.

Do you remember how twenty years ago you were in prison? Who brought you food?

Who has looked after you for twenty years?

A dog that has guarded the house all its life will not be kicked out. Well, you, Molière, can you kick me out? You are a terrible man, Molière, I am afraid of you.

Don't touch me... Passion seized me...

Now Madeleine is crawling on her knees towards Molière.

And yet ... change your mind, Molière. Let's make it look like this conversation never happened. Let's go home, you light the candles, I'll come to you ... And if you need to consult, who will you consult, Molière? After all, she is a girl ... You love a heating pad. I'll arrange everything for you. Let's light the fireplace and everything will be nice.

Hush, Madeleine, hush, I'll forgive you...

The vast cathedral where Molière married Armande was full of incense, mist and darkness.

In the house of the married Molière, misfortunes began in a very short time. It turned out that the spouses are completely unsuitable for each other. The aging and sick husband still had a passion for his wife, but his wife did not love him. Their living together soon became hell.

The couple had a boy. When the first-born Moliere was baptized, everything was furnished with unusual pomp and grandeur. Next to the font stood a guardsman with a long halberd, and the priest's face showed extraordinary delight. The fact is that Moliere achieved an exceptional honor: the king of France agreed to be the godfather of the child. The boy, as is quite understandable, was named Louis. So the comedian and playwright became godfathers.

Christenings made great impression in Paris, and the scolding against Molière subsided considerably. The shadow of the king began to appear to everyone behind the shoulders of the director of the troupe, and many of those who like to take the side of the winner spoke with enthusiasm about how the scammer against the playwright with his denunciation was not listened to in the palace, but almost kicked out.

Neither the king nor the comedian cared about the spiteful critics. Both were preparing for the big feast. The time of mourning for the next deceased nobleman is over and sadness in the royal houses has ceased on the day when it is supposed to be according to etiquette. It's time for the holiday.

Along the boundless avenue, between the walls of clipped greenery, the cortege moved, and in its head the King of France himself rode on horseback. The rays of spring beat right into the shell, and one could go blind by looking up at the king. The harness on the horse burned with gold, diamonds sparkled on the king's helmet. Feathers developed on the helmets of the convoy, and blooded cavalry horses danced under the escort.

There were orchestras, and the pipes in them screamed so deafeningly that it seemed as if they were heard twenty kilometers away, in Paris. Between the choirs of music, chariots rode, and above one of them towered the disguised god Apollo. Actors dressed in costumes of the signs of the constellations of the zodiac advanced on the following chariots. Costumed knights, blacks and nymphs walked and rode. And among them was visible the god of the forests - Pan with goat legs, who was portrayed by Monsieur de Molière.

The trumpets of the heralds announced to the whole world that the "Joys of the Enchanting Island" - the great Versailles holidays - had begun. Cars for theatrical performances were built for the holiday, and the royal gardeners cut out entire theaters in the sea of ​​Versailles greenery and decorated them with garlands and ornaments of flowers, pyrotechnicians prepared fireworks that had not yet been seen in terms of brilliance and power of bursts. The gardens of Versailles were filled with multicolored flames, stars were falling from the sky with a roar, and it seemed from afar that the Versailles forest was on fire.

Moliere worked feverishly for this holiday, and in a very short time, having borrowed a canvas from one of the Spanish playwrights, he composed a play. In this performance, Armande Molière played the role of the princess. Then the whole court saw what a tremendous talent the wife of the famous comedian has and what school she went through with him. The acting of the actress was amazing. The court cavaliers swarmed around a witty, malicious-speaking woman in lemon silks embroidered with gold and silver.

The play brought great pleasure to the king, but brought new grief to the author. Dangerous with their youth, beauty and wealth, the gentlemen finally poisoned his holiday. Gossip about his wife was born right there, on the first day. All of them, in the form of poisonous regrets or ugly hints, immediately fell into the ears of Molière, but he no longer even snapped, but only bared his yellowed teeth like a wolf. In addition, misfortune fell on him: the royal godson Louis died immediately after the premiere.

The grief was endless. Molière became more and more ill. He fell ill hopelessly, in a protracted manner, gradually falling more and more into hypochondria, which exhausted him. All Paris in his eyes was drawn into an unpleasant gray net. The patient frowned, twitched, and often sat in his office, ruffled like a sick bird. At other times, he was overcome by irritation and even rage. Then he could not control himself, became unbearable in dealing with loved ones.

He sought help and rushed to the doctors, but received no help from them. And, perhaps, he was right in his attacks on doctors, described by him in plays, because the time of Moliere was one of the saddest times in the history of this great art, that is, medicine. Moliere's doctors in most cases treated unsuccessfully, and all their exploits cannot even be listed. They killed someone by bloodletting, their best friend Molière was sent to the other world, having drunk him three times with an emetic tincture, absolutely contraindicated in his illness.

In a word, Molière's time was dark time in medicine. As for the purely external signs that distinguished doctors, we can say: these people rode around Paris on mules, wore dark long robes, grew beards and spoke in some kind of mysterious jargon. They, of course, simply asked to be on stage in a comedy. (M. Bulgakov)

On May 12, 1664, another grand celebration took place on the occasion of the opening of the Palace of Versailles, and at this celebration, in the presence of the king, the premiere of the play "Tartuffe" was played, which belonged to the genre of high comedy, involving the combination of the tragic and the comic together.

The court spectacle began. “The mother of the hero of the play Orgon, Madame Pernel, scolds her grandchildren Damis and Mariana for not wanting to honor the holy Tartuffe, who recently appeared in their house. All opponents of Tartuffe say to her in a voice:

Your Monsieur Tartuffe is a trickster, there is no doubt about that.

And Madame Pernel repeats her own:

He is righteous. His good instructions are soul-saving,

And my son teaches you to have respect for him.

Here the maid Dorina inserts her sharp word:

No, you think! Isn't that a miracle?
God knows who appeared, it is not known where,
In beggarly rags, almost barefoot,
And - here you are, already took over the whole house
And it got to the point that contrary to reason
We must all now dance to his tune.

But Madame Pernelle goes on and on:

Ah, it would be better for you not to quarrel with him,
And to live, as he teaches, according to the rules of the saints.

Saints? Do you have such gullibility?
Is there holiness here? Just hypocrisy!

It's not hard to guess why he pissed you off:
He speaks the whole truth without embellishment.
He is a fierce enemy of sin and purity guardian,
Stigmatizes immorality and praises virtue.

That's how, and why this moralist
Did you drive all the guests away from our house?

You don't know what to think out of anger anymore.
But all these our guests are suspicious
Not to him alone. Not such a big secret
What is the formation of carriages crammed under the windows
And always at the porch crowded servants
It has long been an eyesore to the whole district.
Serving Satan. Hmm… Friendly meetings!
There are blasphemous words
The most worthy persons there are judged at random,
They say such nonsense - at least drop it!
Fools are blissful, but wise people
Turbid in the head from these noisy gatherings.

The maid does not give up and retorts to the mistress, blaming Tartuffe:

Such people will hear something, peep,
From three boxes they will lie and spread rumors,
In a minute they will make an elephant out of a fly.
What is their vile fuss designed for?
Decent people defaming and slandering,
They hope that they will be more comfortable:
Amidst the general blackness, one cannot see their tricks,
And if you do not push the crowd on a false trail,
We'll have to answer for the sins ourselves.
Highly moral and indeed this person.
But what was it like during it?
Old age helped her overcome temptations.
Yes, morality grows stronger when the flesh grows old.
Their passion is to judge people. And how severe is their judgment.
No, they do not recognize mercy.
They look for spots on the conscience of a stranger,
But not out of good feelings - out of envy, of course.

Yes, yes, lady! You are deaf to my words.
But I'll tell you, now it's my turn.
My son was wise when, at the instigation from above,
He gave shelter to the pious under this roof.
A righteous man has been sent to you to bring you out of the darkness
And return the lost minds to the truth.
His holy teachings are saving,
And what he stigmatizes is worthy of condemnation.

