Features of the genre of "high" comedy by moliere. Moliere's aesthetic views

J. B. Moliere as a creator of high comedy. The traditions of the commedia dell'arte in the works of Moliere. Tartuffe: problematic, system of images.

A lofty comedy that meets the classic rules: a five-act structure, a poetic form, a unity of time, place and action, an intrigue based on a clash of views, intellectual characters.

The essential feature of high comedy was the element of the tragic. Moliere's comedies touch on a wide range of problems of modern life: the relationship between fathers and children, upbringing, marriage and family, the moral state of society (hypocrisy, greed, vanity, etc.), estate, religion, culture, science (medicine, philosophy), etc. ... The main feature of Moliere's characters is independence, activity, the ability to arrange their happiness and their destiny in the struggle with the old and obsolete. Each of them has his own beliefs, his own system of views, which he defends in front of his opponent; the figure of the opponent is indispensable for classic comedy, because the action in it develops in the context of disputes and discussions.

Another feature of Moliere's characters is their ambiguity. In the course of the action, their characters become more complex or change. But all negative characters are united by one thing - violation of the measure. Measure is the main principle of classic aesthetics. In Moliere's comedies, it is identical with common sense and naturalness (and hence morality). Their bearers are often representatives of the people. Showing the imperfection of people, Moliere implements the main principle of the comedy genre - through laughter to harmonize the world and human relations.

Moliere brings to the fore not entertaining, but educational and satirical tasks. His comedies are characterized by sharp, scourging satire, irreconcilability with social evil and, at the same time, sparkling healthy humor and cheerfulness. "Tartuffe" is the first comedy by Moliere, in which certain features of realism are revealed. In general, she, like his early plays, obeys the key rules and compositional techniques of the classical work; however, Moliere often departs from them (for example, in Tartuffe the rule of the unity of time is not fully observed - the plot includes the prehistory about the acquaintance of Orgon and the saint). In comedy, there is an organic interweaving of various artistic and comedic means: onona combines elements of farce (for example, in those scenes where Orgone hides under the table, kneels with Tartuffe, or is about to slap Dorina in the face), comedy of intrigue (the story of a casket with important papers), comedy of morals, comedy of characters (Orgon, Tartuffe) .This interweaving is the genre innovation of the play; it is also a sign that. This is precisely the genre innovation of the work.

Creating the play, Moliere primarily strove to show the hypocrisy dressed in religious clothes and disguising his base and vile activity with the principles of Christian morality. According to the playwright, this is one of the most tenacious and dangerous vices of his time, and since "the theater has enormous potential to correct morals," Moliere decided to use sharp satire and ridicule the vice, thereby inflicting a crushing blow on him. He highly valued truthfulness in human relationships and hated hypocrisy. “He considered it his artistic and civic duty to crush the filth of hypocrisy and hypocrisy. This idea inspired him when he created Tartuffe and when he courageously defended it. " Moliere built the plot on his observations of the above-described sect of religious, nicknamed the "cabal of saints" ("Society of the Holy Gifts"), and the image of the central character was composed of typical features inherent in sectarians.

The farce attracted Moliere with its content taken from everyday life, the variety of themes, the variegation and vitality of the images, the variety of comic situations. Throughout his life, Moliere retained this addiction to farce, and even in his highest comedies (for example, in Tartuffe) he often introduced farcical elements. The Italian comedy of masks (commedia dell'arte), which was very popular in France, also played a significant role in Moliere's work. The actors' improvisation during the performance, intriguing intrigue, characters taken from life, the principles of acting, characteristic of the comedy of masks, were used by Moliere in his early work. Unfortunately, much of what Moliere wrote in the provinces has not reached us. Some of these farces, lively, rude, deliberately unfinished (under the influence of comedy masks) anticipated later works, where the same plots were presented with more art (for example, "The Fagot Knitter" - "The Healer is Reluctant"; "Gorgibus in a Bag" - "Scapen's Rogues"). In addition, four early plays by Molière have survived: Jealousy of Barbouille, The Flying Healer, Madcap, and Annoyance. In the latter two, a significant role is played by the servant Mascaril, a dodgy clever rogue who faithfully serves his stupid master.

Moliere builds comedies not only on the original intrigue, but also often on the use of already developed plots. In those days, this was perfectly acceptable. Well-read, Moliere turns to Roman comedians, Renaissance Italians, Spanish novelists and playwrights, and to his older French contemporaries; famous authors (Scarron, Rotru). Moliere especially admired Montaigne and Rabelais. Moliere himself recognized himself as a direct follower of Rabelais: following Rabelais, Moliere ridiculed the "perverters of nature", he drew plots from Rabelais, introduced the names of heroes and situations from "Gargantua and Pantagruel" into his comedies. However, familiar plots under Moliere's pen acquired a new meaning: the great comic power of his first works, the ability to highlight the characteristic features of various social groups and professions and, later, the social and satirical content of his comedies were both more weighty and significant than the original meaning of some sources, which Moliere used. From the very beginning, Moliere was aware of the high social and moral purpose of comedy.

And yet, the artistic power of comedy does not lie.However, it follows the basic rules and compositional techniques classical works, from which, however, Moliere sometimes departs (as in "Tartuffe" the rule of the unity of time is not fully observed - the plot includes the prehistory about the acquaintance of Orgon and the saint) so much in the life's reliability of the plot; much more important is the fact that Molière was able to raise the image of Tartuffe to the level of such a broad and voluminous typicality that the latter went beyond the framework of its historical time and acquired an enduring global nominal meaning.

Tartuffe is a hypocrite. And here it does not matter to Moliere whether he is a nobleman or a bourgeois. We do not know the environment in which I acquired this trait. His passion itself is essential - hypocrisy, a psychological trait, and not a social background. This is a crystal clear image derived from the historical environment. Moliere strives to create a clean, abstract stage space and time. This is the desire for abstraction, characteristic of the classicists, and this desire is even more pronounced in the characters. Moliere, typing the image, cannot fail to give the hero and individual features. An individual feature of Tartuffe is that he is a bearer of hypocrisy. He is arrogant, stubborn. It's like a person. And as a type - he embodies what Moliere wants to express in him - condensed hypocrisy. One of the ways to depict such an image is to surround the hero. He arises from this environment. Tartuffe is generally outlined by others. Orgone admires him. Dorina talks about him. This environment of Tartuffe is artificial. By the hand of Moliere, all obstacles have been removed from the path of the protagonist. back side the boundless arrogance and hypocrisy of Tartuffe - the boundless credulity of Orgon, his devotion to Tartuffe. The second way Moliere achieves abstraction is hyperbole. He introduces this hyperbole with strokes. It is necessary that the exaggerated trait be true, real, fixed in gestures, intonation, phraseology, behavior that are really characteristic of a person possessed by this passion. Tartuffe is absolute in its imaginary piety: Dorina's neckline is covered with a scarf. Moliere takes the classical principle of characterization to the last degree, surpassing in this sense the most orthodox classicists. In general, the principles of classicism are very important to him. For example, it is important for him to gravitate towards symmetry, towards the balance of all parts. Moliere always has two heroes who complement each other according to the method of contrast. In "Tartuffe" it is the impudent Tartuffe and the gullible Orgon.

In Tartuffe, Moliere castigates the deception personified by the protagonist, as well as the stupidity and moral ignorance represented by Orgon and Madame Pernel. By deceit, Tartuffe deceives Orgon, and the latter falls for the bait because of his stupidity and naive nature. It is precisely the contradiction between the obvious and the seeming, between the mask and the face, precisely this opposition, on which Moliere so insisted, that is the main source of the comic in the play, because thanks to it the deceiver and the simpleton make the viewer laugh heartily. The first - because he made unsuccessful attempts to pass himself off as a completely different, diametrically opposed personality, and even chose a completely specific, alien quality - which may be more difficult for a zhuir and a libertine to play the role of an ascetic, a zealous and chaste pilgrim. The second is ridiculous because he absolutely does not see those things that would have caught the eye of any normal person, he admires and delights in what should cause, if not Homeric laughter, then, in any case, indignation.

In Orgone, Moliere highlighted, before the rest of the character, the poverty, the narrow-mindedness of the mind, the limitedness of a person seduced by the brilliance of rigorous mysticism, intoxicated by extremist morality and philosophy, the main idea of ​​which is a complete detachment from the world and contempt for all earthly pleasures.

Wearing a mask is a property of Tartuffe's soul. Hypocrisy is not his only vice, but it is brought to the fore, and other negative traits reinforce and emphasize this property. Moliere managed to synthesize a real concentrate of hypocrisy, strongly condensed almost to the absolute. In reality, this would be impossible.

"Tartuffe" denounces not only, or rather, not just stupidity and deceit - for all of Moliere's main comedies expose these moral categories in general. But in each play they take different forms, vary in detail and appear in various spheres of social life. Tartuffe's lies, which took the form of feigned righteousness, and the stupidity of Orgon, who was unable to unravel the brutal game of the crook, showed themselves in the religious field, especially vulnerable in the 17th century.

About Moliere: 1622-1673, France. Born into the family of a court upholsterer-decorator, he received an excellent education. He knew ancient languages, ancient literature, history, philosophy, etc. From there he took out his beliefs about the freedom of the human person. He could even be a scientist, even a lawyer, even follow in the footsteps of his father, but he became an actor (and that was a shame). He played in the "Brilliant Theater", despite the talent for comic roles, almost the entire troupe staged tragedies. Two years later, the theater fell apart and they became a wandering theater. Moliere had seen enough of people, life, characters, realized that comedians were better among them than tragedians, and began to write comedies. In Paris, they were received with delight, Louis 14 left them to be torn apart by the court theater, and then they had their own - the Palais Royal. There he put faxes and comedies on topical topics, ridiculed the vices of society, sometimes individuals and, naturally, made enemies for himself. However, he was treated kindly by the king and became his favorite. Louis even became the godson of his firstborn in order to ward off rumors and gossip from his marriage. And all the same, the people liked the plays, and even I liked it)

The playwright died after the fourth performance of The Imaginary Sick, on stage he felt bad and barely finished the performance. Moliere passed away that night. The burial of Moliere, who died without church repentance and did not renounce the "shameful" profession of an actor, turned into a public scandal. The Parisian archbishop, who did not forgive Moliere "Tartuffe", did not allow the great writer to be buried according to the accepted church rite. The intervention of the king was required. The funeral took place late in the evening, without proper ceremony, behind the fence of the cemetery, where unknown vagrants and suicides were usually buried. However, behind Moliere's coffin, along with family, friends, colleagues, there was a large crowd of ordinary people, to whose opinion Moliere so subtly listened.

