From 1662 onwards Moliere suffered the increasing hatred
of his rival actors. La Grange mentions the visit of Floridor and
Montfleury to the queen mother, and their attempt to obtain equal
favor. On the 26th of December was played for the first time the
admirable Ecole des femmes, which provoked a literary war, and
caused a shower of “paper bullets of the brain.” The innocence of
Agnes was called indecency; the sermon of Arnolphe was a
deliberate attack on Christian mysteries. In both in L’Ecole
des femmes and in Don Juan he does display a bold
contempt for the creed of “boiling chaldrons” and of physical
hell. A brief list of the plays and pamphlets provoked by
L’Ecole des femmes is all we can offer in this
place.
December 26, 1662 - Ecole
desfemmes.
February 9, 1663 - Nouvelles
nouvelles, by De Vise. Moliere is accused of pilfering from
Straparola.
June 1, 1663 - Moliere’s own piece,
Critique de l’ecole des femmes. In this play Moliere
retorts on the critics, and especially on his favorite butt, the
critical marquess.
August 1663 - Zilinde, a play by
De Vise, is printed. The scene is in the shop of a seller of lace,
where persons of quality meet, and attack the reputation of
"Elomire “, that is, Moliere. He steals from the Italian, the
Spanish, from Furetibre’s Francion, he insults the noblesse, he
insults Christianity, and so forth.
November 17, 1663 - Portrait du
peintre is printed, an attack on Moliere by Boursault. This
piece is a detailed criticism, by several persons, of L’Ecole
des femmes. It is pronounced dull, vulgar, farcical, obscene
and (what chiefly vexed Moliere, who knew the danger of the
accusation) impious. Perhaps the only biographical matter we gain
from Boursault’s play is the interesting fact that Moliere was a
tennis player. On the 4th of November 1663, Moliere replied with
L’Impromplu de Versailles, a witty and merciless attack on
his critics, in which Boursault was mentioned by name. The actors
of the Hotel de Bourgogne were parodied on the stage, and their
art was ridiculed.
The next scenes in this comedy of
comedians were : November 30,
The Panegyrique de l’ecole des femmes, by
Robinet.
December 7 - Riponse a l’impromptu;
ou La vengeance des marquis, by De Vise.
January 9, 1664 - L’Impromptu de
l’hotel de Condi. It is a reply by a son of
Montfleury.
March 17, 1664 - La Guerre
comique; ou defense de l’ecole des femmes. In all those
quarrels the influence of Corneille was opposed to Moliere, while
his cause was espoused by Boileau, a useful ally.