However, Dorina's maid flared up in earnest:

From the day when Tartuffe came to our house,
The owner is not himself, he is obsessed with him.
Frankly, he rushes with this empty light,
Like a chicken and an egg. He calls him brother
And he loves his brother - I won’t lie to you for a penny -
Stronger a hundred times than mother, daughter, son and wife.
This rogue became his confidant.
With such cares is the beloved,
What a loved one could not wish for.
At the meal he is always at the head of the table;
He eats for six while my master melts
And pushes the best pieces towards him.
Tartuffe burps, and he: “In health, dear brother!”
Tartuffe is his idol. He is omniscient and holy.
Whatever he does, he "made a deed"
Whatever he breccia - "he uttered a prophecy."
Well, Tartuffe is cunning, and simply masterfully
He rubs our Orgon glasses.
We were all squeezed into a fist by this deceitful scoundrel,
He made hypocrisy a source of profit.

And he succeeded like no other. Here is how the owner of the house Orgon praises his dear guest in the literal and figurative sense of the word:

I met him - and loved forever ...
He prayed next to me in church every day,
In a pious impulse, I kneel.
He attracted everyone's attention:
That suddenly flew out of the mouth of his moaning,
Then he raised his hands to heaven in tears,
And then he lay down for a long time, kissing the ashes;
When I went out, he ran down the aisle,
To give me holy water in the porch.
Here's a man! He ... He ... Well, in a word, man!
I'm happy. I was inspired by his mighty verb,
That the world is a big dunghill.
How comforting this thought is to me, my brother!
After all, if our life is only pus and stench,
Is it possible to value at least something in the world?
Now let both my mother and children die,
Let me bury my brother and wife -
I, believe me, will not bat an eyelid.
I offered assistance to Tartuffe,
However, he blamed the generosity of my mites:
It's not worth it, they say, he is these blessings,
And, in his modesty, being content with a little,
He gave the surplus to the orphans and the poor.
Listening to heaven, I offered him shelter,
And happiness has reigned in my house ever since.
Tatruff delves into all things with me together,
He stands guard over my family honor,
He's more jealous than me. A little to my wife
With courtesies - he immediately informs me.
How virtuous! How full of humility!
Himself imputed to a crime
The most insignificant trifle, trifle, nonsense.
Here - for a prayer I caught a flea the other day,
So then he brought repentance to the sky,
That crushed her without a sense of compassion.

Cleanthes, the brother of Orgon's wife, hearing such a panegyric for Tartuffe, exhaled his opinion with one breath:

How are you not ashamed? What kind of nonsense?
Are you kidding me? I don't believe my ears.
Only a rogue or a madman can do such a thing.

Vain words. You, brother-in-law, are a freethinker, - said Orgon, as he snapped.

Cleante continued:

Brave fighters do not sin with bragging,
And the righteous are those who set an example for us,
Do not engage in hypocritical antics.
Is there really no difference for you
Between true faith and ostentatious faith?
How could you not separate the reality from the fairy tale?
How could you not distinguish the face from the mask?
How did you not understand where the swamp is, where is the hard way?
Where is fiction, where is reality? Where is the appearance, where is the essence?
How did you confuse the truth with falsehood?
Authentic chervonets with a counterfeit coin?

How can we compete with such a philosopher!
In everything you are versed, your judgment is infallible.
You are a treasure trove of wisdom. Prophet. Compared to you
All others should be considered fools, - Orgon scoffed in response.

I'm not a storehouse of wisdom, sir, I'm not a prophet,
I don't want to teach a lesson at all
I'm not so learned for this occupation, -
But I can tell lies from truth.
Of the virtues of all, I revere the most
High thoughts holy purity,
And I don’t know a nobler example,
Than people in whose hearts a living faith burns.
And therefore there is nothing in the world
More disgusting than lies, pretense, hypocrisy.
Aren't you ashamed when the saints are in the market place,
Soulless liars, corrupt whims,
Dressed blasphemously in robes of holiness,
Everything that is dear to us is trampled into the dirt.
When money-grubbers in ardent rivalry
They trade conscience like a petty commodity
And, rolling his eyes, taking a lean look,
They dare who and what will reward for it;
As they hasten on the path of godliness
Where they see money and estates;
When, shouting that it is a sin to live in the world,
They are trying to get through to the court;
When slanderers without conscience, without honor,
The guise of a benevolent hiding the thirst for revenge,
In order to rather destroy the one who is not dear to them,
They scream that he is a rebel against higher powers?
And because for us they are twice as dangerous,
That they adapted the sword of faith for robbery,
With prayer they commit criminal deeds,
And in their hands good became a weapon of evil.
There are many such pretenders in our time,
However, it is not difficult to distinguish this tribe
From righteous people. But there are righteous people.
They do good without ostentatious zeal,
Avoiding pompous phrases and self-praise.
They have arrogant slander is not in honor:
They are happy to find the good in people.
Intrigues do not weave, they do not dig holes for their neighbors,
Their thoughts are pure and their judgments are straight.
They feed on hatred, I tell you.
Not to poor sinners, but only to the sins themselves.
It will not occur to them to be zealous beyond measure
And more zealous than heaven to stand guard over the faith.
Here are the people! That's who you need to take an example from.
I'm afraid that your Tartuffe is sewn in a different way.
And his righteousness is empty hypocrisy.
Is it not too easy for him to enter into your confidence?
Were you deceived by his pious appearance?
Not all that is gold, believe me, what glitters.

Alas, the sensible words of Cleanthe had no effect. But all the troubles associated with the appearance of a sanctimonious saint in the house are nothing compared to the fact that the planned wedding of Orgon's daughter Marianna with her beloved Valera is upset. This marriage became a chimera, but the marriage with Tartuffe was preparing to become a reality. Orgon dreams of entering into ties of kinship with the holy man he loves. And he says to his daughter Mariana:

By marrying you, Tartuffe will become my son-in-law,
We will be related to him. Know this is my order.

Mariana is devastated by what she heard, and Dorina is angry.

You will soon become the talk of the town.
Such a fiancé would be a filthy broom:
After all, he has such an appearance,
What will drive sinlessness itself into sin.
Why is your daughter humble and quiet,
And married to him will not escape sin.
And, since Tartuffe is so dear to the venerable father,
Let him go to the crown with this groom.

Mariana sheds bitter tears and through them, sobbing, says:

ABOUT! I would rather die than submit to violence!

Dorina reproaches her:

Will you die? Right! What a simple outcome!
You die - and it's over: no grief, no worries.
Then everyone will begin to regret, everyone will begin to mourn ...
Ugh! If you listen to you - so, really, your ears wither.

You're trying to offend and prick,
But you do not sympathize with someone else's misfortune at all.

Whom should I sympathize with? Isn't it for you?
No, ma'am, I don't like mumbling.

You know that I was shy from birth.

Whoever loves must be as hard as a rock.

But Mariana is unable to fight. She, according to Dorina's apt expression, "was tarted from head to toe." Valer, having learned about what happened and about the humility of his bride, also gives up and is ready to link his fate with another. Dorina reproaches him, shames him that he, a man, behaves worse than a girl. A cunning maid teaches foolish lovers:

As far as I understand my father's nature,
Reject outright an absurd idea
Very risky. Take a detour:
It is necessary to reconcile for the sake of appearance, but - to pull.
Who won the time - he won in the end.
You need to endlessly invent prepositions:
Then you fell ill, then you had a bad dream,
The mirror broke, the brownie was fussing,
Then the neighbor's dog howled at the moon ...
Well, in a word, are there many obstacles for marriage?
That's how you act, and these gentlemen
They will not squeeze out the desired “yes” from you.
But still, so that things do not turn out badly,
It would be better for the lovers not to see each other for the time being.
Don't waste time. Now all you need
Call on the sympathy of friends for help.
For you, and your brother, and stepmother - a mountain,
I'm worth something too.

