The Critique of the School for Wives
by Molière · La Critique de l'École des femmes
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1663
- Form
- Comedy
- Language
- French
- Length
- Short · 40 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe School for Wives Criticized, in The Misanthrope and Other Plays, translated by John Wood and David CowardPenguin Classics, 2000One of the few paperback translations in print; keeps the one-act pace.
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A one-act prose comedy written in reply to the attacks on The School for Wives. In a Paris salon a prude, a fop, a pedantic poet and their more sensible hosts argue about whether the play is indecent, badly built and beneath the rules of art. Molière's spokesmen answer that the point of comedy is to please, that the rules are only common sense, and that the audience in the pit is a better judge than the critics. The play is the closest Molière came to writing a theory of his own comedy.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Critique of the School for Wives are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.