403 years ago today, January 15th, 1622 (December 4th, 1621 in the lunar calendar), the birthday of French writer Moliere. Molière (1622 ~ 1673), a French comedian, actor and drama activist. The founder of the French ballet comedy. Born Jean-Baptiste Pockland, Molière is his stage name. Molière is the most important writer of French classical literature in the 17th century and the founder of classical comedy. He occupies a very important position in the history of European drama. In 1659, Moliere wrote "The Cry Woman", which bitterly satirized the arty elegance of the bourgeoisie and attacked the decay and boredom of the so-called "elegant" life in the aristocratic society, thus angering the aristocratic forces and being banned from performing. However, Molière was not intimidated, and successively compiled Husband's School and Wife's School. "Mrs. School" was accused of being "obscene" and "defaming religion" for preaching new ideas and demanding to break through the cage of feudal ideas, and it was banned. Molière fought back and wrote two controversial short plays, Criticism of Mrs. School and Improvisation at Versailles. In 1664, Molière wrote a masterpiece, The Hypocrite, and in 1668, he created another masterpiece, The Miser. Molière was a master comedian, but his death was a tragedy. In order to maintain the expenses of the troupe, he had to take part in the performance while sick. In 1673, after performing the last scene of "Looking for a Sick Without a Sick", Molière fell down from hemoptysis and died that night at the age of 51. His funeral was deserted because of the obstruction of the church. Illustration of the frontispiece of "Collected Works" Illustration of "Miser"