So, with the help and blessing of the maid, the lovers perked up and decided to act. And that's where Mariana's stepmother Elmira comes into play. She pretends to accept Tartuffe's courtship in order to help her husband see through his vile essence. And the false righteous, who desired not only a daughter, but also a mother, is poured into roulades, not forgetting to give free rein to his hands:

No matter how devout I am, I'm still a man,
And the power of your spell, believe me, is
That the mind yielded to the laws of nature.
Rejecting vanity for heavenly joy,
All the same, madam, I am not a disembodied angel,
But, judging me for insolence, part of the blame
On your beauty you must lay:
She took me forever
My thoughts belong to you entirely;
This serene look and wondrous brow
They pierced my heart, it was exhausted.
I resorted to prayer and fasting, but in vain,
I thought of one thing: oh, how beautiful she is!
My every breath and glance told it to you,
And so I finally trusted the words.
But if the lowest prayers touch you
And you give your blessing
To me, an unworthy and miserable slave,
Above the clouds, exalting an insignificant fate,
I will show you devotion, my priceless idol,
Which has not been seen until now in the universe.
If you make your servant happy,
I will protect you from all accidents.
Honor is at stake for women, as we know
Trusting the dudes, careless rascals:
A little young helipad achieved something,
Vanity so pulls him by the tongue,
And he dirty with vulgar chatter without embarrassment
The altar where he himself performed the sacrifices.
But I'm not one of those. No, I am my love
From prying eyes I reliably conceal:
After all, I myself lose a lot in publicity,
Therefore, trust me with honor without fear.

Elmira, extinguishing her disgust, answers Tartuffe:

Know that I will not complain to my husband, so be it.
With the condition: you must - look, without cheating! -
To achieve that Mariana was with Valera
Promptly married. I'm waiting,
What will you take away from their heads trouble
And save us from your harassment.

But there is no power to calm down Tartuffe. It is under his influence that Orgon disinherits his son. Elmira decides to act for sure. She invites her husband to secretly, that is, under the table, attend her meeting with the saint, having previously warned him:

I will touch on a sensitive topic:
Do not reproach your wife later,
Kohl in behavior will manifest my
A cheeky manner unusual for me -
So it is easier for us to tear the mask from the hypocrite.
I will go with him in tenderness, I will cheer up a little,
To spur on the villain's daring antics.
But I agree to listen to sugary confessions
I'm just for you to open your eyes,
So that he becomes visible to you to the very core;
As soon as you begin to see clearly - the game will end in an instant.

And now, unsuspecting Tartuffe, burning with a passionate desire, comes to a meeting with Orgon's wife, and immediately his behavior becomes excessively frivolous. To Elmira's protests, the holy man replies:

I believe until the end I gentle words,
And I will forget your former aloofness,
When you show me favor
Not only in words; so that I can be happy
I need your feelings an essential pledge.

Elmira, under the pressure of the unrestrained attack of the holy woman, tries to cough her husband's attention to the fact that the atmosphere is heating up to an incredibly high degree. But the husband is silent. Moving away from Tartuffe, Elmira tries to stop him herself:

How are you in a hurry! Is it still not enough for you
That I did not hide my affection from you?
This confession did not come easily to me,
But gratitude to you, as I see it, is alien,
And you have too much practical fold:
You need to get everything at once, without a trace.

If you really did not despise my devotion,
Why do we not show the flame of feelings in practice?

However, if I yielded to you,
Wouldn't defy heaven
Whose commandments do you order to honor so strictly?

Are you afraid of heaven? Useless anxiety!
Here I will settle everything, I vouch for success.

Breaking the commandment is a mortal sin.

Oh, I will deliver you from the smallest shadow
So naive fears that torment you!
Yes, other pleasures are forbidden to us,
But people are smart when they want to
Always collide with the providence of heaven,
The circle of conscience, when it becomes cramped,
We can expand: after all, for any sins
There is justification in good intentions.
I will skillfully lead you in this secret way,
Don't be afraid, trust me completely
Without fear, you can heed my prayers:
I am solely responsible for all the consequences.

Then an angry Orgon appears from under the table, throwing himself at Tartuffe, he yells:

The world has never seen such a scoundrel!
Out! Live!..

But Tartuffe interrupts him:

See how you don't get kicked out of your house!
It’s impossible to be kind, so we’ll be worse:
The house is mine and I will claim it.
You will answer me for swear words,
You will regret your vile wiles,
Torture yourself in the afflictions of the later
About the fact that they offended the heavens,
Pointing to the door for me. I will give you everything!

It turns out that Orgon's gullibility knew no bounds. He not only made a donation in the name of Tartuffe, but also entrusted him with a chest with secret papers of his friend. As they say: in his simplicity, he gave everything to the villain. All relatives are horrified. Cleante says:

Seems to me that you are in trouble
As with this donation, so with the casket, alas!
So recklessly you ordered
That they themselves gave weapons to the enemy.
Yes, it would be better not to step on the tail of the viper.
As much as you didn't want to drive him away,
It would have been smarter to hold back, dear son-in-law.

To think - an evil creature, an insignificant little soul,
And piety played so subtly!
And I - I saved him from a beggar's scrip!
Here are the righteous! Too bad they don't have the plague!
I've had enough of this kind of people
For righteous persons, I will become worse than the devil.

It's always like this: just a little - immediately noise and thunder.
You can't be moderate in anything
And, alien to sanity, recklessly
From one extreme you rush to the other.
If in life you met a hypocritical rogue,
What, tell me, are all the righteous here?
Let you fall for the bait of a charlatan,
Let piety serve deceit here,
But does this mean that the whole world is vile,
That there are no pious people at all?
Leave such conclusions to freethinkers.
You can't, of course, be a gullible madman
And open the soul before the scoundrel to the bottom, -
The middle is wise here, as is needed in everything.

The bailiff immediately appears with a demand to vacate the house for a new owner. Everyone is in turmoil. And then ... An officer enters and says to Tartuffe:

I suggest you follow me
To prison, and there I will arrange for you to live.

And the officer gives the following explanations to Orgon:

You, sir, should put aside your fears.
Our sovereign is an enemy of lies. From his vigilance
Deception and swindle cannot hide.
He shows vigilant insight
And, seeing the essence of things, executes injustice.
He does not obey the voice of passions,
This great mind knows no extremes.
He crowns the worthy with immortal glory,
But their zeal does not blind him
And, rewarding them for good deeds,
Severely he follows the machinations of evil.
Could the insidious tricks of this creature
Do not immediately cause doubts in the sovereign,
Revealing many and not such intrigues?

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Oh, thank heavens!

Phew, a mountain fell off my shoulders!

Happy turnover!

Unforgettable mercy!

That's how safely, thanks to the wisdom and intervention of the king, this story ended.

“The comedy at the opening of the Court of Versailles began with general enthusiastic and favorable attention, which immediately gave way to the greatest amazement. By the end of the third act, the audience no longer knew what to do, and even a thought flashed through some of them: perhaps Monsieur de Molière is not quite in his right mind.

This play portrayed a complete and complete swindler, a liar, a scoundrel, an informer and a spy, a hypocrite, a lecher and a seducer of other people's wives. And this very character, clearly dangerous to the surrounding society, was none other than ... a clergyman. All his speeches are filled with sweet pious phrases, and, moreover, the hero accompanied his dirty actions at every step with quotations from ... the Holy Scriptures.

The long-suffering secular marquises have already become accustomed to the fact that the king gave them, as it were, on rent to Molière to be torn to pieces. But in Tartuffe the playwright invaded a realm that was not supposed to be invaded. The indignation matured with extraordinary rapidity and was expressed in deathly silence. An unheard of thing happened. The comedian from the Palais Royal, with a stroke of his pen, ruined and stopped the Versailles holidays: the queen mother defiantly left the theater hall.

Further events took a very serious turn. A fiery mantle suddenly appeared in the eyes of the king, and none other appeared before him, but the archbishop of the city of Paris, who very persistently and impressively begged Louis to immediately stop the performance. In his opinion, Moliere is not a man, but a demon, only denounced in the flesh and dressed in a human dress. And in view of the fact that hellfire is still completely secured for Molière, then the aforementioned Molière, without waiting for this hellish fire, should be burned in front of all the people along with his Tartuffe.

This was the first, and perhaps the only time in the life of the king, when he felt exhausted after a theatrical performance.