In classicism, the rules for constructing a comedy were not interpreted as strictly as the rules for tragedy, and allowed wider variation. Sharing the principles of classicism as an artistic system, Moliere made genuine discoveries in the field of comedy. He demanded to truthfully reflect reality, preferring to go from direct observation of life phenomena to the creation of typical characters. These characters acquire social definiteness under the pen of the playwright; therefore, many of his observations turned out to be prophetic: such is, for example, the portrayal of the peculiarities of bourgeois psychology. Satire in Moliere's comedies has always contained a social meaning. The comedian did not paint portraits, did not record the secondary phenomena of reality. He created comedies that portrayed life and customs. modern society, but for Moliere it was, in essence, a form of expression of social protest, the demand for social justice. At the heart of his understanding of the world lay experimental knowledge, concrete observations of life, which he preferred to abstract speculation. In his views on morality, Moliere was convinced that only following natural laws is the guarantee of reasonable and moral human behavior. But he wrote comedies, which means that his attention was attracted by violations of the norms of human nature, deviations from natural instincts in the name of far-fetched values. In his comedies, two types of "fools" are drawn: those who do not know their nature and its laws (such people Moliere tries to teach, sober up), and those who deliberately mutilate their own or someone else's nature (he considers such people dangerous and requiring isolation) ... According to the playwright, if a person's nature is perverted, he becomes a moral monster; false, false ideals underlie false, perverse morality. Moliere demanded genuine moral rigor, reasonable limitation of the personality; personal freedom for him is not blind adherence to the call of nature, but the ability to subordinate his nature to the requirements of reason. Therefore his goodies reasonable and sane.

Moliere wrote comedy two types; they differed in content, intrigue, comic character, structure. Household comedies , short, written in prose, the plot resembles headlights. And, in fact, « high comedies» .

1. Dedicated to important social tasks (not just to ridicule manners as in "Ridiculous Cutie", but to expose the vices of society).

2. In five acts.

3. In verse.

4. Full compliance with the classic trinity (place, time, action)

5. Comedy: character comedy, intellectual comedy.

6. No convention.

7. The character of the heroes is revealed by external and internal factors. External factors - events, situations, actions. Internal - spiritual experiences.

8. Standard roles. Young heroes tend to lovers ; their servants (usually cunning, accomplices of their masters); eccentric hero (a clown, full of comic contradictions character); hero-wise , or reasoner .

For example: Tartuffe, Misanthrope, Bourgeois in the nobility, Don Juan, in general, all that needed to be read. In these comedies there are also elements of farce and comedy of intrigue Ii, a comedy of morals, but in fact these are comedies of classicism. Moliere himself described the meaning of their social content as follows: “Nothing can get through people like depicting their shortcomings. People listen to reproaches indifferently, but they cannot endure ridicule ... Comedy relieves people of their vices. " Don Juan before him everything was done as a Christian instructive play, but he went the other way. The play is full of social and everyday concreteness (see the paragraph "no conventions"). The protagonist is not an abstract rake or the embodiment of universal debauchery, but a representative of a certain type of French noblemen. He is a typical, concrete person, not a symbol. Creating your Don Juan, Moliere did not denounce debauchery in general, but the immorality inherent in the French aristocrat of the 17th century. real life, but I think you will find it in the corresponding ticket. Tartuffe- not the embodiment of hypocrisy as a common human vice, it is a socially generalized type. No wonder he is not at all alone in comedy: both his servant Laurent, and the bailiff Loyal, and the old woman, Orgon's mother, Mrs. Pernel, are hypocritical. They all cover up their unsightly deeds with godly speeches and watch the behavior of others vigilantly.

Misanthrope was even stern Boileau recognized as a truly "high comedy". In it, Moliere showed the injustice of the social system, moral decline, the rebellion of a strong, noble personality against social evil. It contrasts two philosophies, two worldviews (Alcestus and Flint are opposites). It is devoid of any theatrical effects, the dialogue here completely replaces the action, and the comic of characters is the comic of positions. "Misanthrope" was created during the serious tests that fell to Moliere's lot. This, perhaps, explains its content - deep and sad. The comedy of this essentially tragic play is connected precisely with the character of the protagonist, who is endowed with weaknesses. Alcestus is quick-tempered, devoid of a sense of proportion and tact, he reads moral teachings to insignificant people, idealizes the unworthy woman Selimen, loves her, forgives her everything, suffers, but hopes that he can revive the good qualities she has lost. But he is mistaken, does not see that she already belongs to the environment that he rejects. Alcest is an expression of Molière's ideal, in some way a reasoner, conveying to the public the opinion of the author.

About Bourgeois in the nobility(it is not on the tickets, but it is on the list):

Depicting people of the third estate, the bourgeois, Moliere divides them into three groups: those who were characterized by patriarchy, sluggishness, conservatism; people of a new kind, with a sense of their own dignity and, finally, those who imitate the nobility, which has a destructive effect on their psyche. Among these latter is the protagonist of The Bourgeois in the Nobility, Mr. Jourdain.

This is a man completely captured by one dream - to become a nobleman. The opportunity to get closer to noble people is happiness for him, all his ambition is in achieving similarity with them, his whole life is a desire to imitate them. The thought of the nobility takes possession of him completely, in this mental blindness he loses any correct idea of ​​the world. He acts without reasoning, to the detriment of himself. He reaches the point of spiritual meanness and begins to be ashamed of his parents. He is fooled by everyone who wants to; he is robbed by teachers of music, dance, fencing, philosophy, tailors and various apprentices. Rudeness, bad manners, ignorance, the vulgarity of the language and manner of Monsieur Jourdain comically contrast with his claims to noble grace and polish. But Jourdain evokes laughter, not disgust, because, unlike other similar upstarts, he bows before the nobility disinterestedly, out of ignorance, as a kind of dream of beauty.

Monsieur Jourdain is opposed by his wife, a true representative of the philistine. She is a sane, practical woman with dignity. She is trying with all her might to resist her husband's mania, his inappropriate claims, and most importantly - to cleanse the house of uninvited guests who live off Jourdain and exploit his credulity and vanity. Unlike her husband, she does not have any respect for the nobility and prefers to marry her daughter to a man who would be her equal and would not look down on her philistine relatives. The younger generation - Jourdain's daughter Lucille and her fiancé Cleont - are people of a new kind. Lucille received good upbringing, she loves Cleontes for his virtues. Cleonte is noble, but not in origin, but in character and moral qualities: honest, truthful, loving, he can be useful to society and the state.

Who are those whom Jourdain wants to emulate? Count Dorant and the Marquise of Dorimen are people of noble birth, they have exquisite manners, captivating politeness. But the count is a beggar adventurer, a swindler, ready for any meanness for the sake of money, even for pandering. Dorimen, along with Dorant, robs Jourdain. The conclusion to which Moliere brings the viewer is obvious: even if Jourdain is ignorant and simple, he may be ridiculous, selfish, but he is an honest man, and there is nothing to despise him for. Morally credulous and naive in his dreams, Jourdain is higher than aristocrats. So the comedy-ballet, the original purpose of which was to entertain the king in his castle Chambord, where he went hunting, became, under the pen of Moliere, a satirical, social work.

22. "Misanthrope"

Brief retelling:

1 ACTION. In the capital city of Paris, two friends live, Alcest and Filint. From the very beginning of the play, Alcestus burns with indignation because Filint greeted and sang praises to the person he had just seen, even whose name he hardly remembers. Filint assures that all relationships are built on politeness, because it is like an advance - said the courtesy - you are kind in return, nice. Alcestus claims that such "friendship" is worthless, that he despises the human race for its deceit, hypocrisy, depravity; Alcestus does not want to tell a lie, if he does not like a person - he is ready to tell about it, but he will not lie and obsequiously for the sake of a career or money. He is even ready to lose the process in which he, right, is suing a man who has achieved his condition in the most disgusting ways, who, however, are welcome everywhere and no one will say a bad word. Alcestus rejects Philint's advice to bribe the judges - and he considers his possible defeat a reason to declare to the world about the corruption of people and the corruption of the world. However, Filint notes that Alcestus, despising the entire human race and wanting to hide from the city, does not attribute his hatred to Selimene, a flirtatious and hypocritical beauty - although Eliante, Selimene's cousin, would be much more appropriate to his sincere and straightforward nature. But Alcestus believes that Selimene is beautiful and pure, although covered with a touch of vice, but with his pure love, he hopes to cleanse his beloved from the dirt of light.

The friends are joined by Oroant, who expresses a burning desire to become a friend of Alcest, to which he tries to politely refuse, saying that he is not worthy of such an honor. Oroantes demands Alcestus to say his opinion on the sonnet that has come to his head, after which he reads verses. Oroant's poems are trashy, pompous, stamped, and Alcest, after Oroant's long requests to be sincere, replies that he allegedly spoke to one of my acquaintances poet that graphomania must be restrained in oneself, that modern poetry an order of magnitude worse than old French songs (and sings such a song twice) that the nonsense of professional authors can still be tolerated, but when an amateur not only writes, but also hurries to read out his rhymes to everyone, this is no longer in any way. Oroant, nevertheless, takes everything at his own expense and leaves offended. Filint hints to Alcest that he sincerely made another enemy for himself.

2 ACTION. Alcestus tells his beloved, Selimene, about his feelings, but he is unhappy with the fact that Selimene shows his favor to all his admirers. He wants to be alone in her heart and not share it with anyone. Selimena says that she is surprised by such a new way to say compliments to her beloved - to grumble and swear. Alcestus speaks of his fiery love and wishes to have a serious talk with Selimene. But Selimene's servant, Basque, speaks of people who have come on a visit, to refuse whom is to make money dangerous enemies... Alcestus does not want to listen to the false chatter of the world and slander, but remains. The guests take turns asking Selimene's opinion about their mutual acquaintances, and in each of the absent Selimene notes some features worthy of an evil laugh. Alcestus is indignant at how the guests, with flattery and approval, force his beloved to speak evil. Everyone notices that this is not so, and it is really wrong to reproach your beloved. The guests are gradually leaving, and Alcesta is taken to court by the gendarme.

