The School for Wives: Comedy in Five Acts, 1662

by Molière, Pierre Cabanis, Myriam Boucharrenc, et al.

Book Overview

THE STORY: Fearing cuckoldry above all else, Arnolphe has painstakingly trained the guileless Agnes from childhood to become his obedient and faithful wife. Although he has carefully shielded her from... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0151795800
• ISBN13: 9780151795802
• Release Date: January 1971
• Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.

Customer Reviews

classic work, good guide

Moliere's play is of course a classic, and there's a lot you can get out of it. I like these student editions because they have some beginning info about context and style and extensive footnotes in the actual text to explain archaic vocabulary or references that the average English-speaker would not understand. It would've been a lot harder to understand the play without these helpful notes. Still, there were some times when the footnotes explained something that was obvious while neglecting something I found confusing. Overall, the best version for students of French.

A play to enjoy, a message to ponder...

"L' école des femmes" is a very well-known comedy written by Molière (1622-1673) in 1662. At first sight, it appears to be the epitome of the classical comedy of mistakes. Despite that, this short play also deals with a topic that was highly controversial during Molière's life, women's education. The author of this book seamlessly incorporates that theme into the plot, making the reader reflect on it even without realizing he is doing that. To start with, I would like to outline the plot of "L' école des femmes". It is simple, but shows that a play doesn't need to be too complicated in order to entertain. The main character is Arnolphe, an old man who having had lots of affairs with married women, distrust women in general. The strange thing is that in spite of that Arnolphe still wants to get married, provided (of course) that he can find a woman he can trust with his honour. After much pondering, he finds a seemingly perfect solution for his problem: to marry a woman without too much education, so she won't know how to deceive him ("Épouser une sotte est pour n'etre point sot"). According to Arnolphe, a dumb woman is a honest woman. Having arrived to that conclusion, he decides to take a young orphan, Agnès, under his wing. Arnolphe educates Agnès according to his ideas: not too much studying, a lot of sewing and praying. The years go by, and Agnès grows into a beautiful but profoundly ignorant young woman. Arnolphe is ready to marry her, but something unexpected happens: a new character appears. That character is Horace, a young and handsome man who falls madly in love with Agnès and begins to court her, to Arnolphe's desperation and Agnès' happiness. What will happen?. Well, you need to read "L' école des femmes" in order to know that. What I can tell you, though, is that I really enjoyed reading this play, notwithstanding the fact that there were some words that are no longer used in modern French. That made reading this play a little bit more difficult, although there was an abundance of footpages that explain the meaning of those words perfectly well, something that clarified my doubts. What is more, this edition includes a chronology of Molière's life, and several interesting studies regarding this play, something that helps to reader to understand "L' école des femmes", and the context in which it was written. On the whole, I think that "L' école des femmes" is worth the time and effort of reading it. Molière wrote a perfectly good comedy, but he also took a stand regarding what kind of education should be given to women. He did that throughout the story, and also in a phrase said by one of the secondary characters, who says that "Une femme d'esprit peut trahir son devoir; mais il faut, pour le moins, qu'elle ose le vouloir; et la stupide au sien peut manquer d`ordinaire sans en avoir l`envie, et sans penser le faire". I completely agree with that, and I recommend this book as a play to enjoy, but also as a message to ponder... Be

Wonderfully fresh translation

Bolt achieves with his translation of Moliere's classic comedy what David Hirson did with his 1991 play, La Bete. While remaining true to the general language of Moliere's time and rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter, Bolt is still able to sprinkle modern touches that make the comedy pop out even more. Bolt's British wit sparkles through the French comedy, making for an enjoyable read as well as performance. Interesting, too, is Nicholas Dromgoole's introduction, which makes some incredibly interesting points yet also keeps in tone with Bolt's take on Moliere's commedia dell'arte-influenced School For Wives. Whether you're a fan of Moliere or a novice to his works, Bolt's translation of The School for Wives is a fantastic read that keeps the comedy alive, even after 350 years.

Very amusing Satire.

I read this play for a French Lit. class and enjoyed Moliere's sense of humor. I laughed out loud as I watched everyone's plans go horribly awry. A great classic social commentary. It centers around one man's obsessive fear of cuckoldry (when a man's wife cheats on him), and the extremes to which he goes to avoid this. He practically emprisons a girl/young woman so that she can be raised properly and will make a faithful and obedient wife when she finally matures. The only problem for me was that it has a lot of references and vocabulary which are out of date and hard for a non-(native)French speaker to understand.

Very amusing satire.

I read this play for a French Lit. class (in the original French)and enjoyed Moliere's sense of humor. I laughed out loud as I watched everyone's plans go horribly awry. A great classic social commentary. It centers around one man's obsessive fear of cuckoldry (when a man's wife cheats on him), and the extremes to which he goes to avoid this. He practically emprisons a girl/young woman so that she can be raised properly and will make a faithful and obedient wife when she finally matures. This of course leads him into a muddle of confusion and coincidences as everything goes wrong . . .