And then the moment came when both godfathers - the king and the playwright were left alone. For some time they silently contemplated each other. Ludovik, who from childhood had a manner of expressing himself concisely and clearly, felt that the words somehow did not come from his language. With his lower lip thrust out, the king looked askance at the pale comedian, and this kind of thought swirled in his head: "However, this Monsieur de Molière is a rather interesting phenomenon."

Here the godfather-comedian allowed himself to say the following:

So, Your Majesty, I wanted to most humbly request permission to perform Tartuffe.

Amazement struck the kuma-king.

But, Monsieur de Molière," said the king, looking into his interlocutor's eyes with great curiosity, "everyone agrees that your play contains a mockery of religion and piety.

I dare to report to Your Majesty, - the artist answered thoughtfully, - piety can be true and false ...

That's right, - answered the godfather, not taking his eyes off Moliere, - but again, you will excuse me for being frank, everyone says that in your play it is impossible to make out what kind of piety you are laughing at, true or false? For God's sake, excuse me, I'm not an expert in these matters, - added to this as always a polite king.

There was a pause, and then the king said:

So I'm going to ask you not to play this play.

Then a cold breath blew in Molière's back, he got the feeling that some huge figure was standing behind his shoulders and suddenly moved away. There was no need to deceive oneself: the king was leaving him. How can this be explained? The fact that everything in the world ends, including even the long-term attachment of the powerful of this world.

The play was banned, but there was no way to stop its distribution, and it began to diverge in the lists throughout France. (M. Bulgakov)

After some time reworking the play, Moliere sent a petition to the king with the following content: “Since the purpose of comedy is to entertain people, to correct them, I reasoned that, by the nature of my occupation, I could not do anything more worthy than to castigate the vices of my age, exposing them in a funny way. And since hypocrisy is undoubtedly one of the most common, intolerable and dangerous vices, then I, Your Majesty, decided that I would do no small service to honest people in your kingdom if I compose a comedy that denounces hypocrites and exposes, as it should be, all the learned antics of these super-righteous people, all the secret machinations of these counterfeiters of piety who are trying to fool people with counterfeit zeal for faith and sugary love for one's neighbor.

The ban imposed on my work is a painful blow for me. A book appeared, written by a certain curate, which says that my comedy is satanic, and my way of thinking is satanic, and I myself am an unclean spirit in the flesh and in human form, an impious, atheist, deserving exemplary punishment. According to my sins, it is not enough to be burned at the stake - I will get off cheaply with this. The philanthropic fervor of this true zealot of piety goes further: he objects to the mercy of God touching me, he demands at all costs that I be forever damned, and I have no doubt that this will be the case. There is no doubt that if Tartuffe triumphs, then I have no reason to think of composing comedies in the future - this will give reason to intensify the persecution.

This book was presented to Your Majesty, and now you yourself, sovereign, can judge how painful it is for me to be constantly insulted by these gentlemen, what damage such slander will do to me in the opinion of society if I am forced to endure them. So enlightened monarchs as you, sovereign, are not told what is expected of them; they, like God, themselves see our needs and know better than we what favors to show us. It is enough for me that I entrust myself to Your Majesty, and I will most respectfully accept everything that you deign to command in this matter.

There was a lot of talk about this comedy, for a long time it was attacked, and the people who were ridiculed in it proved by their deeds that in France they have much more power than those whom I have ridiculed up to now. The dandies, the simpering women, the cuckolds, and the healers meekly endured being taken to the stage, and even pretended that the characters written off from them amuse them no less than the rest of the public. But the hypocrites did not endure ridicule; they immediately raised a commotion and declared it out of the ordinary insolence that I portrayed their antics and tried to cast a shadow on the craft, in which so many honorable persons were involved. They could not endure this crime in any way, and as one, with violent fury, they took up arms against my comedy.

Of course, they were afraid to attack what most of all stung them: they are quite cunning and experienced and would never discover the secrets of their souls. According to their laudable custom, these people presented the defense of their interests as a charitable cause - if you listen to them, Tartuffe is a farce that offends piety. This comedy, they say, from beginning to end is full of abominations, and everything in it deserves a fire. In it, every syllable is impious, every gesture is ungodly.

Since the purpose of comedy is to castigate human vices, why should it bypass and whitewash some of them? The vice denounced in my play is, in its consequences, the most dangerous for the state, and the theater, as we have seen, has the greatest potential for correcting morals. The most brilliant treatises on morality often have far less impact than satire, for nothing takes people to the quick as the depiction of their shortcomings by its methods. By exposing vices to universal ridicule, we deal them a crushing blow. It is easy to endure censure, but ridicule is unbearable. Others are not averse to being branded a villain, but they never want to be funny.

This letter to the king was written not only out of a desire to explain himself, but also out of fear. The danger over Molière opened up serious. He fell under the scope of the Jesuit order, which flourished under the auspices of the Queen Mother. The militant zealots of the faith of this order interpreted in their own way Holy Bible and argued that, allegedly, good intentions can justify any most heinous act. Thank God the king was wise and gentle. After a while, Tartuffe saw the scene again.

The play "The Misanthrope" turned out to be the least cheerful and the most caustic. Her hero Alceste sees the whole world as a continuous accumulation of vices. He is dissatisfied with everything and everything:

Everything that surrounds us at court and in the world,
Everything I see irritates my eyes.
I fall into darkness and feel oppression,
Just look around, how the human race lives!
Everywhere betrayal, treason, deceit, deceit,
Vile injustice reigns everywhere.
I'm furious, I have no strength to cope with myself,
And I would like to call the whole human race to battle!

His friend Filinta reproaches the overly enraged Alceste:

It's better if you don't waste your anger.
Your efforts cannot change the light! ..
Since frankness is how you began to appreciate,
Let me then tell you frankly:
All your whims harm you undoubtedly;
Your anger, brought down on society, everyone
Without exception, it just causes laughter.

So much the better, damn it, this is what I need:
This is a great sign, the best reward for me!
All people are so vile, they are so pitiful to me!
To be smart in their eyes - God forbid!

So you want evil for the entire human race?

I hated their breed immeasurably.

But does it inspire you with such anger?
Without exception, the entire poor human race?
And in our century there is ...

No, I hate everyone!
Some for being evil, criminal and mercenary;
Others, for encouraging those
And sin does not excite hatred in them,
And indifference reigns in the hearts of criminals
In exchange for the wrath of souls, inaccessible to vice.
There are plenty of examples for you.
At least the villain with whom I am suing.
Betrayal seeps from under his guise,
His sugary tone and pious mines
Someone else will be held,
But here everyone knows what a low rogue he is.
Yes Yes! Everyone in society is well aware of themselves,
What dirty ways he made his way.
Just the thought of how right now
He achieved all this luxury, wealth, -
Honor is outraged! Virtue blushes!
And yet he is warmly received everywhere,
No one will throw contempt in his face,
In ranks and positions he is always successful,
Decent people he will overtake all.
I can't see without bitter contempt
Insidious machinations of such encouragement,
And, really, sometimes I want to
In the desert to escape from the proximity of people.

Oh my God, why such condemnation!
To the human race you have indulgence;
We will not be so strict to human weaknesses,
We will forgive them other sins! -

the peace-loving Filint concludes this dialogue.

Alzet loves Selimina, whose disposition is frivolous, and her tongue is slanderous. Here are examples of the characteristics of the men around her:

He penetrated into the art of loud phrases without meaning.
None of his words reach the brain,
It only makes a vague noise.

Here is another feature:

He is not a man from head to toe, but a mystery!
Absent-mindedly, he casts his glance;
Kind of preoccupied and terribly businesslike,
Meanwhile, he has nothing to do.

Here is the third feature:

He is selfish, like a round balloon inflated;
He believes that he was not appreciated here;
He is angry with the whole world, always offended by the court:
Whoever was awarded, it means that he is humiliated.

Here is another feature:

This one is unbearable
With the most boring boasting, and vulgar and empty,
Mad, poor, he is on friendly terms with the highest circle!
To princes and dukes he will be the first friend;
All just titles; the whole range of his ideas -
Comparison of departures, dogs and horses;
With all the higher ones on "you" he will certainly,
And he treats all other mortals arrogantly.

