L’École des femmes is a five-act play written at a relatively early date after Molière’s return to Paris. Molière had fled Paris after his first troupe, l’Illustre Théâtre, faced bankruptcy. L’Illustre Théâtre was founded on 30 June 1643 but, in August 1645, Molière was imprisoned briefly. After his release, he changed his name and left Paris. While touring the provinces, he was based in Pézenas, until he returned to Paris, in the late 1650s.

L’École des femmes was first performed on 26 December 1662. It is a mature play, written in alexandrine verses, which suggests Molière may have written plays while touring the provinces. A story about a suitcase has long circulated, but the suitcase has yet to be found. L’École des femmes premièred at the Palais-Royal when Molière and his comedians were la troupe de Monsieur Frère Unique du Roi, Louis XIV’s only brother, known as Monsieur. Molière’s Précieuses ridicules, first performed on 18 November 1659, was enormously successful, but L’École des femmes caused a scandal, albeit minor compared to the storm unleashed by Tartuffe ou l’Imposteur (1664). There was une Querelle de l’École des femmes.

Molière chose to respond to objections concerning l’École des femmes by writing La Critique de l’École des femmes, which premièred on 1^st June 1663. The play was followed by L’Impromptu de Versailles, first performed on 14^th October 1663. Both are single-act plays that Britannica calls “discussions.” In other words, neither play features a young couple or young couples whose marriage is threatened by a blocking-character.

Dramatis personæ

URANIE.
ÉLISE.
CLIMÈNE.
GALOPIN, laquais.
LE MARQUIS.
DORANTE ou LE CHEVALIER.
LYSIDAS, poète.

SCENE ONE

We are at Uranie’s house. She and her cousin Élise have been alone for hours. Élise is visiting. Both Uranie and Élise have seen Molière’s L’École des femmes (The School for Wives). It would appear that the persons they know are attending a performance of Molière’s play. However, someone is at the door. It is Climène, a précieuse, and la plus grande façonnière (mannerist) du monde.

SCENE TWO

Galopin lets Climène, our précieuse, into the house. Uranie does not want to see her, but it is too late. She is still outdoors but she knows Uranie is at home.

SCENE THREE

Uranie and Élise have also seen L’École des femmes, but they have liked the play.

“Je ne suis pas si délicate, Dieu merci; et je trouve pour moi, que cette comédie serait plutôt capable de guérir les gens, que de les rendre malades.”
Uranie à Climène et Élise (Scène iii)
[I am not so delicate, thank Heaven! For my part, I fancy that this comedy would be more likely to cure folks, than to make them sick.]
Uranie to Climène and Élise (Scene 3)

Later, she will stay that:

“L’honnêteté d’une femme n’est pas dans les grimaces; et je ne vois rien de si ridicule, que cette délicatesse d’honneur, qui prend tout en mauvaise part ; donne un sens criminel aux plus innocentes paroles ; et s’offense de l’ombre des choses.”
Uranie à Climène (Scène iii)
[A woman’s modesty (honnêteté) does not consist in grimacing. It ill becomes us to be overwise. Affectation of this kind is worse than anything; and I see nothing more ridiculous than that delicate honour which takes everything amiss, gives a bad meaning to the most innocent words, and is startled at shadows.]
Uranie à Climène (Scene 3)

“Ah ! ruban, tant qu’il vous plaira; mais ce, le, où elle s’arrête, n’est pas mis pour des prunes. Il vient sur ce, le, d’étranges pensées. Ce, le, scandalise furieusement ; et quoi que vous puissiez dire, vous ne sauriez défendre l’insolence de ce, le.”
Climène à Uranie (Scene iii)
[Oh yes, the ribbon! But that “the,” when she checks herself, is not put there for nothing. Odd ideas are suggested by this “the.” That “the” is tremendously scandalous.]
Climène to Uranie (Scene 3)

SCENE FOUR

The Marquis arrives. He has attended a performance of L’École des femmes which he considers

“…la plus méchante chose du monde. Comment, diable! à peine ai-je pu trouver place. J’ai pensé être étouffé à la porte, et jamais on ne m’a tant marché sur les pieds. Voyez comme mes canons et mes rubans en sont ajustés, de grâce.”
Le Marquis à tous (Scène IV)
[The most wretched piece imaginable. What the deuce! I could hardly get a seat. I thought I should have been crushed to death at the door, and I was never so trampled upon. Pray see what a state my rolls and
ribbons are in!]
The Marquis to everyone (Scene 4)

If he found himself trampled by a crowd, Molière’s play is one the public wishes to see. It is not the most wretched piece imaginable. It is a success. Irony is Molière’s main weapon is La Critique.

SCENE FIVE

When Dorante, an ancestor to Philinte, the Misanthrope‘s raisonneur, finally joins the group, le Marquis cannot substantiate his accusation. He cannot say why the play is “détestable.”

“Elle est détestable parce qu’elle est détestable.”
Le Marquis à tous (Scène v)
[It is detestable because it is detestable.]
Le Marquis to everyone (Scene 6)

The Marquis’ opinion is based on his not being able to enter the theatre. There was a crowd at the door. But worse is the laughter he heard. It cripples the play:

“Il ne faut que voir les continuels éclats de rire que le parterre y fait. Je ne veux point d’autre chose pour témoigner qu’elle ne vaut rien.”
Le Marquis (Scène V)
[You have only to mark the continual bursts of laughter from the pit. I wish no more to prove its utter worthlessness.]
Le Marquis (Scene 6)

Worse still, the Marquis has not “listened to the play.”