3 ACTION. Clitander and Akast, two of the guests, claimants for Selimene's hand, persuade that one of them will continue to harass, who will receive confirmation of her affection from the girl. With Selimene who has appeared, they talk about Arsinoe, a common acquaintance who does not have as many admirers as Selimene, and therefore sanctimoniously preaches abstinence from vices; besides, Arsinoe is in love with Alcesta, who does not share her feelings, giving his heart to Selimene, and for this Arsinoe hates her.

Arsinoy, who had arrived on a visit, was greeted with joy by everyone, and the two marquis left, leaving the ladies alone. They exchange pleasantries, after which Arsinoe talks about gossip that allegedly casts doubt on Selimene's chastity. She in response speaks about other gossip - about the hypocrisy of Arsinoe. Alcestus appears, interrupting the conversation, Selimena leaves to write an important letter, and Arsinoe remains with her lover. She takes him to her home in order to show a letter, allegedly compromising the devotion to Alcestus Selimene.

4 ACTION. Filint tells Eliante how Alcestus refused to recognize Oroant's poems as worthy, criticizing the sonnet in accordance with his usual sincerity. He was hardly reconciled with the poet, and Eliante notices that she likes Alcest's disposition and she would be glad to become his wife. Filint admits that Eliante can count on him as a groom, if Selimena does marry Alcest. Alcestus appears with a letter, raging with jealousy. After trying to cool his anger, Filint and Elianta leave him with Selimene. She swears that she loves Alcesta, and the letter was simply misinterpreted by him, and, most likely, this letter is not to the gentleman at all, but to the lady - which removes his outrageousness. Alcestus, refusing to listen to Selimene, finally admits that love makes him forget about the letter and he himself wants to justify his beloved. Dubois, servant of Alceste, insists that his master is in great trouble, that he is good friend ordered Alcest to hide and wrote him a letter, which Dubois forgot in the hall, but would bring. Selimene urges Alcesta to find out what is the matter.

5 ACTION. Alcesta was sentenced to pay a huge sum in the lost case, which Alceste talked about with Filint at the beginning of the play. But Alcestus does not want to appeal against the decision - he is now firmly convinced of the depravity and wrongness of people, he wants to leave what happened as an excuse to declare to the world his hatred of the human race. In addition, the same villain who won the trial against Alcest ascribes the "vile little book" published by him - and the "poet" Orontes, offended by Alcest, takes part in this. Alcestus hides in the back of the stage, and the emerging Orontes begins to demand recognition from Selimene in her love for him. Alcestus leaves and begins, together with Orontes, to demand from the girl final decision- so that she admits her preference for one of them. Selimena is embarrassed and does not want to speak openly about her feelings, but the men insist. The arrived marquises, Eliante, Filint, Arsinoe - read aloud Celimena's letter to one of the marquises, in which she hints at reciprocity to him, slandering all the other acquaintances present on the stage, except for Eliante and Filint. Everyone, hearing about themselves "poignancy", is offended and leaves the stage, and only the remaining Alcest says that he is not angry with his beloved, and is ready to forgive her everything if she agrees to leave the city with him and live in a quiet corner in marriage. Selimene speaks with hostility about fleeing from the world in such a young age, and after twice repeating her judgment about this idea, Alcestus exclaims that he does not want to stay in this society any longer, and promises to forget about Selimene's love.

The "misanthrope" belongs to the "high comedies" of Moliere, who switched from a sitcom with elements of folk theater (farce, low vocabulary, etc.), although not completely (in Tartuffe, for example, elements of farce are preserved - for example, Orgon is hiding under table to see the date of his wife and her covetous Tartuffe), to intellectual comic. High comedies by Moliere are comedies of characters, and in them the course of action and dramatic conflict arise and develop due to the peculiarities of the characters of the main characters - and the characters of the main characters of "high comedies" are hypertrophied features that cause conflict among themselves among the characters between them and society.

So, following Don Juan in 1666, Moliere writes and puts on the stage The Misanthrope, and this comedy is the highest reflection of the “high comedy” - it is completely devoid of theatrical effects, and action and drama are created only by dialogues, clashes of characters. In "Misanthrope" all three unities are observed, and indeed, this is one of the "most classic" comedies by Moliere (in comparison with the same "Don Juan", in which the rules of classicism are freely violated).

The main character is Alcestus (misanthrope - "not loving people"), sincere and direct (this is his characteristic feature), despising society for lies and hypocrisy, desperate to fight him (he does not want to win a court case with a bribe), dreams of escape into solitude - which happens at the end of the work. The second main character is Filint, a friend of Alcest, who, like Alcest, realizes the essence of deceit, selfishness, greed of human society, but adapts to it in order to survive in human society. He seeks to explain to Alcesta that the "irregularities" seen by him are reflections of small mistakes of human nature, which should be treated with condescension. However, Alcestus does not want to hide his attitude towards people, does not want to go against his nature, he runs services at the court, where not feats before the fatherland are needed for exaltation, but immoral activities, which, nevertheless, do not cause any censure by society.

This is how the opposition between the eccentric hero (Alcest) and the sage hero (Filint) arises. Filint, on the basis of his understanding of the situation, makes a compromise, while Alcestus does not want to forgive "the weaknesses of human nature." Although Filint tries to restrain as much as possible the impulses of Alcestus that break out of the social custom and make them less dangerous for himself, however, Alcestus, the rebel hero, openly protests against the social deformities he meets everywhere. However, his behavior is perceived as "noble heroism", then as eccentricity.

Alcest, in connection with the rules of classicism, is not completely ideal - and the comic effect of the "sad comedy", as the "Misanthrope" is called, is born due to the weaknesses of Alcestus - his strong and jealous love, forgiving the shortcomings of Selimene, his fervor and intemperance on the tongue when in the form of vices. However, this makes him prettier, more alive - in accordance with the basic poetics of classicism.

23. "Tartuffe"

Brief retelling from briefly.ru:

Madame Pernelle protects Tartuffe from the household. At the invitation of the owner, a certain M. Tartuffe settled in the house of the venerable Orgon. Orgone doted on him, considering him an incomparable model of righteousness and wisdom: Tartuffe's speeches were extremely sublime, teachings - thanks to which Orgone learned that the world is a big cesspool, and now he would not blink an eye, burying his wife, children and other loved ones - eminently useful, piety aroused admiration; and how selflessly Tartuffe blinded the morality of the Orgone family ... Of all the household, Orgone's admiration for the newly-minted righteous was shared, however, only by his mother, Madame Pernel. In the beginning, Ms. Pernel says that the only good person in this house is Tartuffe. Dorina, Mariana's maid, in her opinion, is a noisy rude woman, Elmira, Orgon's wife is wasteful, her brother Cleant is a freethinker, Orgon's children Damis is a fool and Mariana is a modest girl, but in a quiet pool! But they all see in Tartuffe who he really was - a hypocritical saint, cleverly taking advantage of Orgon's delusion in his simple earthly interests: eating deliciously and sleeping softly, having a secure roof over your head and some other good things.

Orgone's households were utterly disgusted with Tartuffe's moral teachings, with his worries about decency he scared almost all his friends away from the house. But as soon as someone spoke badly about this zealot of piety, Madame Pernel arranged stormy scenes, and Orgon, he simply remained deaf to any speeches that were not imbued with admiration for Tartuffe. When Orgon returned from a short absence and demanded that Doreen's servant report on the news of the house, the news of his wife's discomfort left him completely indifferent, while the story of how Tartuffe happened to gorge himself at supper, then snooze until noon, and sip some wine at breakfast. filled Orgon with compassion for the poor man; "Oh poor!" - he says about Tartuffe, while Dorina says, how bad it was for his wife.

Orgon's daughter, Mariana, is in love with a noble youth named Valera, and her brother Damis is in love with her sister Valera. Orgon seems to have already agreed to the marriage of Mariana and Valera, but for some reason everything is postponing the wedding. Damis, worried about his own fate - his marriage to his sister Valera was to follow the wedding of Mariana - asked Cleant to find out from Orgon what the reason for the delay was. Orgon answered questions so evasively and unintelligibly that Cleantus suspected that he had not decided to somehow dispose of his daughter's future.

Exactly how Orgon sees Mariana's future, it became clear when he told his daughter that Tartuffe's excellence needed a reward, and such a reward would be his marriage to her, Mariana. The girl was stunned, but did not dare to contradict her father. Doreena had to stand up for her: the servant tried to convince Orgone that to marry Mariana to Tartuffe - a beggar, a low-hearted freak - would be the object of ridicule of the whole city, and besides, she would push her daughter onto the path of sin, for no matter how virtuous the girl was, it would not it is simply impossible to instruct a hubby like Tartuffe. Doreena spoke very passionately and convincingly, but, despite this, Orgon remained adamant in his determination to intermarry with Tartuffe.

Mariana was ready to submit to the will of her father - so she was told by the daughter's duty. Resignation, dictated by natural timidity and respect for her father, tried to overcome Doreen in her, and she almost managed to do it, unfolding in front of Mariana bright pictures the conjugal happiness prepared for him with Tartuffe.

But when Valera asked Mariana if she was going to obey Orgon's will, the girl replied that she did not know. But this is exclusively "flirt", she sincerely loves Valera. In a fit of despair, Valera advised her to act as her father ordered, while he himself would find himself a bride who would not change this word; Mariana replied that she would only be glad of this, and as a result, the lovers almost parted forever, but then Dorina arrived in time, who was already hesitated by these lovers with their "concessions" and "omissions." She convinced young people to fight for their happiness. But only they need to act not directly, but in roundabout ways, to drag out for time - the bride is sick, then she sees bad signs, and there something will certainly settle down, because everyone - Elmira, Cleant, and Damis - is against Orgon's absurd plan,

Damis, even too determined, was going to properly rein in Tartuffe, so that he would forget to think about marrying Mariana. Doreen tried to cool his ardor, to suggest that cunning could achieve more than threats, but she could not completely convince him of this.

Suspecting that Tartuffe was not indifferent to Orgon's wife, Dorina asked Elmira to talk to him and find out what he himself thought about marriage to Mariana. When Doreena told Tartuffe that the mistress wanted to talk to him face to face, the saint perked up. At first, scattering in front of Elmira in heavy compliments, he would not let her open his mouth, but when she finally asked a question about Mariana, Tartuffe began to assure her that his heart was captivated by another. To Elmira's bewilderment - how is it possible, a man of a holy life and suddenly seized by carnal passion? - her adorer answered with fervor that yes, he is devout, but at the same time, he is also a man, saying that his heart is not a flint ... Immediately Tartuffe bluntly invited Elmira to indulge in the delights of love. In response, Elmira asked how, in Tartuffe's opinion, her husband would behave when he heard about his vile harassment. But Tartuffe says that sin is not a sin, while no one knows about it. Elmira proposes a deal: Orgone will not know anything, while Tartuffe, for his part, will try to get Mariana to marry Valera as soon as possible.

