Les Précieuses ridicules (1659) is a one-act satire of the Précieuses, written by Molière.
It is a bitter comedy of manners that brought Molière and his company to the attention of Parisians, after years of touring the provinces, and attracted the patronage of Louis XIV, and which still plays well today.
Plot
The two provincial young ladies reject the suitors proposed by their father as insufficiently refined, only to fall in love with the suitors' valets, disguised as wits. In the provinces, the young ladies' Parisian pretensions were worth mockery, and in Paris, their puffed-up provincial naiveté and self-esteem were laughable, and Molière pleased all possible audiences.
