Moliere

Main Ideas

• The tragedy of the artist, doomed to struggle against hypocrisy and the cruelty of power, becomes the central theme of the book, where the stage turns into a battlefield for the right to be oneself.
• Bulgakov masterfully explores the inner conflict between creative freedom and the relentless pressure of courtly society, where every gesture and every word become the subject of close scrutiny and a dangerous game.
• In the image of Moliere, the idea of an unbroken spirit is embodied—art is not just a craft, but a higher calling capable of resisting arbitrariness and indifference.
• The author examines the nature of power, its temptations and destructive force, setting it against the power of art, which can expose society’s vices and awaken genuine emotion.
• Through Moliere’s fate, Bulgakov reflects on the price of recognition and the tragic inevitability of the artist’s loneliness, whose sincerity becomes a challenge to a world of lies and pretense.
• The book is permeated by the motif of theater as a metaphor for life, where everyone is forced to play a role, truth hides behind masks, and only true art can tear them away.