Gets from a caustic girl and representatives of her clan-tribe:

Poor thing! Here in whom there is not a sign of intelligence!
Her visit to me is worse than any torture:
To occupy it is always fruitless attempts.
It throws me into a fever while I'm looking for those
But there is no way to revive it, nothing.
I'm trying to cope with stupid dullness,
All common places I worry in vain:
Weather, sun, rain, heat, cold - well, nothing!
You look, and these themes have already run out of stock
You do not know what to start, but the visit lasts,
The terrible torment is not nearing its end;
You look at your watch, yawn for a long time -
The girl is clueless. Out of place like a log.

As a result of this life situation, the benevolent, peace-loving soul Filint finds his happiness next to a sweet girl, and Alzet and Celimena part. Having had fun in verbal battles, scratching their tongues, they remain, as they say, with a nose.

The image of a misanthrope, a person who hates people, appeared much later before the audience in the play by the Russian writer Griboedov "Woe from Wit". Chadsky exclaims at the end of it:

You are right: he will come out of the fire unharmed,
Who will have time to spend the day with you,
Breathe the air alone
And his mind will survive.
Get out of Moscow! I don't go here anymore.
I'm running, I won't look back, I'll go looking around the world,
Where there is a corner for the offended feeling.

And here are the lines from the finale of Molière's play The Misanthrope:

And I, being a victim of deceit and betrayal,
I will leave forever those pernicious walls,
That abyss of hell, where debauchery reigns,
Where is the neighbor to the neighbor - a fierce enemy, not a brother!
I'll go look for a corner in the edge, far from here,
Where can you somehow be an honest person.

“One day, a cheerful company of young people dropped by the already old and ill Jean-Baptiste to interrupt him from work, chat on literary topics and compose epigrams. Such meetings usually ended with dinners. That day Molière felt unwell, he only looked in for a minute to a cheerful company, refused to drink and went to his room. Those who remained dined until three in the morning, and at three in the morning it became clear to them that life was disgusting.

All vanity of vanities and all kinds of vanity, - shouted one of the cheerful company.

We completely agree with you, - the drinking companions answered.

Yes, my poor friends, all is vanity! Look around and tell me what do you see?

We don't see anything good.

Science, literature, art - all these are vain, empty things. And love! What is love, my poor friends?

This is a lie.

Quite right! All life is sadness, injustice and misfortune that surrounds us from all sides - and then Molière's friend began to cry. - When upset friends comforted him somewhat, he ended his speech with an ardent appeal: What should we do, friends? If life is such a black pit, then it is necessary to leave it immediately! Let's get warm! Look, there is a river outside the window that beckons us to itself.

We will follow you, - said the friends, and the whole company began to fasten their swords and put on their raincoats to go to the river.

The noise intensified. Then the door opened, and on the threshold appeared wrapped in a cloak, in a nightcap, with a candle stub in his hand.

Drowning yourself is a good idea,” he said. "But it's not good of you to forget me." After all, I'm your friend too.

He is right. It was disgusting on our part. Come with us, Molière!

Well, go on, go on, - said Molière, - but here's the thing, friends. It is not good to drown ourselves at night after dinner, because people will say that we did it with drunken eyes. That's not how it's done. We'll lie down now, sleep until morning, and at ten o'clock, after washing ourselves and putting ourselves in a decent shape, we'll go to the river with our heads held high, so that everyone can see that we've drowned ourselves like real thinkers.

This is a brilliant idea! Everyone exclaimed and went to bed together.

The next morning, the mass suicide was canceled for some reason.

The aged Madeleine no longer took part in such parties. She left not only the theater, she generally abandoned everything worldly, became unusually religious, prayed unceasingly, mourned her sins and talked only with the clergy or with her notary. Her death occurred on February 17, 1672.

And on February 17, 1673, at the performance of The Imaginary Sick, Moliere felt suffocation, and having played to the end, he allowed his fellow actors to carry him home.

Not a single doctor and not a single priest came to him. “Just before his death, Molière managed to think with curiosity: What does death look like? ” - and saw it immediately. She ran into the room in a monastic headdress and immediately crossed the comedian with a flourish. With the greatest curiosity, he wanted to examine it carefully, but he did not consider anything else.

There was no question of burying Molière according to the church rite. The main comedian died without repentance, without renouncing his profession, condemned by the church, and without giving a written promise that if the Lord, in his infinite goodness, restores his health, he will never play comedy again in his life.

When Armande came to the archbishop for permission to bury her husband in accordance with the church rite, he replied:

I'm sorry, but there's nothing that can be done. I can't give permission for the comedian's burial.

But he died like a good Christian, - the widow said worriedly. – In addition, during last Easter he confessed and took communion.

I am very sorry…” the archbishop repeated, “but understand, madam, I cannot offend the law.

Where should I put his body? Armande asked and began to cry. “So I’ll have to take it outside the city and bury it by the main road.”

The king, having learned about the death of Molière, his godfather, asked the archbishop:

What is happening there?

They answered him:

Sir, the law forbids burying Molière on lighted ground.

And how deep does the illuminated earth extend?

Four feet, your majesty.

Deign, archbishop, to bury him at a depth of five feet, ”said Louis,“ but bury him inconspicuously, avoiding both triumph and scandal.

Then Louis took off his hat and said:

Molière is not dead. Molière is immortal.

Behind the coffin of the comedian flowed a whole forest of lights. Moliere was buried in the department where suicides and unbaptized children are buried. And in the church they noted briefly: on February 21, 1673, the upholsterer and royal chamberlain Jean-Baptiste Poquelin was buried.

His wife laid a stone slab on his grave and ordered a hundred bundles of firewood to be brought to the cemetery so that the homeless could keep warm. In the very first harsh winter, a huge fire was kindled on this stove. From the heat, it cracked and fell apart. Time scattered its pieces, and when, one hundred and ninety years later, during great revolution commissioners came to dig up the body of Jean-Baptiste Moliere and transfer it to the mausoleum, no one could accurately indicate the place of his burial. And although someone's remains were dug up and enclosed in a mausoleum, can anyone say with certainty that these are the remains of de Molière. (M. Bulgakov)

At the beginning of the 19th century, a bust of Moliere was erected at the French Academy with the inscription: "Nothing is needed for his glory, but for our glory he is needed."

Biography

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin was a French comedian of the 17th century, the creator of classical comedy, an actor by profession and director of the theater, better known as the Molière troupe (Troupe de Molière, 1643-1680).

early years

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin came from an old bourgeois family, for several centuries engaged in the craft of upholsterers and draperies. Jean-Baptiste's father, Jean Poquelin (1595-1669), was the court upholsterer and valet of Louis XIII and sent his son to the prestigious Jesuit school - Clermont College (now the Lyceum of Louis the Great in Paris), where Jean-Baptiste thoroughly studied Latin, so he read freely in the original of Roman authors and even, according to legend, translated into French the philosophical poem of Lucretius "On the Nature of Things" (the translation is lost). After graduating from college in 1639, Jean-Baptiste passed the exam in Orleans for the title of licentiate of rights.

The beginning of an acting career

A legal career attracted him no more than his father's craft, and Jean-Baptiste chose the profession of an actor, taking the theatrical pseudonym Molière. After meeting the comedians Joseph and Madeleine Béjart, at the age of 21, Molière became the head of the Illustre Théâtre, a new Parisian troupe of 10 actors, registered by the metropolitan notary on June 30, 1643. Having entered into fierce competition with the troupes of the Burgundy Hotel and the Marais, already popular in Paris, the Brilliant Theater loses in 1645. Molière and his fellow actors decide to seek their fortune in the provinces by joining a troupe of itinerant comedians led by Dufresne.

Molière's troupe in the provinces. First plays

Wandering Molière in the French provinces for 13 years (1645-1658) during the years of the civil war (Fronde) enriched him with worldly and theatrical experience.

