Molière’s reading to his housemaid has, I think, been misunderstood as
though he in some way wanted to see the effect upon the housemaid and
make her a judge of his work. If she was an unusually clever, smart
girl, this might be well enough, but the supposition commonly is that she
was a typical housemaid and nothing more.
If Molière ever did read to her, it was because the mere act of reading
aloud put his work before him in a new light and, by constraining his
attention to every line, made him judge it more rigorously. I always
intend to read, and generally do read, what I write aloud to some one;
any one almost will do, but he should not be so clever that I am afraid
of him. I feel weak places at once when I read aloud where I thought, as
long as I read to myself only, that the passage was all right.