Born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin on January 15, 1622, in Paris, Molière grew up in a wealthy bourgeois family. His maternal grandfather introduced him to the theater at a young age. Molière's father sold upholstery to the king's household. His mother died in 1631, and two years later, his father remarried. Molière went to a Jesuit college and worked in the court for his father. He left Paris to study law, but in 1642, Poquelin told his father that he was unsuited to a legal career. He soon signed a contract with Joseph Béjart and Béjart's sister Madeline to set up a drama company called the Illustre Théâtre (Illustrious Theater).

It was with the opening of this theater that Poquelin took the stage name Molière, a name which may come from one of thirteen French hamlets or...