Since 1645, Molière and his friends come to Dufresne, and in 1650 he leads the troupe. The repertory hunger of Molière's troupe was the impetus for the beginning of his dramatic work. So the years of Molière's theatrical studies became the years of his author's works. Many farcical scenarios he composed in the provinces have disappeared. Only the plays “The Jealousy of Barbouille” (La jalousie du Barbouillé) and “The Flying Doctor” (Le médécin volant) have survived, the belonging of which to Molière is not entirely reliable. The titles of a number of similar plays played by Moliere in Paris after his return from the provinces are also known (“Gros-Rene schoolboy”, “Doctor-pedant”, “Gorgibus in a bag”, “Plan-plan”, “Three Doctors”, “Kazakin” , “The feigned goof”, “The brushwood binder”), and these titles echo the situations of Moliere’s later farces (for example, “Gorgibus in a sack” and “Scapin's Tricks”, d. III, sc. II). These plays testify to the influence of the old farce tradition on the major comedies of his adulthood.

Farcical repertoire performed by Molière's troupe under his direction and with his participation as actor contributed to its reputation. It increased even more after Molière composed two great comedies in verse - “Naughty, or Everything at random” (L’Étourdi ou les Contretemps, 1655) and “Love Annoyance” (Le dépit amoureux, 1656), written in the manner of Italian literary comedy. Borrowings from various old and new comedies are layered on the main plot, which is a free imitation of Italian authors, in accordance with the principle attributed to Moliere "take your good wherever he finds it." The interest of both plays is reduced to the development of comic situations and intrigue; the characters in them are developed very superficially.

Molière's troupe gradually achieved success and fame, and in 1658, at the invitation of the 18-year-old Monsieur, the king's younger brother, she returned to Paris.

Parisian period

In Paris, Molière's troupe made its debut on October 24, 1658 at the Louvre Palace in the presence of Louis XIV. The lost farce "The Doctor in Love" was a huge success and decided the fate of the troupe: the king gave her the Petit Bourbon court theater, in which she played until 1661, until she moved to the Palais Royal theater, where she already remained until the death of Molière. From the moment Moliere settled in Paris, a period of his feverish dramatic work began, the intensity of which did not weaken until his death. During those 15 years from 1658 to 1673, Molière created all of his best plays, which, with a few exceptions, provoked fierce attacks from social groups hostile to him.

Early farces

The Parisian period of Molière's activity opens with the one-act comedy The Funny Pretenders (French Les précieuses ridicules, 1659). In this first, completely original, play, Molière made a bold attack against the pretentiousness and mannerisms of speech, tone and manner that prevailed in aristocratic salons, which was greatly reflected in literature (see Precise Literature) and had a strong influence on young people (mainly its female part). Comedy painfully hurt the most prominent minnows. Moliere's enemies achieved a two-week ban on the comedy, after which it was canceled with double success.

For all its great literary and social value, "Zhemannitsa" is a typical farce that reproduces all the traditional techniques of this genre. The same farcical element that gave Molière's humor an areal brightness and juiciness also permeates Molière's next play, Sganarelle, ou Le cocu imaginaire (1660). Here, the clever rogue servant of the first comedies - Mascaril - is replaced by the silly, ponderous Sganarelle, who was later introduced by Moliere into a number of his comedies.

Marriage

On January 23, 1662, Molière signed a marriage contract with Armande Béjart, Madeleine's younger sister. He is 40 years old, Armande is 20. Against all the decorum of the time, only the closest people were invited to the wedding. The wedding ceremony took place on February 20, 1662 in the Parisian church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerroy.

comedy parenting

The comedy The School of Husbands (L'école des maris, 1661), which is closely related to the even more mature comedy The School of Wives (L'école des femmes, 1662), which followed it, marks Molière's turn from farce to socio-psychological comedy. education. Here Molière raises questions of love, marriage, attitudes towards women and family arrangements. The lack of monosyllabism in the characters and actions of the characters makes the "School of Husbands" and especially the "School of Wives" a major step forward towards the creation of a comedy of characters, overcoming the primitive schematism of the farce. At the same time, the "School of Wives" is incomparably deeper and thinner than the "School of Husbands", which in relation to it is, as it were, a sketch, a light sketch.

Such satirically pointed comedies could not but provoke fierce attacks from the enemies of the playwright. Molière answered them with a polemical play, La critique de L'École des femmes (1663). Defending himself against accusations of gaerstvo, he expounded here with great dignity his credo of a comic poet (“to delve into the ridiculous side of human nature and amusingly depict the shortcomings of society on stage”) and ridiculed the superstitious admiration for the “rules” of Aristotle. This protest against the pedantic fetishization of the "rules" reveals Moliere's independent position in relation to French classicism, to which, however, he adjoined in his dramatic practice.

Another manifestation of the same independence of Moliere is his attempt to prove that comedy is not only not lower, but even “higher” than tragedy, this main genre of classical poetry. In "Criticism of the "School for Wives"" he criticizes through the mouth of Dorant classic tragedy from the point of view of inconsistency with her "nature" (sc. VII), that is, from the standpoint of realism. This criticism is directed against the themes of classical tragedy, against its orientation towards court and high-society conventions.

Molière parried the new blows of the enemies in the play “Impromptu of Versailles” (L’impromptu de Versailles, 1663). Original in concept and construction (its action takes place on the stage of the theater), this comedy provides valuable information about Molière's work with actors and further development his views on the essence of theater and the tasks of comedy. Subjecting his rivals, the actors of the Burgundy Hotel, to devastating criticism, rejecting their method of conventionally pompous tragic acting, Molière at the same time rejects the reproach that he brings certain people onto the stage. The main thing is that he, with unprecedented courage, mocks the court shamblers-marquises, throwing the famous phrase: “The current marquis makes everyone laugh in the play; and just as ancient comedies always depict a simpleton servant who makes the audience laugh, in the same way we need a hilarious marquis who amuses the audience.

Mature comedies. Comedy-ballets

From the battle that followed the "School of Wives", Moliere emerged victorious. Along with the growth of his fame, his ties with the court were also strengthened, in which he increasingly performs with plays composed for court festivities and giving rise to a brilliant spectacle. Moliere creates here a special genre of “comedy-ballet”, combining ballet (a favorite form of court entertainment, in which the king himself and his entourage acted as performers) with comedy, giving plot motivation to individual dance “outputs” (entrées) and framing them with comic scenes . Molière's first comedy-ballet is The Unbearables (Les fâcheux, 1661). It is devoid of intrigue and presents a series of disparate scenes strung on a primitive plot core. Molière found here so many well-aimed satirical and everyday features to depict secular dandies, players, duelists, projectors and pedants that, for all its formlessness, the play is a step forward in the sense of preparing that comedy of manners, the creation of which was the task of Molière (“The Unbearables” were set to "Schools for Wives").

The success of The Unbearables prompted Molière to further develop the comedy-ballet genre. In "Reluctant Marriage" (Le mariage forcé, 1664), Moliere raised the genre to great heights, achieving an organic connection between comedic (farcical) and ballet elements. In The Princess of Elis (La princesse d'Elide, 1664), Moliere went the opposite way, inserting clownish ballet interludes into a pseudo-antique lyric-pastoral plot. This was the beginning of two types of comedy-ballet, which were developed by Molière and further. The first farcical-everyday type is represented by the plays Love the Healer (L'amour médécin, 1665), The Sicilian, or Love the Painter (Le Sicilien, ou L'amour peintre, 1666), Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, 1669), “The tradesman in the nobility” (Le bourgeois gentilhomme, 1670), “The Countess d'Escarbagnas” (La comtesse d'Escarbagnas, 1671), “The Imaginary Sick” (Le malade imaginaire, 1673). Despite the enormous distance separating such a primitive farce as The Sicilian, which served only as a frame for the "Moorish" ballet, from such developed social comedies as "The Tradesman in the Nobility" and "The Imaginary Sick", we still have development here. one type of comedy - a ballet that grows out of an old farce and lies on the highway of Molière's creativity. These plays differ from his other comedies only in the presence of ballet numbers, which do not at all reduce the idea of ​​the play: Moliere makes almost no concessions to court tastes here. The situation is different in the comedies-ballets of the second, gallant-pastoral type, which include: “Melicerte” (Mélicerte, 1666), “Comic Pastoral” (Pastorale comique, 1666), “Brilliant Lovers” (Les amants magnifiques, 1670), "Psyche" (Psyché, 1671 - written in collaboration with Corneille).