Damis ruined everything. He overheard the conversation and, indignant, rushed to his father. But, as might be expected, Orgon believed not his son, but Tartuffe, who this time surpassed himself in hypocritical self-deprecation. T. blames himself for all mortal sins and gov-t that he will not even make excuses. In anger, he ordered Damis to get out of sight and announced that Tartuffe would marry Mariana today. As a dowry, Orgon gave his future son-in-law all his fortune.

Cleant in last time tried to humanly talk with Tartuffe and convince him to reconcile with Damis, to abandon the unjustly acquired property and from Mariana - after all, it is not proper for a Christian to use a quarrel between a father and a son for his own enrichment, and even more so to condemn a girl to lifelong torment. But Tartuffe, a distinguished rhetorician, had an excuse for everything.

Mariana begged her father not to give her to Tartuffe - let him take the dowry, and she'd better go to the monastery. But Orgon, having learned something from his pet, without batting an eye, convinced the poor thing of the soul-saving life of her husband, who causes only disgust - after all, mortification of the flesh is only useful. Finally, Elmira could not stand it - since her husband does not believe the words of those close to him, he should personally make sure of the baseness of Tartuffe. Convinced that he will have to make sure exactly the opposite - in the high morality of the righteous, - Orgon agreed to climb under the table and from there overhear a conversation that Elmira and Tartuffe would have in private.

Tartuffe immediately fell for Elmira's feigned speeches that she supposedly had a strong feeling for him, but at the same time showed a certain prudence: before refusing to marry Mariana, he wanted to receive from her stepmother, so to speak, a tangible pledge of tender feelings. As for the violation of the commandment, which will be associated with the delivery of this pledge, then, as Tartuffe assured Elmira, he has his own ways of negotiating with heaven.

What Orgon heard from under the table was enough to finally crush his blind faith in the holiness of Tartuffe. He told the scoundrel to get away immediately, he tried to make excuses, but now it was useless. Then Tartuffe changed his tone and, before proudly retiring, promised to cruelly get even with Orgon.

Tartuffe's threat was not unfounded: firstly, Orgon had already managed to straighten out a deed of gift to his house, which from today belonged to Tartuffe; secondly, he entrusted the vile villain with a box with papers exposing Argas, his friend, who was forced to leave the country for political reasons.

It was necessary to urgently look for some way out. Damis volunteered to beat Tartuffe and discourage him from harming, but Cleanthe stopped the young man - with his mind, he argued, you can achieve more than fists. Orgon's household had not yet come up with anything when the bailiff, Mr. Loyal, appeared on the threshold of the house. He brought the order to vacate M. Tartuffe's house by tomorrow morning. At this point, not only Damis's hands were combed, but also those of Dorina and even Orgon himself.

As it turned out, Tartuffe did not fail to use the second opportunity he had to ruin the life of his recent benefactor: Valera, trying to save Mariana's family, warns them with the news that the villain has given the king a box with papers, and now Orgon faces arrest for aiding the rebel. Orgon decided to flee before it was too late, but the guards got ahead of him: the officer who entered announced that he was arrested.

Tartuffe came to Orgon's house with the royal officer. Household, including Mrs. Pernel, who finally recovered her sight, began to shame the hypocritical villain together, listing all his sins. Tom soon got tired of this, and he turned to the officer with a request to protect his person from vile attacks, but in response, to his great - and general - amazement, he heard that he had been arrested.

As the officer explained, in fact, he did not come for Orgon, but in order to see how Tartuffe goes to the end in his shamelessness. The wise king, an enemy of lies and a bulwark of justice, from the very beginning had suspicions about the identity of the informer and was, as always, right - under the name of Tartuffe was hiding a villain and a swindler, on whose account a great many dark deeds. By his authority, the sovereign canceled the deed to the house and forgave Orgon for indirectly aiding his rebellious brother.

Tartuffe was escorted to prison in disgrace, but Orgon had no choice but to praise the wisdom and generosity of the monarch, and then bless the union of Valera and Mariana: “there is no better example,

Than true love and devotion to Valera "

2 groups of Molière comedies:

1) everyday comedies , their comic - the comic of the situation ("Ridiculous impudent women", "Healer inevitably", etc.).

2) "High comedy" They must be written for the most part verses, consist of five acts. Comedy is a comedy of character, an intellectual comedy ("Tartuffe, or the Deceiver","Don Juan", "Misanthrope", etc.).

History of creation :

1st edition 1664(did not reach us) Only three acts. Tartuffe is a clergyman. Mariana is absent altogether. Tartuffe cleverly gets out when Orgon's son catches him with Elmira (stepmother). Tartuffe's triumph clearly indicated the danger of hypocrisy.

The play was supposed to be shown during the court festival "Amusement of the Enchanted Island", which took place in May 1664 in Versailles. However, she upset the holiday. A real conspiracy arose against Moliere, led by Queen Mother Anne of Austria. Moliere was accused of insulting religion and the church, demanding punishment for this. The performances of the play ceased.

2nd edition 1667... (also did not reach)

He completed two more acts (now 5), where he depicted the connections of the hypocrite Tartuffe with the court, court and police. Tartuffe was named Panyulf and became a socialite intent on marrying Orgon's daughter Marianne. The comedy was called "Deceiver" ended with the exposure of Panyulf and the glorification of the king.

3rd edition 1669... (reached us) the hypocrite was again called Tartuffe, and the whole play - "Tartuffe, or the Deceiver."

"Tartuffe" caused a violent showdown between the church, the king and Moliere:

1. The idea of ​​the comedy king * by the way, Louis XIV generally loved Moliere* approved. After the presentation of the play, M. sent the 1st "Petition" to the king, defended himself against accusations of atheism and spoke about the social role of the satirist writer. The king did not lift the ban, but he also did not heed the advice of the rabid saints "to burn not only the book, but also its author, a demon, an atheist and a libertine who wrote a devilish, full of abomination play, in which he mocks the church and religion, over sacred functions." ...

2. The king gave permission to stage the play in its 2nd edition orally, in a hurry, when leaving for the army. Immediately after the premiere, the comedy was again banned by the President of the Parliament. Archbishop of Paris Refix forbade all parishioners and clergy ania "Present, read or listen to a dangerous play" on pain of excommunication ... Moliere sent a second Petition to the king, in which he announced that he would stop writing altogether if the king did not come to his defense. The king promised to investigate.

3. Understandably, despite all the prohibitions, the book is read by everyone: in private homes, distributed in manuscripts, performed in private home performances. The Queen Mother * died in 1666 the one who resented everything*, and Louis XIV quickly promised Moliere permission to stage it soon.

1668 year - the year of "church peace" between Orthodox Catholicism and Jansenism => tolerance in religious matters. Tartuffe is allowed. February 9, 1669 the show was a huge success.

Course work "Creative individuality in Moliere's comedy" Bourgeois in the nobility "

Introduction

1. The history of the creation of the comedy "Bourgeois in the nobility".

2. The creative personality of comedy.

3. Conclusion.

List of sources used.

INTRODUCTION

Outstanding comedian, director and actor Jean Baptiste Poquelin - Moliere went down in the history of world literature as an innovative playwright, ruthless critic of social evil, a wonderful master of the stage depiction of modern reality.

It is very difficult to exaggerate the importance of Jean-Baptiste Moliere in world literature. He combined in his work the best traditions of French folk theater and the advanced ideas of humanism and created a new type of drama - high comedy, thereby opening new page in the history of world theater. Moliere outlined the paths for the entire subsequent development of drama. His work served as a kind of bridge between two great cultural eras - the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.

Moliere brings to the fore not entertaining, but educational and satirical tasks. His comedies are characterized by sharp, scourging satire, irreconcilability with social evil and, at the same time, sparkling healthy humor and cheerfulness.

A provincial artist and director of a wandering troupe, author of farces and funny, humorous plays of entertainment content, a modest interpreter of the tragedy of classicism becomes, having joined the elements and spirit folk art, having mastered the best traditions of Renaissance comedy and the achievements of the heights of the dramatic practice of classicism, the creator of high comedy, a complex genre, which in many respects formed the foundation of the aesthetics of realistic drama of the entire subsequent era.

Moliere equated high comedy with tragedy, which before him was a privileged genre within the framework of classicist literature.

Moliere's high comedy is characterized, first of all, by an enormous richness of social content, a basically realistic depiction of events and characters, an extraordinary accessibility of perception, and immediate public resonance.

Comic, comedic situations and "pastoral" feelings in Moliere's comedies changed the world of true modern relations and denunciation, ridicule of social evil. It was precisely the progressiveness of the worldview, nationality, and optimism that became the decisive signs of Moliere's high comedy.

One of the main directions in Moliere's comedy is ridicule of the rich bourgeois and criticism of the rapidly degraded aristocracy.

Moliere pursues the goal of being useful to society, correcting bad morals. "... By the nature of my occupation, I can not do anything more worthy than scourging the vices of my age, exposing them in a ridiculous way." The main weapon of Moliere, the creator of high comedy, is laughter. “By subjecting vices to universal ridicule, we inflict a crushing blow on them,” he wrote. It is easy to endure censure, but ridicule is intolerable. Some do not mind being called a villain, but no one wants to be funny. "

Target term paper: study of the comedy by J. B. Moliere "Bourgeois in the nobility", the perception of its problems, the assimilation of the features of the comedy genre, methods of satirical depiction of the vices of personality and society, the skill of comedy intrigue.

The objectives of the course work: systematization, accumulation and consolidation of knowledge about the meaning of the satirical portrayal of the heroes of Moliere's comedy "Bourgeois in the nobility."

1. THE HISTORY OF THE CREATION OF THE COMEDY "BORDER IN THE NOYALITY"

The reason for writing the play "Bourgeois in the Nobility" was a direct instruction Louis XIV make fun of Turkish ceremonies in comedy. A small prestigious spat between the king and the Turkish ambassador, who dared to boldly compare the amount of jewelry on the king of France with the decoration of his master's horse, turned for the Muslim nobleman to house arrest and expulsion from the country, and then to the king's public revenge, already clothed in stage form satirical comedy.

