Tartuffe And The Enlightenment Era

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.

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.

But once Tartuffe is unmasked and his hypocrisy discovered, Orgon reverses himself and determines to hate and persecute all pious men. Orgon in the play seems to represent man's extravagant and uncontrollable nature, which never takes the right and rational direction, but instead, constantly shifts between absurd extremes.

Most of the characters in the play can be understood in terms of their loyalty, or lack thereof. Tartuffe exemplifies disloyalty. He has been invited into Orgon’s home on the basis of his piety, but he feels little thankfulness to either Orgon or God. Orgon also exhibits disloyalty towards his family. He breaks his promise to let Mariane marry Valere, and banishes his son from the house. Further, Orgon is somewhat involved in a traitorous affair towards the King, as represented by the papers in the strongbox. Most of the family is defined by its unwavering loyalty to Orgon, even when he does not deserve i( "Tartuffe Themes.").Now I am not exactly sure which president is truly loyal to this country. At times, Trump acts like Orgon, and at times he acts like Tartuffe. Hillary acts like dorine whom says witty comments but I feel as if her opinion doesn’t matter as much. Everyone makes a big deal on what Trump says, and the only thing the public has made a big issue of on Hillary are the emails that were

While reading the text or watching the play performed, it is easy for the audience to become frustrated by Orgon. After all, Tartuffe’s hypocrisy seems so obvious to the audience and the majority of Orgon’s relatives. Yet, Orgon is willing to give up his wealth and even disown his family in lieu of upsetting his cherished houseguest, leaving the audience to wonder why. It is no accident that Orgon finds himself at the mercy of the charismatic Tartuffe, as his beliefs and motivations led him to be so easily exploited.

A minor character contributes heavily in a play, particularly by revealing information or giving additional insight about major characters. Tartuffe, by Molière, is a French satire which is over exaggerated and critical towards the upper class. It also ridicules hypocrisy and the upper class. Molière’s unique choice of using stock characters contributes to the technical development of the work. Specifically, Dorine holds the role of the Zanni, the servant who provides comedic relief. Madame Pernelle fits the category of the Pantalone because despite being a woman, she is wealthy and an upperclassman, meaning she’s at the top of the social pyramid. Orgon fits into the category of the Dottore, as he is the head of the household and also at the top of the social pyramid. While, Tartuffe is a hypocritical character identified as the Capitano of the play. He convinces Orgon and Madame Pernelle that he is a devoutly pious and humble man, but behind his facade he is an

Tartuffe could do no wrong in the eyes of Orgon. In a conversation with Dorine about Elmire’s health, his sole focus is on Tartuffe, ”Ah. And Tartuffe?” (1.5, 13), he repeatedly asks. Even more, the treatment of his own daughter, Mariane, reflects the dark side of his obsession with Tartuffe.

One highly esteemed student at Susquehanna University describes Moliere 's Tartuffe as “an attack, not on religion, but on people who hide behind religion and exploit it” (Sodd 1). Aside from this central theme, Moliere develops the plot and characters of the play in a way that makes an even more significant social observation. His writings leaned on the ideas of reason and ordered structure of society from the Enlightenment period. “Writing during the Enlightenment, his plays satirized a great many aspects of society, from hypochondriacs to hypocrites (Lawall 11). Most importantly, Moliere’s Tartuffe gives readers a taste of the

Orgon, the main character, starts off at the beginning of play with an infatuation towards his guest Tartuffe. Tartuffe uses this to his advantage and persuades Orgon to hand over his daughter’s hand in marriage instead of the man that she had previously been promised too. Throughout the play, Tartuffe shows his true self to everyone except Orgon and works his plan to take over everything that Orgon has. Everyone tries to convince Orgon that Tartuffe is just playing him, but Orgon continues to take the side of Tartuffe and accuses his family of being liars. Finally, Elmire convinces Orgon to hide in the room while she has a conversation with Tartuffe, so that she is able to get Tartuffe to show himself without knowing it. This is a crucial point in the play, because Orgon and his mother, madame Pernelle were the only two people that were backing Tartuffe and that were on his side. After hearing the advances that Tartuffe makes towards his wife, Orgon changes his view on Tartuffe and goes on a rampage against the “holy” man. This changes

The word Tartuffe means religious hypocrite, which is the title of French playwright, Molière’s, 1664 play Tartuffe. This play is about, Orgon, a wealthy patriarch who succumbs under the influence of a religious and self-righteous hypocrite, Tartuffe, whom Orgon took in. As the story progress, Orgon becomes infatuated and obsessed with Tartuffe and his “religious” ideals. This obsession of Orgon’s grows and his family not fooled by Tartuffe’s act, think that Orgon is ludacris for falling for Tartuffe’s scheme. Because of Orgon’s fondness of Tartuffe, he postpones his daughter’s marriage to Valère, because he would like her to marry Tartuffe.

In Moliere's comedy, Tartuffe, the main focus of the play is not on Tartuffe, but it is on the blind fascination and obsession of Orgon with Tartuffe. Moliere uses Orgon as a representation of how one can be so blind in his dedication to a belief that he cannot make an accurate judgment as to the genuineness of others who would use that belief to mislead him. However, how is Tartuffe able to integrate himself so heavily in Orgon's household? The answer to this question solely depends upon on one's view and understanding of Orgon. Therefore, in Orgon's life, Tartuffe serves as a form of encouragement, a promised sense of control, and a religious saint as the key to Heaven.

Moliére's Tartuffe has long been considered a masterpiece of French Literature for its powerful social commentary, finely sculptured characters and its presentation of moral theme. While Tartuffe stands soundly on its own merits, its curiosity and impact for audiences both within its own period and for contemporary productions are heightened by the history surrounding its original presentation.

The audience that Molière wrote Tartuffe was a worldly sector of the social elite in Paris in Seventeenth Century. Its original audience was of course the royal court at Louis XIV 's palace in Versailles. Officially, that society continued to be patriarchal. The society that had husbands and fathers exercising supreme authority over their dependents. The plot of Tartuffe concerns itself with an incompetent head-of-household, who is Orgon, relinquishes his authority by allocating it to a counselor he has picked up off the streets. Reasoning behind this is due to his extraordinary piousness. Tartuffe turns out to be a devout con-man, who, once he has attained control over the master 's property, moves to remove him and his family from the premises. At that moment it should have become obvious to readers that the play creates within itself something of a "contradiction." The question that has to be asked is; what happens when a sovereign power is somehow powerless of exercising

In the play Tartuffe, one of fundamental theme is deception. The biggest hypocrite in this play is the character named Tartuffe. He is able to create a

Immanuel Kant once said “Enlightenment is man’s release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is man’s inability to make use of his understating without direction from another” (. The Enlightenment Period was marked as one of the most influential and culturally profound times in human history. The Period, spanning from the late 17th century to the early 19th century, saw the advancement of the disciplines of science, philosophy, literature, and religion. Often overshadowed as being one of the earliest Enlightenment philophers, the French playwright Moliere decided to change how people thought about the current society of France through his play, Tartuffe. Tartuffe was about a man named Orgon who invites a religious zealot, Tartuffe, into