Tartuffe is one of the most famous comedies written by the French playwright Molière. The play tells the story of a wealthy Frenchman named Orgon who takes in Tartuffe, a man who presents himself to be religious and passionate but actually turns out to be a hypocrite. Despite his family’s warnings, Orgon completely turns his back on his family in order to protect Tartuffe, who betrays him. During that time the play was first written and performed, many people, along with King Louis XIV himself, enjoyed the play. However, to others it was seen as being critical of religion and the church, which then lead to it being banned. In a political sense, Tartuffe serves as both an endorsement and critique of the ideas of absolutism, divine right, …show more content…
In those times, religion was hard to separate from politics and other aspects. Tartuffe was able to fool people by claiming to be a devout man of God. If this were to happen with the King’s advisors, it could cause corruption throughout many parts of the kingdom. Molière does believe that the King should seek advice from others, but he warns that he should listen to many opinions and think carefully before making a final decision.
The divine right theory claims that the monarchs are specially selected by God to rule the kingdom. Consequently, the King is responsible for his own actions and decisions. However, God is the only one who can make judgments. So even if the King rules unfairly, that does not permit the citizens to rebel against his rule. Rather, it is up to God to handle it. In Tartuffe, Molière seems to praise the King for his fairness and mercy by pardoning Orgon in the end. Due to his previous loyalty to the throne, he returned Orgon’s property to him and forgave him for hiding the papers. The wise King also saw through Tartuffe’s deception and hypocrisy and had him arrested. These events in the story definitely show Molière’s support for King Louis XIV, as he knew that abolitionism and divine right were honest intentions to rule the kingdom fairly.
Also during this time period, an emphasis was placed on patriarchal family. God has ultimate authority over all, as He is the true
In Tartuffe, Moliere's use's plot to defend and oppose characters that symbolize and ridicule habitual behavior's that was imposed during the neo-classical time period. His work, known as a comedy of manners, consists of flat characters, with few and similar traits and that always restore some kind of peace in the end. He down plays society as a whole by creating a microseism, where everyone in the family has to be obedient, respectful, and mindful of the head of the home, which is played by the father Orgon. Mariane shows her obedience when she replies "To please you, sir, is what delights me best." (Moliere 324,11) Shortly afterwards, Orgon commands Mariane to take Tartuffe as her husband even though she is not interested in him at all.
Tartuffe is a story written in the enlightenment period. It’s about a religious hypocrite named Tartuffe. Jean-Baptiste Moliere he was one of the great writers on the enlightenment period. Author Calandra said “Moliere was a master of the neoclassical comedy. He possessed a wide knowledge of the society in which he lived” (Calandra 8). When he wrote Tartuffe he applied his sense of society to the play and it is shown threw reasoning by the characters.
Moliere rocked the 17th century French world with his comedy "Tartuffe" in 1664. Although, religious factions kept the play banned from theatres from 1664-1669, "Tartuffe" emerged from the controversy as one of the all-time great comedies. Tartuffe is a convincing religious hypocrite. He is a parasite who is sucking Orgon, the rich trusting father, for all he is worth. Orgon does not realize that Tartuffe is a phony, and caters to his every whim. For instance, he reneges on his promise to let his daughter Mariane, marry Valere. Instead he demands that she wed Tartuffe, whom she despises. He also banishes his own son, Damis, from his house for speaking out against Tartuffe and
In Molière's Tartuffe, translated by Richard Wilbur, the central character, a man named Orgon, has been completely brainwashed and taken advantage of by the title character, a lecherous and parasitic "holy man." Tartuffe has made use of one of the oldest scams in human history to insinuate himself into Orgon's household; he appeals to Orgon's desire to be a good, upstanding, and pious man by appearing to be the same. Tartuffe's manipulations are evident to everyone but Orgon, and seem to the reader to be blatantly obvious. His use of religion to manipulate Orgon is consistent throughout the play. In his religious zeal, Orgon is blind to the truth about Tartuffe's character. As a result,
The seventeenth century play Tartuffe, by French writer Molière, is essentially governed by the central theme of reason. Molière illustrates the importance of reason and logic by highlighting it in some of the main characters, and exaggerating lack thereof in others. Like many other French works from the seventeenth century, he emphasizes the significance of having the ability to reason, and in doing so brings attention to the religious hypocrisy associated with this period of enlightenment. Although he focuses on this theme through most of the characters in the play, I feel that Dorine and Clèante are the two characters that essentially serve to represent or personify the voice of reason.
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Moliere wrote Tartuffe during the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment. One of the main characteristics of the Age of Enlightenment was a push towards using reason over emotions to make decisions. The leaders of the enlightenment truly believed that the world could be made a better place if people did this. In Tartuffe, when the characters use their emotions to make their decisions they find themselves in undesirable situations. While those who let their emotions rule them find their lives spinning out of control, there are other characters in the play who try to approach them with reason and logic. Out of these characters the lady’s maid Dorine stands out as the voice of reason.
