Molière is the pseudonym for Jean Baptiste Poquelin, one of the greatest comic geniuses the world has seen, and undoubtedly the master of "social comedy." Almost singlehandedly, he prompted international acclaim for French social comedy, and established the form as one of the more enduring types of comedy. In the plays, he analyzed many aspects of his contemporary society and penetrated into the essential characteristics of various types of people. His critical insights into the nature of types like the hypocrite, the misanthrope, and the miser remain almost as urbane today as they were when written.
Molière was born in Paris, France, in 1622, the son of rather prosperous middle-class parents, who sent him to good schools to be trained in law. However, somewhere along the way, Molière fell in love with the theater and was to devote his entire life to the theatrical profession.
He probably received a law degree in about 1641–1642, but thereafter he joined three other people to form a theater company called L'Illustre Théâtre. At this time acting was not held in the highest esteem, to begin with, so when Molière consorted with a woman in his troupe named Madeleine Béjart, it only proved to his bourgeois parents that their son was lost. Molière was actually to remain acquainted with this woman for the rest of her life. In 1662, he married nineteen-year-old Armande Béjart, a vivacious flirt who gathered numerous admirers around her, much to the chagrin of her husband. Legend has it that four years later, Armande would become the model for the capricious and flirtatious Célimène in The Misanthrope. She did however, bear him three children before his untimely death in 1673, the third child being born in 1672, the year before Molière's death.
The company Molière helped establish did not fare too well and went bankrupt during its second season. During this time, he was often plagued by creditors and it was also then that he began to use the name "Molière."
