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Tartuffe, By Jean Baptiste Moliere

Decent Essays

Tartuffe, a play written in 1664 by Jean-Baptiste Moliere, is a commentary about hypocrisy and transgression. The play focuses around Orgon and his family, including his wife Elmire, his son Damis, his daughter Mariane, and his mother Madame Pernelle. These characters interact with the servants of the house, Dorine who is maid to Mariane and their house guest, Tartuffe. The genre of the play is comedy and is separated into five acts. 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

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