Tartuffe by Moliere is a play that is centered on the theme of hypocrisy and religion. However, in this case, religion has been utilized as a contrivance to expose the duplicity of the characters. More so, the play comprises several unique characters, Tartuffe being the protagonist, hence his name being used as the title of the drama (Moliere 28). Apparently, hypocrisy is somewhat slippery, but to some individuals it is evident. For instance, Tartuffe is being regarded as a hypocrite because it is apparent through his actions. Besides, the whole play is focused on him, and as one reads through, it is easy to notice his pretense. Simultaneously, insincerity goes hand in hand with dishonesty; Tartuffe is portraying a false image. Even though
Jean-Baptiste Moliere, who was originally named Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, was one of the greatest and well-known comic dramatists. He was known as one of the greatest and famous comic writers mainly because his works challenged the imprudence of trusting reason for different life events. One of Moliere’s most famous works includes Tartuffe primarily for the amount of controversy it sparked related to satire. Tartuffe is a play that tells about a man named Orgon, who is a wealthy family man, who takes a stranger into his home named Tartuffe. He later indeed is discovered to be a religious hypocrite. He doesn't have any morals or indeed values religion. Tartuffe simply used religion as a disguise to manipulate people and do his crimes. He pretends to be extremely religious, but from his actions and behavior, it goes entirely against the morals of religion. For example, when Tartuffe sees Dorine in Act 3, Scene 2, he tells her:
In Tartuffe, Moliere's use's plot to defend and oppose characters that symbolize and ridicule habitual behavior's that was imposed during the neo-classical time period. His work, known as a comedy of manners, consists of flat characters, with few and similar traits, and that always restore some kind of peace in the end. He down plays society as a whole by creating a microseism, where everyone in the family has to be obedient, respectful, and mindful of the head of the home, which is played by the father Orgon. Mariane shows her obedience when she replies "To please you, sir, is what delights me best." (Moliere 324,11) Shortly afterwards, Orgon commands Mariane to take Tartuffe as her husband even though she is not interested in him at all. Orgon's command shows how men are dominate
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Moliere's Tartuffe is an epic play of hypocrisy, betrayal, and the tale of a foolish mind. Moliere's choice of protagonist in this play happens to be the most blatantly ignorant character in the play. Orgon is naive to the villain Tartuffe's hypocritical ways, makes a complete dunce of himself by uplifting Tartuffe as holy, and failing to pick up the abundance of clues of Tartuffe being fake. Analyzing this character is rather interesting and at the same time frustrating to read of someone so ignorant that they fail to see the wolf hiding under the sheep clothing. A fool is a fool unless they open their eyes to see the truth, and it took Orgon the majority of the play to realize the truth.
In Moliere’s “Tartuffe,” although many things and behaviors are satirized, the play focuses mainly on the issue of religious hypocrisy. Whereas Tartuffe is the obvious hypocrite and
Moliere's Tartuffe is a satire based on religious hypocrisy. Every character is essential in Tartuffe. All of the characters play an important role, but it is easy to say that Tartuffe and Orgon are the main characters. First, we must know the definition of satire. According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, satire is defined as "literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn" ("satire"). In other words, a satire is defined as literary work that uses humor to point out the foolishness of a person or just in human nature. Religious hypocrisy can be self-defined as a false assumption of a person. What follows are examples of how I believe Tartuffe exposes humor
The context surrounding the period in which Tartuffe was written in, the 17th Century is remembered as being a time of extreme power for the French Monarchy. King Louis XIV and Cardinal Richelieu transformed France’s feudal monarchy to an absolute monarchy. What must also be noted about this time is the fact that the Catholic Church and Politicians had a great deal of power over authors and playwrights. In this time of social and religious persecution, Molière created Tartuffe , a comedy dealing with hypocrisy and to a great extent, religion and how religion can be used in a negative way, to mask sin. The play is known to be offensive towards the Catholic Church and religion in general. When it was first performed in 1664, it was censored,
From prehistory to 1450 CE, in many different and complex civilizations, religion has influenced the gender roles of many societies. From prehistory to 600 BCE, in Mesopotamia, women could own property, maintain their dowry, and even trade. However, from 600 BCE to 600 CE, in Rome, women were completely under the control of their paterfamilias. Than, from 600 to 1450 CE, in the Byzantine Empire, women were constrained to their homes, and when they went out, they had to wear veils over their faces. Religion influenced the gender roles of many societies and civilizations from prehistory to 1450 CE.
Hypocrisy’ as a common theme throughout literature has often been advocated by the author’s use of concealing the true characteristics or meaning of the character. ‘Tartuffe’ by Moliere is an amazing neo-classical drama, where it portrays the contradictory relationship between appearance and reality in terms of hypocrisy. In one hand, Tartuffe, the religious hypocrite, who always wears a false mask of untrue righteousness to deceive others around him, on the other hand in reality he turns out to be the falsifier. Despite Tartuffe is treacherous in his undertakings and manages to deceive some people, however he cannot help but reveals his true nature/characteristics whenever he is confronted by sincere individuals. In another sense, he fails to realize that there are at least some people who has the right knowledge and will be able to identify his true instinct. I believe by using Tartuffe as a model of ‘religious hypocrite’, Moliere superbly demonstrates the logic that although the inherent tendency of a hypocrite is to manipulate others with his deceitful virtue, yet he will only be able to misguide individuals, who are insincere and unwise.