Molière notable work The Imaginary Invalid
Death
Molière suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis, possibly contracted when he was imprisoned for debt as a young man. The circumstances of Molière's death, on 17 February 1673, became legend. He collapsed on stage in a fit of coughing and haemorrhaging while performing in the last play he had written, which had lavish ballets performed to the music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier and which ironically was titled Le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid). Molière insisted on completing his performance. Afterwards he collapsed again with another, larger haemorrhage before being taken home, where he died a few hours later, without receiving the last rites because two priests refused to visit him while a third arrived too late. The superstition that green brings bad luck to actors is said to originate from the colour of the clothing he was wearing at the time of his death.
Under French law at the time, actors were not allowed to be buried in the sacred ground of a cemetery. However, Molière's widow, Armande, asked the King if her spouse could be granted a normal funeral at night. The King agreed and Molière's body was buried in the part of the cemetery reserved for unbaptised infants.
In 1792, his remains were brought to the museum of French monuments, and in 1817, transferred to Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, close to those of La Fontaine.
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