Misanthrope and Other Plays

Misanthrope and Other Plays
ISBN: 9780140447309
Publication Date: 1 September 2000

The plays collected in this volume illustrate Moliere's broad range of comic devices, from satire and farce to slapstick and wordplay. In Tartuffe and The Doctor Despite Himself, Moliere mocks those taken in by a religious hypocrite and a bogus physician, while Such Foolish Affected Ladies and Those Learned Ladies ridicule the excessive refinement of the Parisian smart set. And in The Misanthrope and The Would-Be Gentleman, Moliere warns us of the dangers of obsession and intolerance. Exposing duplicity, snobbery and hypocrisy, his plays are masterly studies in the absurdities of human nature.

John Wood's and David Coward translation preserves the humour of the original French. In his introduction, David Coward discusses changing views of the plays over the centuries. This edition includes a chronology, bibliography and notes.

About The Author Molière was the stage name of Jean Baptiste Poquelin, the son of a wealthy merchant upholsterer. He was born in Paris in 1622. At the age of twenty-one he resigned the office at Court purchased for him by his father and threw in his lot with a company of actors to found the so-styled 'Illustre Theâtre'. The nucleus of the company was drawn from one family, the Bejarts. Armande, the youngest daughter, was to become his wife.

Failing to establish themselves in Paris, the company took to the provinces for twelve years. When they returned to the capital it was with Molière as their leader and a number of the farces he had devised as their stock in trade. Invited to perform before Louis XIV, Molière secured the King's staunch patronage. In 1659 Les Precieuses ridicules achieved a great success, which was confirmed by L'École des femmes three years later. With Tartuffe, however, Molière encountered tr...