Play: The School for Wives

Overview
Molière's comedy "The School for Wives" (L'École des femmes) centers on Arnolphe, a jealous, middle-aged bachelor who has secretly raised a young orphan, Agnès, to be ignorant and compliant so she will make the "perfect" obedient wife. Convinced that strict control and enforced innocence can guarantee fidelity, Arnolphe plans to marry her, believing that sheltered ignorance will secure his possession and love.
The play unfolds as a comic but cutting examination of possessiveness, hypocrisy, and the limits of manipulation. When a handsome young man, Horace, arrives and falls for Agnès, Arnolphe's carefully managed experiment unravels, exposing the foolishness of trying to manufacture affection through domination.

Plot
Arnolphe has groomed Agnès from childhood, instructing her in obedience and naivety and forbidding her from learning about the world. He isolates her, manipulates the household, and imagines that ignorance equals loyalty. Confident in his scheme, he even changes his name to a more respectable disguise to hide his intentions from society.
The arrival of Horace, a natural, ardent suitor unaware of Arnolphe's designs, introduces genuine desire and curiosity into Agnès's sheltered life. Secret letters, mistaken identities, and comic confidants accelerate the plot until revelations force Arnolphe to face the consequences of his control. The ending overturns his plans and leaves his pretensions exposed, with Agnès asserting more autonomy than Arnolphe anticipated.

Characters
Arnolphe is the central figure: controlling, anxious about aging, and convinced he can govern another person's will. His exaggerated paranoia and rigid logic make him both a figure of fun and a subject of moral critique.
Agnès begins as seemingly guileless, shaped by Arnolphe's teachings, but the play allows her to develop curiosity and feeling. Horace embodies youthful passion and spontaneity, providing a foil to Arnolphe's calculated schemes. A circle of friends and servants puncture Arnolphe's self-assurance, offering both comic relief and moral observation.

Themes and Satire
The play satirizes the attempt to transform a human being into an object of possession, questioning whether control can ever produce genuine love. Molière exposes the absurdity of trying to legislate innocence and ridicules the idea that ignorance is a virtue to be imposed, not a condition to be respected or cultivated.
Also targeted are social pretensions and the anxiety of aging men about desire and legacy. The comedy blends sharp social observation with psychological insight, showing how hypocrisy and fear underpin cruel attempts at domination. Molière invites laughter at Arnolphe while prompting audiences to reflect on marriage, gender, and education.

Controversy and Reception
At its premiere the play provoked strong reactions. Its portrayal of possessive masculinity and its critique of marital control touched sensitive nerves and sparked debates about the role of education and the rights of women within marriage. Pamphlet exchanges and heated commentary marked its reception, forcing discussions in salons and on the stage about propriety and satire.
Molière answered critics through performance choices and revisions that clarified tone and defended comedic liberty. The uproar confirmed the play's power to disturb as well as amuse and helped secure its place in theatrical conversation long after the initial controversy.

Legacy
"The School for Wives" remains one of Molière's most studied comedies for its daring blend of farce and social critique. Its central question , whether coercion can win love , continues to resonate, making the play relevant to ongoing debates about autonomy, education, and gender relations.
Regularly revived and adapted, the play endures because it makes audiences laugh while challenging comfortable assumptions about marriage and power. Arnolphe's humiliation is comic, but the play's deeper sting persists: control corrodes affection, and satire can serve as a mirror for society's most cherished delusions.