Satirical plays by the French playwright who lived about a generation after Shakespeare. He uses stock characters, and places them in ridiculous situations, in order to mock the institutions of man. The church, the state, science, and the arts all get theirs sooner or later. This anthology contains five of his plays, including some of the better known such as The Misanthrope, The Imaginary Invalid, and Tartuffe. A prologue to The Imaginary Invalid (which I've never actually seen done in production that I can remember) is a tribute to King Louis XIV; an alternate prologue that actually relates to the play, is also supplied, so audiences that are no longer amazed by the feats of the King of France in 1673 can dispense with that prologue and perform the much shorter, more relevant prologue. It does serve to remind one of how tied to patrons (including kings) the arts were even back then, so that authors such as Moliere and Shakespeare had to couch any criticism of the state in careful language. Enjoyable reading. ( )

Each of the works in this collection has it's own character and unique fun, but taken together, they have a common themes of a foolish antagonist, innocent lovers who must resort to trickery to be together, or the impudent maid. While they are certainly fun to read, I imagine that Molière's plays are even more fun to see on the stage. For reviews of the individual plays, click on the following links: The Misanthrope, The Sicilian, Tartuffe, A Doctor in Spite of Himself, and The Imaginary Invalid. ( )

בשעתו לא כתבתי שום הערה על האוסף. לגבי הקמצן אין לי אלא להניח כי נהניתי לפחות כמו שנהניתי עשרים שנה מאוחר יותר כשקראתי זאת בפריז במקביל עם הצרפתית. ( )

It was through this Penguin Classic that I got to know the magic of Moliere, the humour of incongruity, the satire, the fun. It was life changing in the sense of broadening horizons and cost 5 shillings. ( )

My first exposure to Moliere. I wasn't sure what to expect but the fairly bawdy subject matter took me a little by surprise as did the common theme in all five plays of marrying off the daughter. I got some insights into the values and standards in French society of the 1600's but the themes were closer to the Carry On movies than Shakespeare.