Moliere went far beyond the framework of the royal order and created an excellent piece, directed with its edge against the social diseases of modern France. To create a play about a bourgeois in a hurry to dress up, climbing into the wrong, and besides, the sleigh, which was still extremely spoiled by time, was not a new thing for Moliere by that time. Both "Ridiculous Minions", and especially "Georges Danden" told about the absurd and unenviable fate of a bourgeois, trying to join the noble way of life, aristocratic "culture".

In the era of absolutism, society was divided into "courtyard" and "city". Throughout the 17th century. we observe in the "city" a constant gravitation towards the "court": buying positions, land holdings (which was encouraged by the king, since it replenished the ever-empty treasury), ingratiating themselves, assimilating noble manners, language and customs, the bourgeois tried to get closer to those from whom they separated the bourgeois origin. The nobility, experiencing economic and moral decline, retained, however, its privileged position. His authority, developed over the centuries, arrogance, and even if often external culture subjugated the bourgeoisie, which in France had not yet reached maturity and had not developed class consciousness. Observing the relationship between these two classes, Moliere wanted to show the power of the nobility over the minds of the bourgeois, which was based on the superiority of the noble culture and the low level of development of the bourgeoisie; at the same time he wanted to free the bourgeois from this power, to sober them up.

The interests of the noble elite during the second half of the 17th-18th centuries. more and more contrary to national aspirations. The privileged part of the bourgeoisie withdrew from the bulk of the third estate, in contrast to the alliance of the old tribal nobility and the enslaving part of the bourgeoisie, an alliance of democratic forces was gradually formed and formed. At the very source of this most important social process was Moliere, whose comedies were able to capture the public expression of the impending cataclysm.

Depicting people of the third estate, the bourgeois, Moliere divides them into three groups: those who were characterized by patriarchy, sluggishness, conservatism; people of a new kind, with a sense of their own dignity and, finally, those who imitate the nobility, which has a destructive effect on their psyche. Among these latter is the protagonist of The Bourgeois in the Nobility, Mr. Jourdain.

Moliere's conclusion is that the nobles who served as a model for Jourdain are completely unworthy of him, that aristocrats are rogues, thieves, and idlers. Jourdain is morally superior to them, he is cleaner in his thoughts and way of life.

2. CREATIVE INDIVIDUALITY OF COMEDY

The humanistic beginning of the play, its connection with traditional folk ways of portraying characters, optimism, bright stage performance, social acuteness are typical of all mature work of the playwright.

"Bourgeois in the nobility" is a unique work that quite rightly ridicules people who claim what they do not have - a title, education, good taste, nobility, noble origin. To a greater extent, this applies to those about whom they say: "from rags to riches."

The main theme of the comedy is the attempt of the bourgeois to leave his class and join the "upper circle".

Since the comedy was written within the framework of classicism, it retains the trinity that is obligatory for a classic play: the unity of place (the house of M. Jourdain), time (the action fits into 24 hours) and action (the whole play is built around one main idea). Each of the main characters emphasizes one leading trait in satirical exaggeration

The main character of the comedy is Monsieur Jourdain, who inherited a sufficient amount of money from his father, but the only thing he lacked in life was the title of nobleman. Jourdain really wants to rank himself among the aristocrats, so he has to make considerable sacrifices for this: to wear shoes in which the leg almost folds in half, to pull on unusual silk stockings, to dress funny and tasteless.

A rich bourgeoisie indulged in the dream of his social transformation, but Moliere shows a man who does not limit himself to the desire to simply acquire a title and thereby become on a par with the nobility: Jourdain also wants to be reborn internally, to acquire all the qualities and attributes of an aristocrat.

This is a man completely captured by one dream - to become a nobleman. The opportunity to get closer to noble people is happiness for him, all his ambition is in achieving similarity with them, his whole life is a desire to imitate them. The thought of the nobility takes possession of him completely, in this mental blindness he loses any correct idea of ​​the world. He acts without reasoning, to the detriment of himself. He reaches the point of spiritual meanness and begins to be ashamed of his parents.

Willing to sacrifice much, if not all, to become his own man in aristocratic circles, Monsieur Jourdain, whose name has become even more a household name.

"Bourgeois in the nobility" - a vivid example of "high comedy". Serious ideas are hidden behind the funny events of the comedy, and the comic images become satirical.

Comic - in the inconsistency of real events, as they are perceived by the characters. Moliere saturates this general comic setting with historically accurate characters, reveals the most typical characters... Moliere's talent lies in the fact that, while entertaining the viewer, he educates him, brings him closer to moral values.

The main character's comic lies in his ignorance and clumsy imitation of an alien culture.

Moliere very wittily ridicules the phrases that Jourdain uttered with extraordinary pride. For example, the story of the main character that he bought silk stockings to look like noble people. The remarks about the servants filled with stupid and amusing arrogance are ridiculous: “Lackey! Oh no! Another footman! "

People like Monsieur Jourdain are usually called moneybags. The main thing is to convince such a person that he is like a nobleman, and only then shake the money out of him. So, Jourdain almost gave all his money to an apprentice tailor just because he called him "Your Grace", "Your Grace" and "Your Excellency." Later, Jourdain even said: “Oh, thank God that he left! Otherwise, if he had reached Your Highness, I would have gone bankrupt. " People like Jourdain are a godsend for clever and shrewd crooks.

Monsieur Jourdain is ready to give a lot to flatterers who hint at his involvement in the nobility.

The desire of the protagonist to get the title overshadows the whole world for him. Realizing that all the nobles are scientists, Monsieur Jourdain also decided to engage in self-education, hiring teachers of dance, music, fencing and a philosopher for this purpose.

And the absurdity of his aspirations, and their impracticability are predetermined by education and life path hero: by his own admission, Jourdain, the rudiments of his knowledge are the ability to read and write.

Jourdain is well aware of the scale of his intellectual capabilities. So, he rejects the offer to study logic, ethics, physics because of their "intricacy, twisted" and practical uselessness for him, preferring spelling, from which - certainly - there will be some sense.

Jourdain has an excellent memory, and what little he manages to learn from his teachers becomes a lasting property of the hero. He is not ashamed to study “in his old age” and reacts with complete sincerity to his wife’s ironic proposal to go to school: “Let me be pulled out even now, in front of everyone, just to know everything that is taught at school!”

In addition, in his own way, Jourdain understands that the charm of education is not only and even not so much in its applied, practical usefulness, but in the opening possibilities of communication: "I want to get my head-wits so that I can talk about anything with decent people." The trouble is that decency, education, subtlety of treatment are inherent, it seems to Jourdain, only to the nobility. And, of course, the edge of Moliere's satire strikes not Jourdain's thirst for enlightenment, albeit rather late, but the very nature of the noble "science" and those vain hopes that Jourdain associates with the opportunity to become his own man in the highest circles of society.

Simple-hearted, childish joy, admiration for other people's knowledge, reverence in his own way for science, sincere contrition with his lack of education - all this arouses condescending sympathy for him, condescending, because the attitude towards the science of Jourdain is not only frivolous in the philistine, but also wears an openly consumerist character - thirst for external gloss, the right to be reputed to be an educated person.

To assess the degree of Jourdain's scholarship, one of his remarks addressed to the maid is enough: “Nicole, you don't even know how to pronounce the letter y. Oh, it's a misfortune to deal with fools! You see, you pull your lips forward and bring the upper jaw to the lower. "

Jourdain was no less "enlightened" in philosophy, dance, music and fencing.

The music teacher says to the dance teacher: “Monsieur Jourdain, with his obsession with the nobility and social life, is just a treasure for us. If everyone would become like him, then your dances and my music would have nothing more to wish for ”.

The dance teacher still regrets that Monsieur Jourdain knows so little about the things he is taught. The music teacher cynically objects: "He understands them badly, but he pays well ..."

Moliere

Moliere (real name - Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, 1622 - 1673) was a great comedian, director and actor. He was at the same time the founder of classic comedy and the rightful heir to the traditions of folk farce. In his work, more than all his predecessors and contemporaries, the aspirations and aspirations of the French people were reflected.

Moliere's ancestors were artisans and upholsterers. His grandfather combined the craft of the upholsterer with trade, and his father bought the position of "court upholsterer". Moliere received a good education at the Clermont College, where he studied Latin, freely reading Plautus and Terentius in the original. From a young age, Molière showed a penchant for philosophy, especially the materialistic. In particular, he studied the works of the French materialist Gassendi, who led a fierce polemic with Descartes.

At the end of the college (1639), Moliere passed the exam for the title of licentiate of rights at the University of Orleans, which opened up a career for him as a lawyer. But he rejected her and became an actor. Together with his friends Bejaras, he organized the "Brilliant Theater", which existed for about two years (1643 - 1645). The theater was doing badly due to the lack of good plays and experienced actors. In the fall of 1645, the case fell apart, the actors dispersed, and Moliere, together with the Bejaras, went to seek their fortune in the provinces, joining one of the troupes of itinerant comedians who traveled around France.

In the province of Moliere he worked for thirteen years (1645 - 1658), having experienced all the hardships of the existence of provincial acting. These difficulties were aggravated by the difficult conditions of the civil war - the Fronde, the rivalry of other itinerant troupes, as well as the general atmosphere of hostile attitude of the local authorities towards the theater. In such an environment, Moliere's acting talent grew stronger. He found his true vocation as a comic actor in the provinces. Here he became a playwright, having accumulated a great life experience, widely knowing French reality, seeing the calamities of the people.

Since 1650, Moliere took over the troupe and began to think about creating an original repertoire that would help it stand out from other provincial theaters. He began to write farcical scripts designed for acting improvisation. In these scenarios, Moliere combined the tradition of French farce with the tradition of Italian comedy masks.

In the provinces, Moliere composed his first literary comedies - Madcap (1655) and Love Dispute (1656), the plots of which he borrowed from Italian authors. In both comedies, the main character is the dodgy servant Mascaril, witty, agile, enterprising, far superior mentally to his unlucky master. This is the first sketch of the image of a talented and energetic person from the people, which will be repeated in the future in many of Moliere's works.

