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The Misanthrope / Tartuffe
8.5Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin)
Molière's greatest comedies — Tartuffe attacked religious hypocrisy so effectively Louis XIV banned it; his body of work is to French comedy what Shakespeare is to English drama.
GBM Assessment (Score: 8.5/10)
Founder of modern European comedy. Tartuffe banned by Louis XIV for attacking religious hypocrisy. The Misanthrope is the greatest comedy in French. Body of work comparable in stature to Shakespeare for comedy.
Louis XIV's France at its zenith. Versailles under construction. Molière performed for the king and died onstage. Tartuffe's five-year ban made it a cause célèbre for artistic freedom. Influenced Beaumarchais, Goldoni, Wilde, Shaw, Beckett. The commedia tradition's supreme literary expression.
Revolution & Reason, c. 1651-1689
England beheads a king (1649). Hobbes writes Leviathan. Molière dominates the French stage under Louis XIV — Tartuffe is banned, Dom Juan scandalizes, The Misanthrope perfects comedy. Milton writes Paradise Lost blind and in disgrace. Pascal wages his wager with God. Spinoza constructs his Ethics. Louis XIV builds Versailles. England's Glorious Revolution produces Locke's blueprint for liberal democracy. Newton publishes his Principia (1687). The Scientific Revolution transforms understanding of nature.
Awards & Adaptations
Continuously performed worldwide for 360 years. Comédie-Française founded on his company. Tartuffe among most-performed plays in any language. Core text at St. John's, Columbia Great Books.
Recommended Edition
Richard Wilbur trans. (Harcourt, 1965–2000); Donald Frame trans. (Complete, Signet 1968)
