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
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 was one of the greatest writers of the seventeenth century, being considered by many the greatest author of French comedy. In his plays, called “comedies of manners”, Moliere satirizes the morals and social conventions of his contemporaneous human society by using stock characters. In Tartuffe, a comedy of five acts, the main topic is the analysis of religious hypocrisy and leader figures of the seventeenth century, portraying Tartuffe in contrast with personages like Orgon.
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.
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
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 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
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.
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
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,
Furthermore, I found the characters in Tartuffe to be in many ways relatable, despite the intentional over-the-top emotion. Personally, the maid Dorine (Shanelle Nicole Leonard) stood out to me in her quest to clean up the mess that Tartuffe has left her master’s home in. Despite being a servant, Dorine cares deeply for the members of the family, and many times endangers herself by stepping out of her place to make Orgon see reason. Her desire for reason illuminates the play’s theme of how reason and moderateness should be valued over extreme emotion, and how listening to others, as Dorine does with the
The extreme level of Orgon's devotion to Tartuffe is obvious. At the end of Act I, Scene 2, Dorinne, the maid, remarks on Orgon's complete infatuation with Tartuffe. She tells Clèante, Orgon's brother-in-law that "he's quite loss his senses since he fell / Beneath Tartuffe infatuating spell. / He calls him brother, and loves him as his life, / Preferring him to mother, child, or wife. / In him and him alone will he confide; / He's made him his confessor and his guide" (18). While this appears to be an exaggeration on Dorinne's part, it is soon clear that she is correct. Throughout Act I, Scene IV, Dorinne tries repeatedly to tell Orgon about his wife's illness. He never once expresses concern or sympathy for his own wife Elmire. In contrast, Tartuffe has been eating enough for several men, drinking wine heavily, and sleeping soundly. However, every time Dorinne begins to talk about the fever and headaches, Orgon repeats, "Ah. And Tartuffe?" or "Poor fellow" (20-23). Furthermore, Orgon himself even admits openly that through Tartuffe, his "soul [has] been freed / From earthly loves, and every human tie: / My mother, children, brother, and wife could die, / And I'd not see a single moment's pain" (25). The blindness Orgon exhibits, therefore, robs him of every human sympathy. The loving husband and father
- Tartuffe, or The Impostor, or The Hypocrite (/tɑrˈtʊf, -ˈtuːf/;[1] French: Tartuffe, ou l'Imposteur, pronounced: [taʁtuf]), first performed in 1664, is one of the most famous theatrical comedies by Molière. The characters of Tartuffe, Elmire, and Orgon are considered among the greatest classical theatre roles.
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
In his most notorious play Tartuffe, Molière relates the story of an attempt, by a manipulative hypocrite, to destroy the domestic happiness of a citizen who, charmed by his seeming piety, has taken him into his home as a respectable guest. The play was disallowed after its first performance because it was deemed anti-religion. However this ruling was made unfairly since true religion is never confounded with hypocrisy, but is upheld with warmth, which shows his characteristic hatred of imposture in any shape.