The enormous success of the comedies propelled Moliere's troupe to the fore in the provinces and attracted the attention of the court. In Paris at that time there was no theater specializing in comedy repertoire. Therefore, in the fall of 1658, Moliere's troupe received an invitation to perform at court. For her debut performance, she took Corneille's tragedy "Nicomedes" and Moliere's one-act farce "The Doctor in Love", which has not come down to us. The tragedy was not successful, but the farce amused the king, who decided to leave the troupe in Paris, providing it with the premises of the Petit-Bourbon court theater. Here Moliere's theater began to play, putting performances in line with Italian comedians who settled in Paris.

During its first year in Paris, the troupe showed only old performances prepared in the provinces. Molière, studying the theatrical life of Paris, added new actors to the troupe. He invited into his troupe such important members of its later as Lagrange, who played the roles of lovers in all of Moliere's plays, and Ducroisy, the first performer of the role of Tartuffe. He also brought in the aged farcer Jaudelet, who ended his long acting career playing the role of the second servant in Moliere's comedy "Ridiculous Cutie" (1659). Performing in this comedy under his own name, paired with Moliere, who played the role of Mascari-la, Jaudelet, as it were, recognized Moliere as the successor of the old farcical tradition, giving him the role of the first servant.

"Ridiculous Coins" is a hilarious, perky farce about servants posing as aristocrats and courting girls who have rejected their masters. At the same time, this play is Moliere's first satirical comedy, ridiculing the aristocratic "precision" - the exquisite mannerism in the speech and behavior of society ladies obsessed with class arrogance. However, for censorship reasons, exposing aristocrats, Moliere did not noble ladies, and the provincial bourgeois women who imitate them. In the preface to the publication of the play, Moliere wrote that in it he attacked false, and not genuine, precisions. Nobody believed this, and it was the true precisions who got the ban on comedy offended by Moliere. The latter, however, was soon removed by order of the king. From that time on, the elite of the feudal nobility hated Moliere.

But ridiculing precision is not the only theme of Ridiculous Coyte. Moliere posed in a comedy the problem of love and marriage in a bourgeois environment. He showed that, no matter how funny the imitation of the bourgeois Madlon and Kato to secular ladies, they are right in their own way when they object to the transformation of marriage into a deal, defend their right to love, demand from life the poetry that they read about in the novels. Moliere in this play is against Madlon and Cato, but he is also against the rude, prosaic bourgeois Gorgibus, a loudmouth and tyrant. Moliere does not yet express his own point of view here.

Moliere's enemies were on the alert. In the fall of 1660, they tried to deprive him of the theater premises. The building of the Petit-Bourbon Theater began to be demolished under the pretext of rebuilding the premises of the palace, and the troupe found itself on the street in the midst of the season. Moliere complained to the king, and he ordered to provide him with the premises of the Palais-Royal theater, at one time built by Richelieu (then this theater was also called Pal-Cardinal). Moliere rebuilt this building: he removed a huge amphitheater, built three tiers of boxes and a parterre for standing, as in other Parisian public theaters. The troupe played in this beautiful building until Moliere's death.

The new theater opened with the play "Don Garcia of Navarre, or the Jealous Prince" (1661), Moliere's only experience in the genre of "heroic comedy" created by Corneille ("Don Sancho of Aragon"). The comedy failed, and Moliere had to take revenge for her failure with the comedy of morals "School for Husbands" (or in another translation - "A Lesson for Husbands", 1661), which marked his turn to the genre of everyday life. The issues of love, marriage and family life, touched upon in passing in "Ridiculous Cutie", are brought to the fore here, and receive not only critical, but also positive coverage.

The School of Husbands shows the clash of two worldviews - medieval and humanistic. The carrier of the first is Sganarelle, the carrier of the second is his brother Arist. Both of them bring up adopted daughters and are going to marry them. But Sganarelle - a hater of innovations, an adherent of antiquity, a supporter of domestic morality based on severity, violence, coercion - forbids his pupil Isabella to wear fashionable dresses and make acquaintance with young people, because he "does not want to get horns at all." Aristus behaves differently, a rational and virtuous man, a defender of freedom of feeling. He gives his pupil Leonora complete freedom, as he believes in the primordial kindness and purity of human instincts.

The School of Husbands discusses the main problem of msrala that worried the progressive people of that time: should a person be considered virtuous by nature, free from evil inclinations, or should he be considered inclined towards evil due to the original sin gravitating over mankind? The first point of view was secular, humanistic, the second point of view was ecclesiastical, patriarchal, domestic, feudal. Moliere defends the first point of view.

The play shows the advantage of the morality of freedom over the morality of violence and coercion: Leonora respects Arista and willingly marries him, Isabella deceives Sganarelle and runs away from him with Valera. At the same time, Moliere laughs at Arista's "sweetness" and Leonora's "disinterestedness", who, by marrying Arista, will receive four thousand ducats of annual income. Moliere's sympathy is given to the marriage of Isabella and Valera, based on natural attraction and devoid of any monetary calculation.

Moliere adheres to the same point of view in the comedy School for Wives (A Lesson for Wives, 1662), which had the greatest stage success and caused a lively controversy. But here this topic is revealed more deeply and sharply. Moliere refuses the schematic opposition of two pairs, and gives only one pair - Arnolph and Agnes, whose relationship is somewhat reminiscent of the relationship between Sganarelle and Isabella. Concerning

Arista, then in the "School of Wives" he corresponds to Chrysald, turned into a pure reasoner.

The images of Arnolph and Agnes are shown in development, they are distinguished by brightness and full-bloodedness. Moliere emphasizes the social and property side in their relationship. Arnolph is a very wealthy bourgeois who buys up noble estates and changes his bourgeois name to an aristocratic one ("Monsieur de La Souche"). He takes up a poor peasant girl, Agnes, whom he wants to forcibly make his wife. Agnes is brought up in the fear of God. Anolf makes her memorize the commandments of married life, specially composed for her, which develop domestic morality and inspire her,

That in hell it is appointed to cook in cauldrons Those wives who, while living, do not want to put up with it *.

* (Translated by V. Gipius.)

Agnes appears in the first act as a naive "child of nature", a dark and uncultured girl. But Arnolf is prematurely happy that he has found a wife who meets his ideal. No matter how he guards Agnes, protecting her from the influence of life, nature turns out to be the best teacher. Naive Agnes is truly brought up by life itself and matures under the influence of a "natural" feeling for Horace, with which she managed to get to know, despite all the obstacles raised by Arnolf. At the end of the comedy, Agnes runs away from Arnolf's house with her lover. Love triumphs over victory, connecting young people. The victory of youth again means the triumph of the advanced, humanistic ideal over the possessive, egoistic.

The form of the comedy "School for Husbands" and "School for Wives" approached the canon of classicism. Moliere's attraction to classicism was explained by his desire to create a meaningful, ideologically rich comedy genre; such a genre could be created, in his opinion, only within the framework of the classicist doctrine, which determined the path of development of great literature. No wonder Boileau warmly greeted Moliere after he wrote the "School for Wives" with famous stanzas, which contained the lines:

You were able to teach with benefit And the truth is fun to broadcast. Your morality is ready for everyone, Everything is fine, it is reasonable, And often the clownish word of the Academic lecture is more valuable *.

* (Translated by L. Pantyukhova.)

Boileau finds in Moliere "a mixture of business with pleasure - a quality that was praised by Horace and which became the slogan of all classicists; he emphasizes the philosophical depth of Moliere's comedies, which was not at all contradicted by their cheerful, buffoonish shell. At this stage, the famous critic accepted Moliere as a whole, without any reservations.

Boileau's support was especially valuable to Moliere because after the production of The School for Wives, many attacks fell on him. The inspiration behind the campaign against Moliere were the reactionary aristocrats, who did not forgive Moliere for his "Ridiculous Coyote"; their echoes were the playwrights (Wiese, Bourseau, Montfleury) associated with the Burgundy Hotel, which was the main nest of intrigues against Moliere. Moliere was accused of immorality, bad taste, breaking rules, plagiarism and even blasphemy (Arnolf's marriage commandments were interpreted as a parody of the biblical commandments of Moses).

Moliere responded to his enemies with the polemical comedy Critique of the School of Wives (1663). In it, he ridiculed various categories of his ill-wishers - exaggeratedly bashful pretenses, empty-headed and arrogant marquises, envious pedant-poets. He showed all the pettiness of the objections to his play and resolutely averted the accusations of its obscenity, for the first time talking about hypocrisy as a fashionable vice. He stated that he values ​​the approval of a democratic spectator standing in the stalls of the theater much higher than the approval of visitors to the boxes, that is, aristocrats, and that the ability to please the audience is the highest of the "rules" for him. Moliere contrasted this criterion with the dogmatic school "rules" derived from the writings of Aristotle and Horace.

Moliere dealt with the principle of class-based gradation of genres just as decisively, according to which tragedy was considered a "higher" and more difficult genre than comedy. Challenging this position, Moliere argued that comedy is higher than tragedy, since it depicts not heroes, but people, and, "depicting people, you paint from life; their portraits should be similar, and you have achieved nothing if people of our century are not recognized in them." Meanwhile, when creating a tragedy, the author gives himself up to his "imagination, which often forgets about the truth, preferring the miraculous," and, creating images of the heroes of the tragedy, writes "arbitrary portraits in which no one is looking for similarities."

Thus, for Moliere, the criterion of artistic value is the conformity of a work of art to reality. Moliere's statement about the ability to please the viewer, as the highest of the rules, speaks of his democracy, and the above comedy thesis is realistic character. In both cases, Moliere, based on the people's humanistic positions, criticizes the class limitations and the idealistic essence of classicism, outlining a new aesthetic program, the full implementation of which in the era of absolutism was impossible.

A scene from Moliere's comedy "School for Husbands"

"Criticism on the School of Wives" irritated Moliere's enemies, and they began to fight him with the same weapon, ridiculing him in polemic plays. In one of these plays - "Portrait of a Painter" by Bourseau (1663) - Moliere was brought to the stage in a caricature. Moliere responded to this libel with the comedy Impromptu Versailles (1663), which takes place on the stage of his theater and depicts a rehearsal of the play. Moliere himself and the actors of his troupe perform under their own names, preserving their everyday and stage characteristics. The play is of documentary interest, as it introduces us to Moliere's troupe and his methods of working with actors. But even more important is the controversy that Moliere leads here with the actors of the Burgundy hotel, ridiculing their artificial play and pompous declamation (especially the tragedian Montfleury). Moliere insists on freeing tragic actors from the influence of salons and on bringing their acting closer to everyday life. Along with the theatrical polemics, Moliere continues his polemics on social issues, once again firing arrows at the aristocratic youth - the marquises, whom he compares to jesters.

