Moliere, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, was a French playwright and actor who some say is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western Literature. Some of his best known plays are The Imaginary Invalid, The School for Wives, and The Miser as well as many others. Moliere spent thirteen years as a traveling actor which helped him polish his comic abilities while he began writing refined French comedy. Moliere’s acting was believed to be both a disappointment and a blessing. He wanted to be a tragic actor, but that was not popular at the time and to be able to make it he’d have to change his ways. Moliere was pretty much born to be a comedic actor. Off stage he was completely different. He didn’t talk much and he definitely was not very cheery. “Moliere never tired of acting and he was always venturing out. He would even give the character he was playing at the time a certain cough and another, certain moods. He actually made a play out of rehearsals. Many say it was quite appropriate that he should die while playing the part of the sick man that he really was.”-(Moore. Britannica.com) Moliere’s acting definitely influenced his writing, as he wrote what he could most naturally act. When he acted, Moliere gave himself parts like servants, needy husbands, etc…. What is at the heart of Molière's dramatic style, and what was it that made his plays unique for their time? Was it their brilliant understanding, sharp wit, and strong sense of what the dramatist himself viewed as morals? Molière became a master of comedy so much that in the process of making his audiences laugh, he also made enemies. He first wrote for King Louis XIV, and he also pleased the popular Parisian audience who attended the public theater. However,... ... middle of paper ... ...ves. Much of the play’s action focuses on Harpagon’s stinginess. Valère and Mariane are revealed to be Anselme’s long-lost children, and they are happily paired with the miser’s son and daughter by the play’s end, after Harpagon insists that Anselme pay for both weddings.” -(Miser. Brittanica.com) One of Moliere’s talents is being able to take a single trait and place it at the center of the action, which makes the entire play revolve around that characteristic. The acting styles of Moliere are very similar in all of his plays. He was a realist and most of his plays show that. I’d say that all his plays relate to each other in some way or another. In describing the plays stated above everyone can see that they have the same stories wrapped into each other. The Imaginary Invalid is a play full of exciting characters, as well as The School for Wives, and The Miser.
In Molière’s play, Tartuffe, there is a sense of honor that the king receives although he is not in the actual play. Often times in the 17th century, when this play was published, the king of the country had to sponsor the plays in order for them to be performed. Tartuffe conforms to this because Molière nearly writes the entire last scene to honor King Louis XIV. This shows that he wanted to flatter the king and therefore achieve his approval. By flattering the king, Molière even achieved overriding Cardinal Chigi, who hated the play. He does this by providing examples of King Louis XIV’s strength, experience and attentiveness. Overall, the king was Molière’s strongest supporter. Molière shows how the play is monetary dependent on the King
Out of the plays that we could have chosen to produce, I have decided to go with Molière’s, “Tartuffe.” This play is a comedy that comes from 17th century France and is heavily influenced by two large sources of experience for Molière. Those sources are the rules and structure for a play put in place by the French academy and the lessons of improvisation taught by the Commedia dell’Arte. This piece is written in fives acts that are in a unique alexandrine style of verse which have 12 syllables in a line and usually ends with rhyming words. The reason I chose this play is because, in my opinion, things like television, movies, plays, and other forms of media and entertainment are meant to transport you away from all the bad things happening in real life and focus you on something fun and/or interesting. I find this play to have a lot of fun moments that can be mined for even more comedy and I think it has the good chance to keep a large audience entertained for a long period of time. To accomplish my goal I will use elements of situational comedies, France in the 1660’s, and one of Molière’s plays, “A school for girls.”
William Shakespeare’s dramatic and poetic techniques and his use of hyperbole are used to describe the characters emotions and weaknesses. The use of dramatic irony is used to create personal conflict. This is done throughout the play to describe the characters concerns and their situations.
...cally to less formally constrained entertainments. While the classical ideal set its sights on the universal, they welcomed plays which satirised contemporary French manners and topical events, like Moliere’s.
This did not materialize as the movie flashes back to his early days as a playwright actor. Moliere was known as not being too popular with the Roman Catholic Church, as some of his famous works portrayed Church officials as hypocrites. Tartuffe ou L’Imposteur, which translates to hypocrite and Don Juan were the plays that drew the most ire from the Church. This was a classic case of the conservative having a hard time absorbing something new or unconventional. Moliere’s brand of entertainment, which is primarily to make people laugh as much as possible, made it much more like a mockery of the people who weren’t being portrayed in a positive light.
