Molière

Molière was the stage name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622–1673), born in Paris, the son of a royal upholsterer. He gave up the law for the theatre, spent years touring the provinces as actor and company manager, and from 1658 won the favour of Louis XIV in Paris, where he acted in, directed and wrote the plays of his troupe. He died in 1673 after being taken ill while playing the title role of his last comedy, Le Malade imaginaire.

He is the master of French comedy of manners and character, and his great comedies, among them Tartuffe, Le Misanthrope and L'Avare, are written in rhymed alexandrine couplets. Tartuffe, first performed in 1664, was banned for years as an attack on religious hypocrisy before it was allowed on the stage in 1669.