Unable to defeat Moliere with a polemic weapon, the enemies resorted to dirty gossip and denunciations about his family life. But the king paid no attention to them, and this ultimately silenced all evil tongues. The patronage given to Moliere by the king was due to the fact that Louis XIV sought to use Moliere's talent to add more brilliance and wit to his court amusements.

Beginning in 1664, Molière, in parallel with his main work at the Palais-Royal Theater, more and more often performed at the court of Louis XIV with plays specially composed by him for court festivities.

A scene from Moliere's comedy "School for Wives"

These plays belonged to the new genre of comedy-ballet created by Moliere, a characteristic feature of which was the fusion of comedy with ballet, a favorite form of court amusement. In Moliere's comedy-ballets, comedy scenes were performed by the actors of his troupe, and ballet scenes were performed by court amateurs, with whom the king himself and the princes often performed.

We have resorted to a new method; Jaudelet is no longer in vogue. Now we dare not one inch We retreat from nature *.

* (Translated by T. Schepkina-Kupernik.)

The main group of comedy ballets was composed for the performance in Versailles. They are divided according to their subject matter into two groups. The first includes comedies that develop farcical and everyday plots. Such are the "Involuntary Marriage" (1664), "Love-Healer" (1665), "Sicilian, or Love-Painter" (1666), "Monsieur de Poursoniac" (1669), "Countess d" Escarbanas "(1671). Moliere's masterpieces such as "Georges Danden", "The Bourgeois in the Nobility" and "The Imaginary Patient" also included brilliant examples of comic ballet scenes (the Turkish ceremony in "The Bourgeois in the Nobility", initiation into a doctor in "The Imaginary Sick" However, in these plays the leading role was retained by everyday satirical comedy, which completely subordinated to itself the conventional genre of court ballet.

The second group includes comedy-ballets of pastoral and mythological content, developing themes that have been inherent in the court opera and ballet theater from time immemorial. Such are "Princess Elis" (1664), "Meliserta" (1666), "Comic Pastoral" (1666), "Brilliant Lovers" (1670), tragedy-ballet "Psyche" (1671), written in collaboration with Corneille. The action of these plays took place in a certain conventional antique or pastoral setting, where gallant princes and princesses conducted courteous conversations on love topics. These plays are foreign to the legacy of the realist Moliere. Those grains of realism that they meet are drowning in the * sea of ​​convention. Moliere was forced to write such plays due to the need to enlist the patronage of the king in an atmosphere that intensified every year around his work.

Moliere's satirical comedy reached its highest point during 1664-1669. During this five-year period, Moliere wrote his most poignant plays - "Tartuffe", "Don Juan", "The Misanthrope", "The Miser". In them, all the main social forces on which the absolute monarchy relied: the church, the nobility, the bourgeoisie were subjected to ridicule and criticism from the people's humanistic positions.

Presentation of "The Imaginary Patient" at Versailles. 1674 g.

In Tartuffe, Moliere takes the Catholic clergy under fire with their characteristic religious hypocrisy and hypocrisy. Denouncing the clergy, he, in particular, directs the arrows of his criticism at the reactionary clerical organization - the Society of Holy Gifts, which persecuted all "heretics", atheists and free-thinkers. Queen Mother Anne of Austria belonged to this society. In the face of the rogue Tartuffe, who does various dark affairs, Moliere portrayed an ordinary agent of this society. In the first version of the comedy (1664), he was still a clergyman and therefore did not woo Orgon's daughter, but only courted his wife; the play had only three acts and ended with the triumph of Tartuffe. After the prohibition of the first edition of the comedy, Moliere wrote the second, in which he made Tartuffe a socialite, renamed him Panyulf and made him woo Marianne. The comedy ended with Panyulf's exposure. This second edition was banned immediately after the premiere (1667). Moliere closed his theater for seven weeks, feeling unable to fight the clerical reaction. But after the death of Anne of Austria, the era of relative liberalism began, and Tartuffe was finally resolved in the third, current edition (1669), in which Moliere returned Tartuffe to his name, which had become a household name.

According to its objective content, the comedy is directed against religion and its corrupting influence on people. She denounces Christian ethics, reveals the falsity and criminality of church ideology, which claims to spiritual guidance people, enabling the churchmen not to be responsible for their actions. Moliere shows the subordination of the bourgeoisie (in the person of Orgon and his mother, Madame Pernel) to the influence of Tartuffe and makes the servant Doreena, the bearer of popular common sense, the most daring opponent of Tartuffe. But neither Doreena nor the enlightened Cleanthe, brother of Orgon, can cope with Tartuffe. This rogue is exposed by a wise and just king, from whom the third estate could only expect protection from the tartufs triumphant in France. Introducing this strained, artificial finale into his comedy, Moliere seems to want to say that only by a miracle can one deal with the Tartuffe, who still dominate France.

Don Juan (1665) was written after the first prohibition of Tartuffe, which created a severe repertoire crisis in the theater. Seeking a way out of it, Moliere wrote a play on a popular theme, which was developed many times in Spanish, Italian and French theaters. At the same time, he turned a depraved Seville nobleman into a French "evil nobleman" - autocratic, depraved, arrogant, cynical, devoid of any moral principles, sometimes flaunting his godlessness, then pretending to be a saint and, as it were, competing with Tartuffe. The depraved Don Juan is denounced by his father, Don Luis, and the servant Sganarelle, who, with his peasant mind, recognizes all the lightness of the noble freethinking of his master.

Don Juan, the central character of the comedy, is quite complex; as well as negative features he also possesses positive: he is handsome, brilliant, intelligent, educated, brave; his freethinking and skepticism sometimes even resemble the views of Moliere himself. However, this external attractiveness of don Juan only covers up his moral baseness; Don Juan uses his mind, often impudent and courageous, his abilities, education for predatory purposes. Unmasking don Juan's predation, Moliere simultaneously exposes with his lips the vicious world to which this hero belongs. This Shakespearean method of constructing a play and its central image is an exception for Moliere.

In a less vivid form, a similar method of character building is also found in the image of Sganarelle, who is endowed with traditional features simple, cowardly and foolish servant and at the same time speaks out with condemnation of the noble immorality and godlessness of don Juan. Moliere did not sin against historical reality, portraying the master as an atheist, and the servant as believers and superstitious, because at this stage atheism and materialism are developing in aristocratic circles, and the masses of the people are still in the captivity of religion. This is very clearly expressed in the scene with the beggar, whom don Juan cannot make to blaspheme even for a gold piece. Convinced of the steadfastness of the beggar's faith, don Juan gives him a coin "out of love for mankind" in order to leave the last word for himself.

In terms of form, Don Juan is close to the structure of Spanish comedy, deviates from the canon of classicism: it does not observe the rule of three unities, mixes the tragic with the comic, etc. This is due to Moliere's realism, which does not fit into the narrow framework of the classicist canon.

The third great satirical comedy, The Misanthrope (1666), is a typical example of a classicist high comedy, in which there is no comic position and a purely intellectual, philosophical comedy prevails. The hero of the play Alcestus is an honest, noble man, a passionate seeker of truth, who is in conflict with a vulgar and deceitful high society. He exposes the selfishness that reigns in this society, all members of which are concerned only with enrichment and career. In his indignant monologues, Alcestus wants to impose such moral principles, the acceptance of which would be tantamount to its destruction. This gives Alcesta a somewhat quixotic character. The quixoticism of Alcest lies in his impracticality, in his lack of a sense of reality, in the abstractness of his ideals. At the same time, Alcestus is far from being a misanthrope, because his hatred is directed not at the human being, but at those perversions that a bad social order brings. Anticipating the enlighteners, Moliere depicts in The Misanthrope the collision of a “natural” person with “artificial” people spoiled by society.

The only thing that connects Alcesta with this society is his love for Selimene, a typical socialite, empty and heartless, who takes pleasure in slandering her many admirers. At the end of the comedy Selimena is exposed, the fans leave her; now she is ready to marry Alcesta, with whom she had only flirted before. But when Alcestus invites her to retire from people, Selimena retreats from him in horror. Alcestus remains alone with a firm decision to leave society. Characteristically, hating secular people, Alcesst loves the people (for example, he raises his voice in defense of an ingenuous folk song); but he does not yet know the paths leading to the people, and therefore remains a lone Protestant.

To the irreconcilable Alcest, Moliere contrasted the moderate and docile Filint, a supporter of the bourgeois theory of the "golden mean". A hundred years later, a sympathetic portrayal of Philint and partial condemnation of Alceste brought on Moliere indignant criticism of the ideologues of the revolutionary bourgeoisie - Rousseau, Mercier and Fabre d "Eglantine; the latter wrote the comedy" Philint Moliere, or Continuation of the Misanthrope "(1790), in which he portrayed the people, Alceste as a friend and Filinta - a compromiser, an egoist, indifferent to people.

The breadth of Moliere's humanistic views, the deep and sincere connection of his work with the people helped him to see the vices in his own class - the bourgeoisie - to which he himself belonged by birth.

In The Miser (1668), Moliere exposed the thirst for enrichment and the greedy covetousness typical of the bourgeoisie, which played more and more important role in absolutist France. Harpagon is a typical representative of this class, a typical capitalist of the 17th century. The passion for accumulation perverts Harpagon's paternal feelings, corrupts his family, revives his children against him.

Thus, in its destructive power, the fanaticism of accumulation approaches the religious fanaticism, which in Tartuffe corrupted Orgon's family and made him an enemy of his own children.

With the instinct of a great artist, Moliere noticed a contradiction in the psychology of the money-grubber, which Marx later said in Capital: "... in the noble bosom of embodied capital, a Faustian conflict between the passion for accumulation and the thirst for pleasure unfolds." Harpagon feels an uncontrollable thirst for the pleasures that the possession of gold can give him. But senile passion for Marianne, leading Harpagon to conflict with his son, who is in love with the same Marianne, at the same time collides with Harpagon's stinginess, with his fear of spending. Moliere comically plays up all these clashes, which take place on the basis of Harpagon's stinginess, including one of them, when the father unexpectedly finds himself in the role of the usurer, and the son in the role of his client. Harpagon lends money to his son, as it were, on the security of his own imminent death. Moliere revealed in The Covetousness the terrible destructive power of capitalist accumulation at the dawn of its history, showed that the money-grubber becomes a slave to gold, evil, greedy, lonely and unhappy. The image of Harpagon is an ominous warning that the humanist Moliere gives to his own class.

