“the Disease of the Doctor”: Molière’s Critique of Medicine & Society in Le Médecin Malgré Lui and Le Malade Imaginaire

Practitioners with a lack of formal education did medical care in the 17th century. Many women and laypeople in that time had lots of expertise in herbal medicines and folk antidotes to cure colonists. The first curer people would turn to if they were sick would be a neighbor or a family member. However, there was a new type of physician in the 18th century. This was usually a young man from a wealthy family who went to an elite university who didn 't see himself as a doctor, but more as a scientist. The new physicians learned anatomy through dissection, assisted researchers, and helped with medical experiments. They also observed surgical procedures, and sat through lectures about new advances in the department of medical science. Alongside the scientists, there were also surgeons. The military was where many surgeons

Although medicine today is comparatively more advanced, that is a more recent change than one would like to think. For instance, not even 150 years ago, “Hippocrates and Galen would have recognized and largely agreed with most medical practices.” Barry addresses this topic of medical advancement at the beginning of his book by producing a well researched, albeit a little too long, history of western medicine. He provides examples of how medicine evolved from the teachings of Hippocrates, Galen, and Vesalius to a more “modern” form of medicine. This was done in order to explain how prepared the medical community was in the face of this impending virus. Unlike the other epidemics, the people of the early 19-century should have been prepared to face the influenza with all of their exciting and new medical equipment and practices, but there was something in their way of advancement—universities.

In the preindustrial era, 1800s, the United States fell behind other countries in health services. There was no medical training until around 1870 (Shi & Singh, 2013). Medical training began with students training under the supervision of physicians. Physicians saw patients by making house calls. Health care was delivered in a free market (Shi & Singh, 2013). No one had insurance so costs were out of pocket. For most Americans, this was a problem and some rural areas relied on folk medicine to heal the sick. The medical institutions during this era were not sanitized properly and nurses were not trained to practice safety and hygiene care. The government provided facilities for elderly, chronically ill patients, and clinics that offered free care.

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 logic and principles of medieval medicine shaped those of Modern medicine. Never was there a more efficient method perfected, so much that it remained through history through so many hundreds of years. Today’s concepts of diagnosis, relationships with the church, anatomy, surgery, hospitals and training, and public health were established in the Middle Ages.

At this time there was no physician-patient relationship, this being due to the fact that physicians were there to treat the body and the general view was that patients were unable to provide accurate evidence without “feelings and emotions” getting in the way. This Era at the bottom line was about facts, evidence and physical direct ailments. The nursing profession was just starting to be developed in this Era. The “nurses” of this time were family members, nuns, priests, neighbors who were all untrained. The start of some of the founding nurses were seen such as Florence Nightingale. She started to look at sanitary conditions and nutrition, some might say she was the original nurse. Her contribution the start of nursing is very significant. She trained some of the first nurses during the Crimean War and with her training she was able to statistically show how sanitary conditions, cleanliness and nutrition were able to significantly decrease the death rate of Crimean soldiers. In Era I physicians really only took care of one part of the “human”, because as humans we are a composition of the physical, mental and soul. Those three parts are what give us humanity and higher thinking. So Era I does not create a fully encompassing view of medicine.

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

In the years following the Civil War (1865), hospitals became either public or private. More medical schools and institutions devoted to medical research emerged. A trend toward physicians needing more training

The Physician “dressed in red and blue cloth lined with taffeta and with silk (Chaucer 10),” which are types of clothing that represent wealth and money. The physician dressed in ways you would expect to see a typical wealthy doctor dressing. The Physician “especially loved gold (Chaucer 10),” and he was very blunt with the way he felt about money. He wore nice things and was always trying to get more money. The Physician would “help forecast the health and treatment of his clients (Lyons 6),” in the most beneficial way for him to get the most money. The Physician showed greediness by always looking for the most expensive diagnosis for the patient. “If they are very rich he orders twice the quantity for them as he does for the poor (Lyons 7),” because he was more willing to help those who could pay him in well in return. The Physician was indeed good at his job, but was also good at swindling his way to receive money. The Physician is an example of how in society, people dress to impress but even when they have nice things and enough is never

There were doctors in Colonial America. When a doctor visits a patient to check upon the sick person's health, their pay will be in anything but money such as chopped woods, vegetables, et cetera for the poor people. The poor people did not have money as stated in A Visit to a Colonial Times Doctor’s Office. They usually rely on their farming to feed their families and things such as money were scarce. Those who are of the contrary to the low income and the rural settings have better access to health and opportunities as written in Colonial Medicine (5). They can pay their doctor on the spot and can even request their choice of doctors. In modern America, a new change to the health care business is arriving. With the currently new healthcare, everyone shall be able to hopefully

Moliere’s Tartuffe is a piece of literature originating in France during the 17th century, which was the so called age of Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason. Plato would most likely have approved of the message Moliere tries to push through Tartuffe. That is rationality and reason trump all. Plato may not be the most supportive of art and literature but if it happens to be a medium that lends to his principles of reason, logic, rationality and above all the maintenance of the social order then he would happily approve. The type of Enlightenment thinking in western society differed substantially from the Eastern Asian philosophies. Enlightenment thinkers brought faith in reason, logic, and rationality into the forefront of Western culture.

Jean-Baptitste Poquelin Moliere’s Tartuffe, is undoubtedly a satirical comedy. In Moliere’s description of a satire, he was very direct as to the function and objectives of one are. The function is to correct men’s vices, using satire to ridicule them and expose them to public laughter (Moliere, p.14). Although this satire is making fun of many things in the church and organized religion, which is not the only objective Moliere had in mind. Tartuffe has many themes that reoccur through out the play. The time period, in which this play was written, was known as the Age of Reason. One of the main ideas and attitudes during this time was, reason must always control passion. Due to this

The Doctor in Spite of Himself by Molière is about a wood gatherer, Sganarelle. He is married, and a father of four children, but he is an alcoholic, and a gambler who does what he wants. He often beats his wife, Martine. Martine, seeking revenge for her beating, conveniently runs into people looking for a doctor, Valere and Lucas. Valere and Lucas were sent by Geronte to find a specialist to cure his daughter Lucinde. Unbeknownst to Geronte, Lucinde was faking her illness to get out of an arranged marriage, to be able to marry the person she loves and loves her back, Leandre. I do not admire Sganarelle because he is a selfish person who does not prioritize his family, and takes advantage of other character’s ignorance.

The Doctor in Spite of Himself is a play that I had previously studied in France like many of Molière’s plays. I thought that it was ironic for me to go see the play for the first time in theatre in the United States. I was really looking forward to hear how the actors would pronounce the characters’ French names, which are rather exotic even for me. I think that because I had previously studied Molière’s work in class, I was expecting this play to be performed in a much more traditional style. I was a little disconcerted at first when seeing the actors performing a more modern version than what I had in mind. I ended up liking what Arne Zaslove has done with the play. In my opinion, modernizing it a

did not even appear until the third. Simply put, the plot had the man of a