SOURCE: “Context: Genre and Occasion,” in Molière: Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, Grant & Cutler Ltd., 1992, pp. 15-26.

In this excerpt from his book-length study of The Bourgeois Gentleman, Whitton discusses Molière's role in the development of the uniquely French genre of the comedy-ballet.

Il a le premier inventé la manière de mêler des scènes et des ballets dans les comédies, et il avait trouvé par là un nouveau secret de plaire.

(21, p. 4)

Genre

It is interesting that in an age which affected to mistrust originality—or at least to prize it less than manner and style—Molière was valued for his absolute originality. That originality had many facets. To mention only two: as a playwright, Molière's creation of ‘serious’ comedy is completely without precedent. By serious comedy I mean comedy which is consistently funny, yet at the same time deals with major...