The duty of comedy is to correct men by amusing them.

Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, 1622–1673) wrote and staged comedies at the court of Louis XIV, where theater was both entertainment and a socially sensitive instrument of critique. His plays repeatedly satirize hypocrisy, pretension, and moral blindness—targets that could provoke backlash (as with the controversy around "Tartuffe"). The maxim that comedy “corrects” by “amusing” reflects a common 17th‑century French defense of satire: laughter can expose vice and folly more effectively—and more safely—than direct moralizing. The idea aligns with Molière’s practice of using comic types and social observation to prompt self-recognition in audiences while keeping the corrective message palatable through wit.

The statement frames comedy as a moral art with a pedagogical purpose: it aims to improve behavior, not merely to entertain. “Correct” suggests reform through recognition—people see their own vanity, greed, or self-deception mirrored in comic characters and are nudged toward change. “By amusing them” implies that pleasure is not incidental but the method: laughter lowers defenses, making criticism easier to accept than sermonizing. The quote also defends satire’s social value: comedy can police norms and puncture hypocrisy while avoiding the hostility that blunt accusation invites. In Molière’s world, humor becomes a civilizing tool—sharp enough to reveal faults, but sweetened so audiences will listen.

1) “Comedy has the duty to correct men by amusing them.”
2) “The business of comedy is to correct men by entertaining them.”