"Tartuffe"

(Le Tartuffe, 1664-1669). Directed against the clergy, this mortal enemy of the theater and all secular bourgeois culture, in the first edition the comedy contained three acts and depicted a hypocrite priest. In this form, it was staged in Versailles at the celebration of the "Entertainment of the Magic Island" on May 12, 1664 under the name "Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite" (Tartuffe, ou L'hypocrite) and caused discontent on the part of the religious organization "Society of Holy Gifts" (Société du Saint sacrament). In the image of Tartuffe, the Society saw a satire on its members and achieved the prohibition of Tartuffe. Molière defended his play in the "Placet" (Placet) addressed to the king, in which he directly wrote that "the originals have achieved the prohibition of the copy." But this request came to nothing. Then Molière weakened the sharp places, renamed Tartuffe to Panyulf and took off his cassock. In a new form, the comedy, which had 5 acts and was entitled "The Deceiver" (L'imposteur), was allowed to be presented, but after the first performance on August 5, 1667, it was again withdrawn. Only a year and a half later, Tartuffe was finally presented in the 3rd final edition.

Although Tartuffe is not a clergyman in it, last edition hardly softer than the original. Expanding the outlines of the image of Tartuffe, making him not only a hypocrite, a hypocrite and a libertine, but also a traitor, an informer and a slanderer, showing his connections with the court, the police and court spheres, Molière significantly increased the satirical sharpness of the comedy, turning it into a social pamphlet. The only light in the realm of obscurantism, arbitrariness and violence is the wise monarch, who cuts the tight knot of intrigue and provides, like a deus ex machina, a sudden happy ending to the comedy. But precisely because of its artificiality and improbability, the successful denouement does not change anything in the essence of the comedy.

"Don Juan"

If in Tartuffe Moliere attacked religion and the church, then in Don Juan, or the Stone Feast (Don Juan, ou Le festin de pierre, 1665), the feudal nobility became the object of his satire. Molière based the play on the Spanish legend of Don Juan, the irresistible seducer of women, who violates the laws of God and man. He gave this wandering plot, which has flown around almost all the scenes of Europe, an original satirical development. The image of Don Giovanni, this beloved noble hero who embodied all the predatory activity, ambition and lust for power of the feudal nobility in its heyday, Molière endowed everyday features a French aristocrat of the 17th century - a titled libertine, rapist and "libertine", unprincipled, hypocritical, arrogant and cynical. He makes Don Juan a denier of all foundations on which a well-ordered society is based. Don Juan is deprived of filial feelings, he dreams of the death of his father, he mocks petty-bourgeois virtue, seduces and deceives women, beats a peasant who stood up for his bride, tyrannizes a servant, does not pay debts and sends creditors away, blasphemes, lies and hypocrites recklessly, competing with Tartuffe and surpassing him with his frank cynicism (cf. his conversation with Sganarelle - d. V, sc. II). Molière puts his indignation against the nobility, embodied in the image of Don Juan, into the mouths of his father, the old nobleman Don Luis, and Sganarelle's servant, who each in their own way denounce Don Juan's depravity, uttering phrases foreshadowing Figaro's tirades (for example, : "The origin without valor is worth nothing", "I would rather pay respect to the son of a porter if he fair man than the son of a crowned man, if he is as debauched as you,” etc.).

But the image of Don Juan is not woven out of negative traits alone. For all his viciousness, Don Juan has great charm: he is brilliant, witty, brave, and Moliere, denouncing Don Juan as the bearer of vices, at the same time admires him, pays tribute to his chivalrous charm.

"Misanthrope"

If Molière introduced a number of tragic features into Tartuffe and Don Juan, appearing through the fabric of comedic action, then in Le Misanthrope (1666) these features were so intensified that they almost completely pushed aside the comic element. A typical example of a “high” comedy with an in-depth psychological analysis of the characters’ feelings and experiences, with a predominance of dialogue over external action, with a complete absence of a farcical element, with an excited, pathetic and sarcastic tone of the protagonist’s speeches, The Misanthrope stands apart in Moliere’s work.

Alceste is not only the image of a noble exposer of social vices, looking for "truth" and not finding it: he is also less schematic than many previous characters. On the one hand, this is positive hero whose noble indignation arouses sympathy; on the other hand, he is not devoid of negative features: he is too unrestrained, tactless, devoid of a sense of proportion and a sense of humor.

Later plays

Too deep and serious comedy "The Misanthrope" was coldly received by the audience, who were looking for entertainment in the theater first of all. In order to save the play, Molière added to it the brilliant farce The Doctor Willy-nilly (French Le médécin malgré lui, 1666). This trifle, which had a huge success and is still preserved in the repertoire, developed the theme of Molière's favorite theme of charlatans and ignorant doctors. It is curious that just in the most mature period of his work, when Moliere rose to the height of the socio-psychological comedy, he increasingly returns to a farce splashing with fun, devoid of serious satirical tasks. It was during these years that Molière wrote such masterpieces of entertaining comedy-intrigue as "Monsieur de Poursonac" and "The Tricks of Scapin" (fr. Les fourberies de Scapin, 1671). Moliere returned here to the primary source of his inspiration - to the old farce.

In literary circles, a somewhat dismissive attitude towards these rude plays has long been established. This attitude goes back to the legislator of classicism, Boileau, who condemned Moliere for buffoonery and pandering to the coarse tastes of the crowd.

The main theme of this period is the ridicule of the bourgeois, who seek to imitate the aristocracy and intermarry with it. This theme is developed in "Georges Dandin" (fr. George Dandin, 1668) and in "The Tradesman in the Nobility". In the first comedy, which develops the popular “wandering” plot in the form of the purest farce, Moliere ridicules the rich “upstart” (fr. Parvenu) from the peasants, who, out of stupid arrogance, married the daughter of a ruined baron, openly cheating on him with the marquis, making him a fool and finally forcing him to ask her forgiveness. The same theme is developed even more sharply in The Tradesman in the Nobility, one of Molière's most brilliant comedies-ballets, where he achieves virtuoso ease in constructing a dialogue approaching in its rhythm to ballet dance(cf. quartet of lovers - d. III, sc. X). This comedy is the most vicious satire on the bourgeoisie, imitating the nobility, which came out from under his pen.

In the famous comedy "The Miser" (L'avare, 1668), written under the influence of Plautus's "Kubyshka" (French Aulularia), Molière masterfully draws the repulsive image of the miser Harpagon (his name has become a household name in France), whose passion for accumulation has become pathological. character and drowned out all human feelings.

Moliere also poses the problem of family and marriage in his latest comedy“Learned Women” (fr. Les femmes savantes, 1672), in which he returns to the theme of “Schemers”, but develops it much wider and deeper. The object of his satire is here female pedants who are fond of science and neglect family responsibilities.

The question of the disintegration of the bourgeois family was also raised in Molière's last comedy The Imaginary Sick (French Le malade imaginaire, 1673). This time, the reason for the breakup of the family is the mania of the head of the house, Argan, who imagines himself sick and is a toy in the hands of unscrupulous and ignorant doctors. Molière's contempt for doctors ran through all his dramaturgy.

Last days of life and death

Written by the mortally ill Molière, the comedy "Imaginary Sick" is one of his most cheerful and cheerful comedies. At her 4th performance on February 17, 1673, Molière, who played the role of Argan, felt ill and did not finish the performance. He was taken home and died a few hours later. The archbishop of Paris forbade the burial of an unrepentant sinner (the actors on his deathbed were supposed to repent) and lifted the ban only at the direction of the king. The greatest playwright of France was buried at night, without rites, outside the cemetery fence, where suicides were buried.

List of works

The first edition of the collected works of Molière was carried out by his friends Charles Varlet Lagrange and Vino in 1682.

