The School for Wives
play by Molière
Also known as: “L’École des femmes”
The School for Wives, comedy in five acts by Molière, performed in 1662 and published in 1663 as L’École des femmes. The School for Wives presents a pedant, Arnolphe, so frightened of women that he decides to marry his ward, Agnès, a girl entirely unacquainted with the ways of the world. The delicate portrayal in Agnès of an awakening temperament, all the stronger for its absence of convention, is a marvel of comedy, as are Arnolphe’s clumsy attempts at lover’s talk. Meanwhile, a young man, Horace, falls in love with Agnès at first sight. Much of the play’s comedy results ...(100 of 117 words)