École des femmes, L'. Five-act comedy by Molière, first performed 1662. Arnolphe, a pretentious Parisian known also as ‘M. de la Souche’, thinks that he has successfully brought up Agnès to be a perfect wife—passive, submissive, and ignorant. Horace, the son of one of his friends, courts her, however, and not knowing of Arnolphe's double identity, tells him of all his schemes to further the relationship. In spite of this forewarning, Arnolphe is unable to thwart Horace's plans; in the end, Agnès's long-lost father appears and reveals that she is in any case betrothed to Horace. The play gave rise to a protracted debate about theatrical decorum and the value of comedy throughout 1663 to which Molière contributed two one-act plays that discuss the literary, social, and theatrical issues raised by the play: La Critique de l'École des femmes and L'Impromptu de Versailles.
[Ian Maclean]
