Moliere: Social Structures and Ideology

FAIN: FT-13805-78

James F. Gaines
Southeastern Louisiana University (Hammond, LA 70401)

To prepare a critical study of the social structures and ideology in the theater of the seventeenth century French dramatist Moliere. Remaining work to be completed includes construction of a methodology based on identification of social indicators such as clothing, land, money, and tension between class rank and codes of behavior. Three main areas will be examined: 1) recent scholarship on class structure and social mobility in specific regions of France under the Ancien Regime; 2) source materials such as household ledgers and books on etiquette and domestic science containing indications or standards of living among various classes; 3) works by other playwrights of the classical Period whose ideologies will be compared to Moliere.