Molière

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, better known as Molière (January 15, 1622 – February 17, 1673), was a French theatre writer, director and actor, one of the masters of comic satire.

Impact on French culture

Many words or phrases used in Molière's places are still used in current French:

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• A tartuffe is a hypocrite, especially a hypocrite displaying affected morality or religious piety.
• The statue of the Commander (statue du Commandeur) from Dom Juan is used as a comparison for implacable rigidity (raide comme la statue du Commandeur).
• Don Juan is used as a depreciative qualificative for males who seduce women with false pretenses, then drop them.
• In Les Fourberies de Scapin, Act II, scene 7, Géronte is asked for ransom money for his son, allegedly held in a galley. He repeats, "What the devil was he doing in that galley?" ("Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère?") The word galère ("galley") is used in French nowadays to mean "a cumbersome, painful affair", often with this sentence from Les Fourberies de Scapin.