Molière (1622-73) combined all the traditional elements of comedy – wit, slapstick, spectacle and satire – with a deep understanding of character to create richly sophisticated dramas which have always delighted audiences.
Most are built around dangerously deluded and obsessive heroes such as The Miser who threaten to blight the lives of those around them. In his first great triumph, The School for Wives (newly translated for this edition), an ageing domestic tyrant is foiled in his plans to wed his young ward. Although this was fiercely criticized for mocking the ‘sacred’ institution of marriage – to which Molière hit back with a play defending his aims and techniques, The School for Wives Criticized – it was the alleged atheism of his dark, subversive version of Don Juan which struck the blackest note. Finally, in The Hypochondriac, the terminally ill author produced a hilarious exposé of the ways doctors use medical mumbo-jumbo to fleece their patients.
Like Shakespeare, Molière was a true man of the theatre whose comedies blend sharp insight into human nature with an unerring sense of what would work on stage and make people laugh. All his greatest achievements are included here and in the accompanying Penguin Classics volume, The Misanthrope and Other Plays.
