Les femmes savantes

Les Femmes savantes (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 preciousness), it was one of his most popular comedies and the last of his great plays in verse. It premiered at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal on 11 March 1672. 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.