* (K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, vol. XVII, p. 653.)

In the comedy "Georges Danden, or. The Fooled Husband" (1668), which develops a wandering plot about an evil wife, deceiving her husband and making him guilty, Moliere ridiculed the bourgeoisie's craving for the nobility, its desire to buy itself noble wives and noble estates. The comedy depicts the village bourgeois Georges Danden, out of stupid arrogance, marrying the daughter of a bankrupt baron. Angelica deceives Danden with the nobleman Clitandre, contriving to wriggle out of all the predicaments and leaving him in the fools jealous husband... Deceived, humiliated, ridiculed Danden repents of his unreasonable marriage, repeating the phrase: "You yourself wanted this, Georges Danden." Moliere's mockery attacks Danden not only because he intermarried with the vile family of Sotanville barons chasing his money, but also because he overestimated the strength of his wallet and bought a wife for money, thereby depriving himself of any moral rights to her. loyalty. In this sense, Angelica is right in protesting against the deal that Dunden made with her parents. Like Moliere's other husbands-owners, Danden earned the horns that Angelica instructs him.

In the comedy, scenes of Jourdain's teaching in the sciences and arts are especially famous, revealing the stupidity of this new master of life, entering the historical arena. Jourdain's teachers, despising him, still bend their backs in front of him, because he is rich. "The understanding of things is in his wallet, and the praise of this person is money," says the music teacher about him.

Jourdain is opposed by his wife - a rude, direct and outspoken bourgeois woman, devoted to her family, outraged by the folly of Jourdain and the aristocrats courting him. But Mme Jourdain, like Jourdain behind the counter, is not Moliere's positive ideal. The positive ideal is embodied by him in this comedy in the representatives the younger generation- Lucily and Cleonte. These are educated young people who stand well above their class. Cleont is one of the enlightened resonators that Moliere displays in a number of his comedies. Not being a nobleman, he acquired the true nobility of his honest life and useful pursuits (he serves in the civil service). As a true humanist, Moliere, in this image, asserts the primacy of a person's personal merit over nobility and wealth.

In the last years of his life, having behind a number of major achievements in the field of satirical comedy, Moliere again turns with great satisfaction to the farce, with which he once began his career as a playwright. One of Moliere's last comedies is the farce Scapena's Rogues (1671), one of his most frequently performed plays. Although the plot scheme of the comedy was borrowed from Terence ("Formion"), it was developed by the techniques of French farce and Italian comedy of masks. The play faithfully reproduces the ensemble of the commedia dell'arte, with its two pairs of lovers, a pair of old men and a pair of servants, all of whom stand in contrast to each other. In addition, a number of classic farcical tricks and scenes can be found in the comedy, such as the famous sack scene that Moliere borrowed from Tabar-ren. This combination of "Terence with Tabarin" did not like Boileau, and he made a reservation in his "Art of Poetry" about Moliere, who, he said, was "too a friend of the people" and was trying too hard to please their tastes. Standing guard over the laws of the aristocratic theater, Boileau wrote:

And through the bag, where Scapin shamelessly climbed, I cannot see the One by whom the "Misanthrope" was created ... *.

* (Translated by S. Nesterova.)

Considering that Moliere humiliates his talent, sinking after writing a high comedy to a popular farce, the famous critic could not understand that it was from the folk farce that Moliere's comedies inherited their explosive power and that Moliere is famous primarily for the fact that he was and remained until the end of his days great folk comedian.

Moliere really wanted to create the image of a folk hero, full of cheerful activity. He was forced to clothe such a democratic hero in a lackey's livery, because this folk hero at that time on the stage, in the form of a clever and intelligent servant, could find application for his strengths and abilities. In Moliere's youthful comedies, this democratic hero bore the name of Mascarille; in the comedies of recent years, he appears primarily in the form of Scapena. Scapena boils over and overflows with power. “I love to get involved in risky ventures,” he says of himself, “I have never been afraid of dangers. I despise the cowardly little souls who foresee too much and therefore dare not undertake anything.” * Scapin is devoid of the servility so common among those in his profession. He helps both young men (Leander and Octave) not out of selfish reasons, but out of "philanthropy". He is a head above these young people who cannot take a step without his help.

* (Scapen's Rogues Act III, Apparition 1.)

Devoted to exposing bourgeois selfishness and tyranny last comedy Moliere's "The Imaginary Sick" (1673). The materialist Molière led all his life a fierce struggle against scholastic pseudoscience, writing especially often about the deepest flaws of contemporary medicine. In a number of his comedies, he displayed images of ignorant doctors and charlatans. For example, in the farce "The Reluctant Doctor" (1666), he showed the peasant Sgana-rel, who pretended to be a doctor and had great success with patients only due to his arrogance, although his medical ignorance is striking to all people who come across him. In The Imaginary Sick, Moliere makes fun of charlatan healers even more sharply, at the same time paying great attention to the doctors' "sacrifice" - the suspicious bourgeois Argan. For Argan, suspiciousness is a kind of means by which he oppresses the people around him, expresses his narcissism and egoism, exaggerated concern for his health. The selfishness and tyranny of Argan are complemented by the hypocrisy and greed of Belina, who married Argan only because of his wealth and is now looking forward to her husband's death, which will bring her an inheritance. Thus, in the narrow world of the bourgeois family, Moliere develops a struggle of egoistic interests, which constitutes the true essence of bourgeois society. It is interesting to note that the exposure of the predator Belina is carried out by the clever servant Tuaneta, who is the living embodiment of popular common sense. The same Tuaneta finds a way out for Argan, who is obsessed with his diseases: she recommends that he become a doctor himself in order to frighten all diseases with his doctoral title. The comedy ends with a brilliant ballet buffoonery - a comic ceremony of the initiation of Argan into a doctor, which grows into a satire on the quackery of doctors.

The comedy "The Imaginary Sicker" gives a vivid confirmation of the maturity of Moliere's realistic skill, testifies to his ability to show typical phenomena French life... For the first time, he brings to the stage a little girl - Louison, the youngest daughter of Argan, who, despite her childhood, cleverly cunning and pretending, answering her father's questions about the young man caring for her sister. This scene of Argan with Louison delighted Goethe with its realism, who considered it "a symbol of perfect knowledge of the stage."

Summing up the review of Moliere's drama, it should be emphasized that according to his worldview, Moliere was a materialist, heir to the best traditions of humanistic thought, a follower of Rabelais, Montaigne, Sharron, Gassendi, a passionate advocate life truth, striving to always apply the golden rule of the Renaissance philosophy - "follow nature." With all the power of his comic genius, he attacked the perverters of "nature" wherever they appeared, wherever they acted. Priests, scholastics, pseudo-philosophers, pseudoscientists, charlatans, educators and doctors, precision-minded people, ignoramuses, marquises, pedants, bigots and tyrants - this is not a complete list of the perverters of "nature" deduced by Moliere in his comedies. He scoffed at class prejudices, at metaphysical nonsense, at perversions of natural, human relations. He denounced and ridiculed fools and moral monsters, no matter what class they belonged to. At the same time, he did not spare the bourgeoisie, did not idealize it, sharply criticizing it, like other estates. He saw funny sides in all phenomena and layers of contemporary life. "The purpose of the comedy is to portray human shortcomings and, in particular, the shortcomings of modern people," Moliere said, looking at these shortcomings with the open gaze of a person not infected with class prejudices, devoid of bourgeois self-interest and therefore especially close to the people. Moliere was the only playwright of the era of absolutism, whose works expressed popular aspirations, popular assessments public relations, a popular point of view on various phenomena of French life.

Moliere knew and loved the people well, knew their way of life, songs, games, customs, beliefs, proverbs. He was fluent in folk language, various dialects, dialects and introduced them for the first time in his comedies. He showed in his plays ordinary people - servants, maids, artisans, peasants, whom the tradition of the classicist theater forbade to bring to the stage. His folk characters are always endowed with deep folk wisdom, common sense and opposed to comic freaks and rapists from the possessing estates.

However, despite the tireless search for the truth of life, Moliere still remained a classicist, subordinating his work to the norms of rationalist aesthetics. He discarded everything superfluous, incidental, episodic, which could obscure the main theme of the comedy. He portrayed his heroes as possessed by some one passion or strangeness, which thereby became absolutized.

It is precisely this one-sidedness of Moliere's images, which so sharply distinguishes them from the images of Shakespeare, that Pushkin noted in his famous juxtaposition of both great playwrights: alive, full of many passions, many vices ... Moliere is stingy and only ... In Moliere, a hypocrite drags after the wife of his benefactor, a hypocrite; accepts the estate for safekeeping, hypocrisy; asks for a glass of water, hypocrisy ... "Pushkin opposed one-sidedly the images of Harpagon and Tartuffe outlined by Moliere, the images of Shylock and Angelo, which are much more broadly conceived by Shakespeare. Pushkin polemicized with Moliere's method of character building, according to which only certain traits were selected to create a given character. The negative side of this rationalistic method was that it impoverished the heroes of Moliere, especially in comparison with the heroes of Shakespeare, who did not limit himself and portray his characters in all the diversity and richness of their individual characteristics. This criticism by Pushkin of Moliere's method of character building in no way destroys his general, extremely high assessment of Moliere's work. Pushkin considered the image of Tartuffe "immortal", "the fruit of the most intense tension of comic genius", found in this comedy "the highest courage, the courage of invention, creation, where a vast plan is embraced by creative thought."

Moliere played a huge role in the history of European comedy. He created a widespread comedy tradition. We can safely say that all the comedians of the 18th century - French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Russian, Polish, etc. - were, to a greater or lesser extent, students and followers of Moliere. Among his admirers, we find not only comrades-in-arms of the playwright in the comedy genre. An ardent admirer of Moliere was Goethe, who wrote: "I know and love Moliere from a young age. And throughout my life I studied with him ... I admire in him not only perfection artistic techniques, but above all, the artist's nature, full of charm, and a high inner culture. " french writers XIX century like Hugo, Balzac and Zola. The same can be said about the great Russians. writers XIX centuries, from Pushkin, Griboyedov and Gogol to Ostrovsky and L. Tolstoy. It is known that Ostrovsky, before his death, dreamed of transferring the entire Moliere.