The Learned Ladies

Les femmes savantes

Overview

The Learned Ladies is a comedy by Molière in five acts, written in verse. A satire on academic pretension, female education, and préciosité (French for preciosity), it was one of his most popular comedies and the last of his great plays in verse. The character Trissotin, the main antagonist, is a caricature of Charles Cotin, an adversary of Nicolas Boileau and Molière, who both saw him as the perfect example of a pedantic scholar and mediocre scribbler.