In Rousseau’s critique of Moliere, he sees Moliere as being a perfect author. Moliere incorporates betrayal and distortion to stir the emotions and gain our interest, as well as sympathy. Rousseau feels that Moliere doesn’t help society, instead, he harms it. The reason is because Moliere is bringing down the value of society by using politics and comedy together. People are starting to see their flaws as being acceptable due to the content they see in Moliere’s work.
Moliere’s acting was believed to be both a disappointment and a blessing. He wanted to be a tragic actor, but that was not popular at the time and to be able to make it he’d have to change his ways. Moliere was pretty much born to be a comedic actor. Off stage he was completely different. He didn’t talk much and he definitely was not very cheery. “Moliere never tired of acting and he was always venturing out. He would even give the character he was playing at the time a certain cough and another, certain moods. He actually made a play out of rehearsals. Many say it was quite appropriate that he should die while playing the part of the sick man that he really was.”-(Moore. Britan...
It is in the duality of Orgon, the believing subject, and Tartuffe, the manipulating hypocrite (or impostor), that Moliere takes his digs at the extremes of enthusiastic belief. Tartuffe plays the role of a man whose greedy actions are cloaked by a mask of overwhelming piety, modesty and religious fervor. Orgon is the head of a household who has taken Tartuffe in. We laugh at Orgon because everyone else (except his mother) knows that Tartuffe is a fake. All of Orgon's relatives warn him of Tartuffe's gluttony and of the false nature of his pious proclamations.
Jean Baptiste Poquelin, who took the stage name of Moliere to spare his family embarrassment when he became the manager and leading actor of a struggling theatrical troupe, began his career by adapting Italian farces for the French stage, imitating the improvisational style and character types of the commedia dell'arte. When finally he branched out from farce to write his own comic satires, he both delighted and scandalized his Parisian audiences. His satire was by no means tender; Tartuffe (1664) attacked false religiosity, and the darkly philosophical Don Juan (1665) provoked a number of powerful enemies.
A satirical comedy is an attempt to ridicule a certain aspect of government, religion, or another aspect of society to bring about change through the use of comedy to lighten the blow. Tartuffe is a prime example of a satirical comedy. Molière used this play to point out one of the biggest flaws of organized religion during his time, religious hypocrisy. Although he may not have directly intended it to be about the Catholic Church, it was interpreted by them as such so they made the king ban it for a period of time. By making it into a play, Molière was able to reach a larger audience. People tend to enjoy plays more so due to their quick, lively nature. Plays are always changing, and they are stories being brought to life. A reader may not be interested by a short story or novella, but a play could be the very thing to draw in their attention. Molière was able to reach more people by making this into a play, therefore making the problem of religious hypocrisy more widely
...rough what he or she revealed of universal human nature, rather than individual differences, forever changing French theatrical comedies.
Shakespeare’s plays are a product of the Elizabethan theatrical context in which they were first performed. A lot of pressure was put on Shakespeare as he wrote his plays because he was not allowed to upset the royal family. His style would have been different than others in those times and a lot more thought has gone into his writing than people listening would think. Usually, the audience take for granted the cleverness and thought of Shakespeare’s writing, however, now we have studied and gone into great detail about Shakespeare’s writing, we can appreciate it more than they did:
The Tragedy of Othello is yet another vehicle through which Shakespeare is able to express his genius as a playwright. He skillfully utilized all of the requirements needed to satisfy Aristotle's requirements for a true tragedy. Shakespeare's brilliant use of language captivates the audience as well as touching them on a personal level because of how understandable the events and human characteristics were.
William Shakespeare has provided some of the most brilliant plays to ever be performed on the stage. He is also the author of numerous sonnets and poems, but he is best known for his plays such as Hamlet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Romeo and Juliet. In this essay I would like to discuss the play and movie, "Romeo and Juliet", and also the movie, Shakespeare in Love. The play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is set in the fictional city of Verona. Within the city lives two families, the Capulets and the Montegues, who have been feuding for generations.
As the roles were essentially cemented into the culture, manipulations such as crossovers provide a source of conflict and intrigue into the narrative of the plays. Two of Shakespea...