Reviews for The School for Wives, and the Learned Ladies

The average rating for The School for Wives, and the Learned Ladies based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-02-27 00:00:00 Leroy Joseph מחזה נפלא ציני ומרענן. ארנולף, גבר מזדקן ואמיד מתכנן לשאת את אנייס, יתומה שגידל בביתו באופן מנותק מהעולם וחינך אותה להיות לו לרעיה צייתנית וממושמעת. אבל, הגורל מתעתע בו וכשהוא מארח את הוראס, בנו של ידידו, אנייס התמימה מתאהבת בהוראס. כך מתחילה פארסה שבה ארנולף מנסה לנתק בין השניים בתחבולות שונות תוך גיוס כל תושיתו, משרתיו ,חבריו והונו. המחזה מאוד ביקורתי כנגד התפיסה של מקומה של האישה לצד בעלה העשיר והמזדקן, בתפקדים ספציפיים מאוד. בשלב מסויים ארנולף נותן לאנייס רשימה שבה הוא כולל את עשרת המצוות לרעיה טובה, שקטה וצייתנית. אבל אנייס, אך על פי שגשלה כיתומה, בורה ביחסים בין גברים לנשים ומנותקת מהעולם החיצון, אינה נכנעת בקלות ומגלה חוט שידרה יציב עד כדי השפלה של ארנולף שבשלב מסויים מתחנן ועושה כל מה שייכל כדי לזכות בה לאישה. משב מרענן בתקופה של אפס ספרי קריאה

Review # 2 was written on 2017-12-03 00:00:00 Aaron Eck "A School For Wives" is about some old buffoon named Arnolphe whose afraid of 'sprouting the horns' as it were (cuckoldry); a theme the Late Medieval/Early Modern French could simply not shut up about. To avoid this obsessive danger Arnolphe engineers a long term plan that is, frankly, horrifying. His course of action centers around raising a 4 year old girl he fancies to become perfectly ignorant of worldly manners, so that he may marry her when she comes of age. This man is so consumed by his desire to not become a cuckold it's downright painful to see: he makes Panurge (in the 3rd Pantagrueline book) seem like a carefree bachelor. Right off the bat he's told the plan is beyond stupid and will certainly fail, and sure enough, before the 1st Act is even over, he runs into complications. Most of the humour comes from Arnolphe repeatedly trying to salvage the situation, which gets more and more unrepairable as we scurry along. I've never read a rhymed play before so that aspect of it was a real treat for me. On top of that, Moliere can really write so it's not entirely a chore to get through this. He must of had real fun playing the role of Arnolphe himself since the dude is one failure away from a hemorrhage in every scene. The play is resolved in a way that is seen in every Roman Comedy, that is, an unexpected familial connection ties things neatly together. If you've read as much Plautus/Terence as I have this ending will make you sick to the very core. If I had a 'one use' time machine I would zap myself to Paris and beg Moliere to ditch this damn comedic model that was instituted 1800 years before his existence. This play generated heavy controversy which is directly responded to, in play form (naturally), by Moliere. The play is called "The School For Wives Criticized" and spawned a whole host of polemical retaliation, in play form (naturally), from his enemies. It's wild to see how heated other playwrights got back then from simply observing another persons production. Didn't read "The Learned Ladies".