French Classics PDF EPUB Audio

The Imaginary Invalid

by Molière

Downloads: Under 100
First published: 1673
Pages: 119

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1 h 50 min · 3 parts

Act 1
32:16
Act 2
37:59
Act 3
40:16

The Imaginary Invalid (1673) is a public domain work.

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About this book

Argan, a wealthy hypochondriac convinced he is surrounded by illness, schemes to marry his daughter to a doctor's dull son so that he will always have free medical care close at hand. His daughter loves another, his scheming second wife wants only his money, and his sharp-tongued maid is the one person who sees the whole comedy clearly. Molière's last play mixes farce, song, and dance into a merciless satire of quack physicians and the fear of death, ending in a mock ceremony that crowns the joke. Famously, Molière was performing the title role when he collapsed and died soon after. It remains one of the funniest comedies of the French stage.

About the author

Molière

Molière, born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622-1673), was the leading comic playwright and actor of the age of Louis XIV. His satires of hypocrisy, pretension, and folly, among them Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, and The Miser, remain cornerstones of the French theatrical tradition.