The Middle-Class Gentleman

Molière, 1622-1673Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.3

Word count: 105K words
Chapters: 11

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Middle-Class Gentleman by MolièreAuthor: Molière, 1622-1673,Language: English, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Dec 1, 2001

Editor's review

Molière's The Middle-Class Gentleman is a classic comedy that examines social climbing with a satirical eye. The protagonist, Jourdain, is bent on joining the nobility; to that end he imitates aristocratic manners, affects cultural refinement, and even blocks his daughter's marriage to the man she loves—his absurd antics are irresistibly funny. The work's value lies in the fact that it does not stop at humor: beneath the exaggerated plot it reflects enduring themes such as class vanity, the display of education, and the alienation of human relations. This edition is an English electronic version, brisk in style and suited to readers with basic English for fragmented reading on the commute or before bed. Readers may treat it as a "light social-observation play," using the past to satirize the present and glimpsing today's pursuit of respectability and personal image. It has a strong sense of the stage; read aloud alongside the play's classic dialogue, the comic rhythm and satirical edge come through even more.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in French classical comedy and Molière
Learners who hope to encounter dramatic classics through light English reading
Reflective readers concerned with class, vanity, and identity
English teachers and drama club members in need of short material

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking Molière in the original French
Readers who prefer modern narrative pacing and complex plots
Readers unaccustomed to drama and dialogue-based texts

Reading tips

Begin with the plot summary and character relationships, then read the full text to lower the threshold of reading English drama.
Try reading key argument scenes aloud by role to feel the stage rhythm of Molière's comedy.
After reading, write a short commentary connecting it to phenomena such as "personal image" and "refined living" to deepen understanding.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book the original French or an English translation?

This electronic edition is in English, an English translation suited to readers engaging with classic drama in English; to appreciate Molière's linguistic style, consult the French original or a Chinese translation alongside it.

Can I understand it without experience reading drama?

Yes. The plot is clear and the conflicts concentrated, centering on the family and social comedy sparked by the protagonist's social climbing. It helps to first learn the characters, then follow the dialogue; do not get bogged down in line-by-line details.

What does this work mainly satirize?

It mainly satirizes the social climate of blindly imitating the nobility and making vanity and respectability one's life goals; it also offers observations on the display of education, marriage arrangements, and social snobbery. Behind the humor lies a clear target of social criticism.

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About the author

Molière, 1622-1673 Author

Molière (1622-1673), born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, was a leading figure of French classical comedy and worked in the seventeenth-century French theatre as both actor and playwright. The library holds 41 of his works, including such representative plays as Tartuffe, The Miser, and Don Juan, ou le Festin de pierre, as well as multi-volume editions of his complete works. Drawing on everyday life, his comedies expose hypocrisy, greed, and vanity with exaggerated yet incisive satire; his characters are vividly drawn and his dialogue witty and lively, conveying criticism of social ills through laughter. Public information on his early life and education is limited, so no speculation is offered here. His plays have had a profound influence on French and European theatre history and are still frequently staged today.