As a member of the elite group of artists rising to prominence in the early years of King Louis XIV's personal rule, Molière performed on the Parisian stage, at court, and in private residences, and he wrote for all these venues and audiences. Navigating the turbulent waters of diverging and converging interests and alliances, Molière always championed the spectator's taste, whether that of the occupants of the parterre, the commoner's seats, or that of the king. He recognized that the most important goal was "to please" and that pleasing was "une étrange entreprise" (a strange enterprise). Molière reiterated this motto in prefaces to his published plays and put it into the mouths of many of his characters, in times of polemic and in periods of unchallenged success. Pleasing, however, did not mean that he was not a sharp critic. Indeed, Molière can be ranked among the moralists of his generation, and he had a depth of knowledge of his society that was based on both observation and education. As a writer he was as much a master of poetry and prose as he was of comedic timing and gesture; he is known as a master of patois, both real and invented, and could bowdlerize Latin as only a knowledgeable linguist could do.
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