[Gutenberg 6562] • The Pretentious Young Ladies

*Les Précieuses ridicules / The Pretentious Young Ladies / The Affected Damsels* is a one-act satire by Molière in prose.

The pretentious young ladies are Magdelon and Cathos, two young provincials who came to Paris in search of love and *jeux d'esprit*. Gorgibus, the father of Magdelon and the uncle of Cathos, decides they should get married with a couple of young men, but the women find these men unrefined and ridicule them. The men then vow to take revenge. Appears Mascarille, a young man who claims to be a sophisticated man of the world attending the best circles. Magdelon falls in love with him. Then another young man appears, Jodelet, and now it is Cathos who falls in love. It is revealed that both men, Mascarille and Jodelet are impostors who are actually the servants of the first two men who were despised and rejected. As the curtain falls, les Précieuses and Gorgibus fell into the trap and thus demonstrated the absurdity of their vanity.