Moliere

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Moliere, was a French playwright, actor, and poet widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world literature, so influential that French is often called the language of Moliere. His works, including comedies, farces, and tragicomedies such as The Affected Ladies, The School for Husbands, and The School for Wives, found success through the patronage of aristocrats including the brother of Louis XIV, earning his troupe a royal pension and the title Troupe du Roi. His satires drew criticism as well as acclaim: Tartuffe was denounced by the Catholic Church in France for its study of religious hypocrisy and banned by the Parlement, while Dom Juan was withdrawn and never restaged in his lifetime. In 1673, during a performance of his final play, The Imaginary Invalid, Moliere, who suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis, was seized by a coughing fit and haemorrhage onstage and died a few hours later.