Plays that have survived to this day

Jealousy of Barbullieu, farce (1653)
The Flying Physician, farce (1653)
Shaly, or Everything out of place, a comedy in verse (1655)
Love Annoyance, comedy (1656)
Funny coynesses, comedy (1659)
Sganarelle, or the Pretending Cuckold, comedy (1660)
Don Garcia of Navarre, or the Jealous Prince, comedy (1661)
School of Husbands, comedy (1661)
Boring, comedy (1661)
School for Wives, comedy (1662)
Criticism of the School for Wives, comedy (1663)
Versailles Impromptu (1663)
Reluctant marriage, farce (1664)
Princess of Elis, gallant comedy (1664)
Tartuffe, or the Deceiver, comedy (1664)
Don Juan, or the Stone Feast, comedy (1665)
Love the Healer, comedy (1665)
Misanthrope, comedy (1666)
The Reluctant Doctor, comedy (1666)
Melisert, pastoral comedy (1666, unfinished)
Comic pastoral (1667)
The Sicilian, or Love the Painter, comedy (1667)
Amphitryon, comedy (1668)
Georges Dandin, or The Fooled Husband, comedy (1668)
Miser, comedy (1668)
Monsieur de Poursonac, comedy-ballet (1669)
Brilliant Lovers, comedy (1670)
Tradesman in the nobility, comedy-ballet (1670)
Psyche, tragedy-ballet (1671, in collaboration with Philippe Cinema and Pierre Corneille)
The Antics of Scapin, comedy-farce (1671)
The Countess d'Escarbagna, comedy (1671)
Learned Women, comedy (1672)
The imaginary patient, a comedy with music and dancing (1673)

Lost plays

Doctor in Love, farce (1653)
Three Rival Doctors, farce (1653)
Schoolmaster, farce (1653)
Kazakin, farce (1653)
Gorgibus in a sack, farce (1653)
Whisperer, farce (1653)
Jealousy of the Gros Resnais, farce (1663)
Gros Rene schoolboy, farce (1664)

Meaning

Molière had a tremendous influence on the entire subsequent development of bourgeois comedy both in France and abroad. Under the sign of Molière, the entire French comedy of the 18th century developed, reflecting the entire complex interweaving of the class struggle, the entire contradictory process of the formation of the bourgeoisie as a “class for itself”, entering into a political struggle with the noble-monarchist system. She relied on Molière in the 18th century. both the entertaining comedy of Regnard and the satirically pointed comedy of Lesage, who developed in his "Turcar" the type of tax-farmer-financier, briefly outlined by Molière in "Countess d'Escarbagnas". The influence of the "high" comedies of Molière was also experienced by secular household comedy Piron and Gresse and the moral-sentimental comedy of Detouche and Nivelle de Lachausse, reflecting the growth of the class consciousness of the middle bourgeoisie. Even the resulting new genre of philistine or bourgeois drama, this antithesis of classical dramaturgy, was prepared by Molière's comedies of manners, which so seriously developed the problems of the bourgeois family, marriage, and the upbringing of children - these are the main themes of philistine drama.

From the school of Moliere came the famous creator of The Marriage of Figaro, Beaumarchais, the only worthy successor to Moliere in the field of social satirical comedy. Less significant is the influence of Molière on the bourgeois comedy of the 19th century, which was already alien to the main orientation of Molière. However, the comedic technique of Molière (especially his farces) is used by masters of entertaining bourgeois vaudeville comedy of the 19th century from Picard, Scribe and Labiche to Meilhac and Halévy, Pieron and others.

No less fruitful was the influence of Molière outside of France, and in various European countries, translations of Molière's plays were a powerful stimulus for the creation of a national bourgeois comedy. This was the case first of all in England during the Restoration (Wycherley, Congreve), and then in the 18th century by Fielding and Sheridan. So it was in economically backward Germany, where acquaintance with the plays of Molière stimulated the original comedy creativity of the German bourgeoisie. Even more significant was the influence of Moliere's comedy in Italy, where, under the direct influence of Moliere, the creator of the Italian bourgeois comedy Goldoni was brought up. Moliere had a similar influence in Denmark on Golberg, the creator of the Danish bourgeois-satirical comedy, and in Spain on Moratin.

In Russia, acquaintance with the comedies of Molière begins already at the end of the 17th century, when Princess Sophia, according to legend, played the “Doctor involuntarily” in her tower. IN early XVIII V. we find them in the Petrine repertoire. From the palace performances Molière then moves on to the performances of the first state-owned public theater in St. Petersburg, headed by A.P. Sumarokov. The same Sumarokov was the first imitator of Molière in Russia. The most “original” Russian comedians of the classical style, Fonvizin, V.V. Kapnist and I.A. Krylov, were also brought up at Molière’s school. But the most brilliant follower of Moliere in Russia was Griboedov, who in the image of Chatsky gave Moliere a congenial version of his "Misanthrope" - however, a completely original version, which grew up in the specific situation of Arakcheev-bureaucratic Russia of the 1920s. 19th century Following Griboyedov, Gogol also paid tribute to Molière by translating one of his farces into Russian (“Sganarelle, or the Husband who thinks he is deceived by his wife”); traces of Molière's influence on Gogol are noticeable even in The Government Inspector. The later aristocratic (Sukhovo-Kobylin) and bourgeois comedy (Ostrovsky) also did not escape the influence of Molière. In the pre-revolutionary era, bourgeois modernist directors attempted a stage reassessment of Moliere's plays from the point of view of emphasizing in them elements of "theatricality" and stage grotesque (Meyerhold, Komissarzhevsky).

After the October Revolution, some new theaters that arose in the 1920s included Molière's plays in their repertoire. There were attempts at a new "revolutionary" approach to Molière. One of the most famous was the production of Tartuffe at the Leningrad State Drama Theater in 1929. Directing (N. Petrov and Vl. Solovyov) transferred the action of the comedy into the 20th century. Although the directors tried to justify their innovation with not very convincing politicized props (say, the play "works along the line of exposing religious obscurantism and hypocrisy and along the line of Tartuffe of the social compromisers and social fascists"), this did not help for long. The play was accused (albeit post factum) of "formalist-aesthetic influences" and removed from the repertoire, while Petrov and Solovyov were arrested and died in the camps.

Later, official Soviet literary criticism announced that “for all the deep social tone of Moliere’s comedies, his main method, based on the principles of mechanistic materialism, is fraught with dangers for proletarian dramaturgy” (cf. Bezymensky’s The Shot).

Memory

The Parisian street of the 1st city district has been named after Molière since 1867.
A crater on Mercury is named after Molière.
The main French theater award, La cérémonie des Molières, has been named after Molière since 1987.

Legends about Molière and his work

In 1662, Molière married a young actress of his troupe, Armande Béjart, the younger sister of Madeleine Béjart, another actress of his troupe. However, this immediately caused a number of gossip and accusations of incest, since there was an assumption that Armande was the daughter of Madeleine and Moliere and was born during the years of their wanderings around the province. To stop such gossip, the king became the godfather of the first child of Molière and Armande.
In 1808, Alexandre Duval's farce "Wallpaper" (French "La Tapisserie"), presumably an adaptation of Moliere's farce "Kazakin", was played at the Odeon Theater in Paris. It is believed that Duval destroyed Molière's original or copy in order to hide obvious traces of borrowing, and changed the names of the characters, only their characters and behavior suspiciously resembled Molière's heroes. The playwright Guillot de Sey tried to restore the original source and in 1911 presented this farce on the stage of the Foley Dramatic theater, returning its original name.
On November 7, 1919, an article by Pierre Louis "Molière - Corneille's creation" was published in the Comœdia magazine. Comparing the plays "Amphitrion" by Moliere and "Agésilas" by Pierre Corneille, he concludes that Moliere only signed the text composed by Corneille. Despite the fact that Pierre Louis himself was a hoaxer, the idea known today as the "Moliere-Corneille Affair" was widely disseminated, including in such works as "Corneille under the mask of Moliere" by Henri Poulay (1957), "Molière , or The Imaginary Author" by lawyers Hippolyte Wouter and Christine le Ville de Goyer (1990), "The Molière Case: A Great Literary Fraud" by Denis Boissier (2004) and others.