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.