Q 01/05

Which colour do French actors avoid on stage, a superstition tied to Molière's final costume?

A) Purple

B) Green

C) Blue

D) Red

Answer · why

B) Green

Green is said to be the colour Molière wore for his last performance in 1673, hours before he died. French theatre people still treat it as unlucky.

Q 02/05

Where did Molière actually die, hours after collapsing in The Imaginary Invalid?

A) On the stage

B) In a hospital

C) At his home

D) In his dressing room

Answer · why

C) At his home

At his home on the rue de Richelieu, not in the theatre as legend has it: Molière finished the show, was carried back and died a few hours later.

Q 03/05

Which honour did Louis XIV grant Molière's first son in a public show of support for the playwright?

A) Made him a count

B) Gave him a pension

C) Paid for all his schooling

D) Stood as his godfather

Answer · why

D) Stood as his godfather

Louis XIV stood as his godfather in 1664, a pointed answer to gossip about Molière's marriage. The baby, named Louis, died before his first birthday.

Q 04/05

In Molière's The Bourgeois Gentleman, what is Monsieur Jourdain delighted to learn he always speaks?

A) Prose

B) Verse

C) Rhetoric

D) Dialect

Answer · why

A) Prose

Prose, his philosophy tutor explains, is simply any speech that is not poetry. The scene gave French a stock phrase for doing something without realis...

Q 05/05

In Molière's Tartuffe, where does Orgon hide to catch the title character wooing his wife?

A) Behind a curtain

B) Inside a wardrobe

C) Under a table

D) Up the chimney

Answer · why

C) Under a table

Under a table, at his wife Elmire's urging, Orgon finally hears the house guest he idolises make advances to her.