Molière's sexual-romantic passion is at the heart of the next four major plays and his heart was solely possessed by Armande. She was the object of his yearning; she was the beloved; she occupied the center of his being. She was the one who drove him into despair with her disinterest and reputed lack of sexual response but, after all, he was the man who had lived in a parental mode with her almost from her birth. This ongoing tension created the life force in the four masterpieces he wrote in the middle of his life, a dangerous time for any man. It was this ferocity of feeling that engendered the mature voice of a poet in the theater by impressing primal and personal emotion into the mechanisms of comedy. It is said an actor uses as much adrenalin as a test pilot when he steps out onto the stage which is why they must wish each other “good luck” or “break a leg.” The Italian actor, always more emotional, says “in bocca al lupo” and that certainly seemed where Molière was heading – into the mouth of the wolf.

Leaving his home church, St. Eustache, as a married man in late February of 1662, the writer-producer-director-actor faced a busy year. The company made many guest appearances; the Italians were actively sharing the theater with them in Paris; and while living with his new ambitious young wife, Molière began writing the perfect role – for Catherine de Brie! Mlle de Brie opened Molière's first great poetic play, L'École des Femmes (The School for Wives) in December 1662.