Tartuffe is the most famous play written by Moliere. In the view of many contemporary literary critics, Moliere qualifies as one of the world’s greatest comic playwright (Kasparek, 1977). The other famous play by Moliere is called The Misathrope. The two comprise of Moliere’s greatest pieces. Tartuffe’s plot revolves around wealthy bourgeois Orgon religious piety that almost destroys him but luckily, the pretender Tartuffe is discovered before he completely takes advantage of Orgon. Moliere’s Tartuffe has been a subject of controversy since its writing. The play generated a great deal of discussion owing to its perceived mockery of religion during the enlightenment period. The religious community responded with vengeance banning the play from public performance. In fact, the archbishop of Paris threatened to excommunicate anyone who saw, read, or listened to the play. On his part, Moliere maintained that the clergy was wrong since the play was intended to be a lampoon on religion. It took five years before the ban was lifted the play eventually allowed to be read and performed. Remarkably, Tartuffe generated poignant thematic issues that were relevant to its time (Prudence, 2008).
While the subjects of the original plays were subject of debates, many analysts agree that Tartuffe was three-act play in its original act. King Louis of France supposedly viewed the first three acts. In the first act, the play focuses on Orgon a rich bourgeois of Paris who was infatuated by the ostentatious piety of Tartuffe that he showered him with gifts and brought him to live in the house even though the members of Organ house already knew that Tartuffe was a conman. In Act two, Oregon’s obsession with Tartuffe reaches fever pitch when he announces that he would give his daughter Marianne to Tartuffe as his wife by breaking Marrine’s relationship with his long time fiancée Valere. In Act 3, Elmire who is Orgon’s second wife attempts to persuade Tartuffe to give up the marital arrangement with Marianne. Instead of taking Elmire’s advice, the lampooning Tartuffe makes moves at Elmire and tries to seduce her. Damis, Orgon’s son overhears Tartuffe and reports to his father. To everyone’s dismay, Orgon refuses to believe his son and banishes his son out of the house. He also banishes his son out of the house. He also encourages Tartuffe to spend as much time with Elmire as he can (Moliere, 2005).
In Act 4, Elmire plans a plot to prove that Tartuffe is a traitor. She instructs Orgon to hide under a table so that he can hear Tartuffe attempting to seduce his wife. Orgon emerges when he overhears Tartuffe calling him gullible and foolish. Orgon then orders Tartuffe out of the house. Instead of leaving, Tartuffe insists that the house belongs to him since he had the possession of all the required documents. In Act 5, Tartuffe takes charge of Orgon’s possession and instructs an officer to charge Orgon for treason basing on the contents of his documents. However, the king who arrests Tartuffe for his renowned bad character salvages the situation (Moliere, 2005).
The theme of hypocrisy plays a central stage in Moliere’s Tartuffe. Still, hypocrisy becomes such a difficult thing to define in the book. While Tartuffe’s hypocrisy is easy to tell from the start, it is difficult to distinguish if that is really Moliere wants to tell the audience. This is true particularly because hypocrisy goes hand in hand with deception. While depiction refers to the idea of depicting a false image of oneself, hypocrisy includes alludes to the idea of one person making use of something such as religion to get attention. Tartuffe is both the representation of hypocrisy and deception. By putting Tartuffe at the center of the play, Moliere putts everything off balance. Everything becomes questionable since a thin line between truth and falsehood is drawn. It is possible to argue that Moliere was sending a message about the enlightenment period by his classical use of hypocrisy and deception. At the time of the play, the Catholic Church was an influential political force in France. A play about a hypocritical criminal purporting as a holy man was a low blow to the society. Moreover, Moliere did not end there, he went ahead and ensured that Orgon, the villain of the story was a member of the upper class. Orgon was portrayed total fool that Tartuffe made fun and was only rescued by the king. The characters make the story feel more than about hypocrisy. (Performing Arts Journal, 1980). In my view, the story is a critique of classism and of the thinking, especially in the enlightenment period, that members of the upper class were better than ordinary people are.
Brian Nicholas in the article Is Tartuffe a Comic Character explores Moliere’s depiction of Tartuffe as a classical comic character. He writes that the depiction of Tartuffe as a classical
Comic fool is unrealistic. Instead, the play serves as “an interaction between the moral views of the author, his audience, posterity” (p.764). First, Tartuffe’s comic attributes are questionable because of his allusiveness. While Tartuffe’s character is attacked, the fun is made at Orgon. Orgon thus becomes the comic character and not Tartuffe. Even though Tartuffe is the embodiment of the humor in the play, his humor is more of black humor since there is element of sadness to his story. The more explicit feeling relevant with Tartuffe is that of exasperation as demonstrated by Dorine and Damis. Although Damis points out these inconsistencies to the master Orgon, he hardly notices of Tartuffe’s intent. Tartuffe humor could be comic had he become successful and made the story a tragedy. However, because the story ends with Orgon winning, his comic attribute is white washed. Instead, the story becomes more of a thwarted attempt of a low class rebellion against the forces of bourgeois.
While examining Moliere’s play Tartuffe, one can make the case that Moliere was the voice of the other. Even though the story was written in the seventh century, there is a vibrant voice of women and a leading role of person of the lower class. Although Tartuffe is plays the role of villain and cheap thief at his best, he stands for the low class people. Elmire and Dorin represent the independent women of their time. They are more proactive, quick witted, and determined. Marriane, on the other hand, is soft spoken, demure, and dull. Dorine and Elmire stands for the real alternative to the traditional gender roles as they become the real protagonists in the story. Still, Marianne is the most conventional female figure in the play. Although her obedience to her dad, Orgon leads to trouble, she remains steadfast with him.
Even though women are positively portrayed in the play, Marriage which is perhaps the most important institution in the enlightenment society is still male dominated. In the play Tartuffe, marriage is political. It is about alliances more than love. Even if couples fall in love, the political forces behind the scenes inhibit the love. The father of the bride ultimately decides marriage. In the play, Orgon disregards his commitment to give Velerie his daughter Marriane. He chooses Tartuffe because of his Christian attributes. However, he soon learns that Tartuffe is an impostor and allows his daughter to get married to Velerie. In Moliere’s play, marriage plays more than the dramatic role. The marital conflict in the play is introduced to bring to the surface other issues in the society such as adultery, faithfulness, and commitment.
Moliere’s play Tartuffe demonstrates his mastery of neoclassical comedy. In the play, one can see that the playwright was conversant with the society that he lived in. Tartuffe is the embodiment of Moliero is prowess in theater and acting. His choice of characters in the play stems from the ordinary people of the society. The miser, Tartuffe is a character that everybody connects to in the French society. Moreover, the issues addressed in the play are at the heart of every individual who lived in that society. Still, Moliere’s story has a high degree of connectivity to human nature that has surpassed time. Tartuffe is not a story of the neoclassical era, it a story of human reality.
Works Cited
Kasparek, Erry Lewis. Molière’s Tartuffe and the traditions of Roman satire. Charloote: U.N.C. Dept. of Romance Languages, 1977. Print.
Moliere, Jean-Baptise. Tartuffe. Stillwell, Kansas: Digireads.com Publishers, 2005. Print.
Nicholas, Brian. “Is Tartuffe a Comic Character?” The Modern Language Review 75.4 (1980): 753--765. Print.
Prudence, L. Tartuffe. New York: Hackett Publishing, 2008. Print.
“Vitez on Molière: Freeing the Actor.” Performing Arts Journal, 123.1 (1980): 45-90
