The School for Wives
School for Wives, The (L'École des femmes) Author: Molière
First Performance: 1662, Paris
Published: 1663
First English Translation: 1926
Genre: Com. in 5 acts; French alexandrines
Setting: A town square, 17th c.
Cast: 6m, 2f
Arnolphe, a middle-aged Parisian gentleman, is so dismayed by the loose living of contemporary women and the way they betray their husbands that he determines to bring up his young ward Agnès in a state of total innocence. He thereby hopes to guarantee for himself a virtuous wife. However, he discovers that Horace, the son of an old friend, has fallen in love with Agnès. Horace tells Arnolphe of his plans to steal Agnès away from her old guardian, not realizing that this is Arnolphe himself. Arnolphe is at first able to thwart Horace's plans, but Agnès shows...
[The entire page is 380 words long]
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