“Que sais-je moi ? je ne me suis pas seulement donné la peine de l’écouter. Mais enfin je sais bien que je n’ai jamais rien vu de si méchant, Dieu me damne; et Dorilas, contre qui j’étais a été de mon avis.”
Le Marquis (Scène V)
[How can I ? I did not so much as give myself the trouble to listen to it. But yet I assure you I never saw anything so wretched, as I hope to be saved ; and Dorilas, who sat opposite to me, was of my mind.]
Le Marquis to Dorante (Scene 6)

Laughter is what Molière wants to generate. L’École des femmes is a comedy. Therefore, the Marquis’ statement is extremely ironic. The Marquis is like the balloon one pricks. He is totally deflated. He will walk away saying cream tart, cream tart… Arnolphe tells Chrysalde that knowing where one uses cream tart, une tarte à la crème, is the only knowledge Agnès requires.

SCENE SIX

The poet Lysidas enters the conversation. He has liked the play, la comédie, he just saw.

“Je la trouve fort belle.”
Lysidas à tous (Scène VI)
[I think it very fine.]
Lysidas to everyone (Scene 7)

THE RULES: THE UNITIES, ETC.

Not to shock the company, Lysidas reverses his statement slighty, but convincingly. Connaisseurs do not approve of L’École des femmes. Yet, rules are not broken. Nor are they in La Critique. There is one plot, all happens in Uranie’s salon, one place, and everything happens in less than twenty-four hours. The three unities are the chief rules. They make the play credible (vraisemblance) and obscenity is in the mind of the audience (bienséances).

“Il est vrai qu’elle n’est approuvée par les connaisseurs.”
Lysidas à tous (Scene VI)
True, it is not admired by connoisseurs.
Lysidas to every one (Scene 7)

He ends up thinking it is “misérable” (wretched).

“Parbleu! tous les autres comédiens qui étaient là pour la voir en ont dit tous les maux du monde.” (Scene VI)
[Gad, all the other actors who went to see it spoke all the ill they could of it.]
Lysidas (Scene 7)

MIROIRS PUBLICS

Molière does not target one person in his satires, says Uranie. His depictions are public mirrors.

“Ce sont miroirs publics où il ne faut jamais témoigner qu’on se voie, et c’est se taxer hautement d’un défaut que se scandaliser qu’on le reprenne.”
Uranie à tous (Scène vi)
[They are public mirrors, in which we must never pretend to see ourselves. To bruit it about that we are offended at being hit, is to state openly that we are at fault.]
Uranie to everyone (Scene 7)

TRAGEDY AND COMEDY COMPARED

“Lorsque vous peignez des héros, vous faites ce que vous voulez; ce sont des portraits à plaisir, où l’on ne cherche point de ressemblance; et vous n’avez qu’à suivre les traits d’une imagination qui se donne l’essor, et qui souvent laisse le vrai pour attraper le merveilleux. Mais lorsque vous peignez les hommes, il faut peindre d’après nature; on veut que ces portraits ressemblent; et vous n’avez rien fait si vous n’y faites reconnaître les gens de votre siècle.”
Dorante à tous (Scène vi)
[These are fancy portraits, in which we do not look for a resemblance ; you have only to follow your soaring imagination, which often neglects the true in order to attain the marvellous. But when you paint men, you must paint after nature. We expect resemblance in these portraits ; you have done nothing, if you do not make us recognise the people of your day. In a word, in serious pieces, it suffices, to escape blame, to speak good sense, and to write well. But this is not enough in comedy.]
Dorante to everyone (Scene 7)

But making gentlefolk laugh is a “strange undertaking.”

“… et c’est une étrange entreprise que celle de faire rire les honnêtes gens.”
Dorante (Scène vi)
[You must be merry ; and it is a difficult undertaking to make gentle folk laugh.]
Dorance (Scene 7)

THE RULE OF RULES: TO PLEASE AND TO BE PLEASED

The great rule, the rule of rules, is to please an audience. The Marquis and Lysidas have seen people laugh.

“Je voudrais bien savoir si la grande règle de toutes les règles n’est pas de plaire; et si une pièce de théâtre qui a attrapé son but n’a pas suivi un bon chemin? Veut-on que tout un public s’abuse sur ces sortes de choses, et que chacun n’y soit pas juge du plaisir qu’il y prend? ”
Dorante à tous (Scène vi)
[I should like to know whether the great rule of all rules is not to please; and whether a play which attains this has not followed a good method ? Can the whole public be mistaken in these matters, and cannot everyone judge what pleases him?]
Dorante to everyone (Scene 7)

The rule of rules is to please. So, to appreciate a comedy, one yields to the pleasure it provides. The great rule is not only to please, but also to allow oneself to be pleased.

“Laissons-nous aller de bonne foi aux choses qui nous prennent par les entrailles, et ne cherchons point de raisonnements pour nous empêcher d’avoir du plaisir.”
Dorante à tous (Scène vi)
[Let us give ourselves up honestly to whatever stirs us deeply, and never hunt for arguments to mar our pleasure.]
(Scene 7)

All repair to the dining-room.

RELATED ARTICLES
Page on Molière
Destiny in L’École des femmes (1^st November 2020) n^o 62

Sources and Resources
La Critique de l’École des femmes is a toutmolière.net publication
The School for Wives Criticised is an Internet Archive publication
Our translator is Henri van Laun
Images belong to théâtre-documention.com (BnF)
Wikipedia: various entries
The Encyclopædia Britannica: various entries

Love to everyone 💕

© Micheline Walker
10 November 2020
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