Tartuffe is widely considered Moliere’s finest comedic play, written in 1664. It was considered quite scandalous at the time and King Louis XIV censured it (Scott 2000). The play was subtitled ‘The Imposter’, or sometimes ‘The Hypocrite’. So deeply woven into our intellectual culture is the play, or rather its protagonist, that in both French and English ‘Tartuffe’ has officially become a word. The definition in English is ‘a hypocritical pretender to piety’. This essay will examine Moliere’s masterpiece as displaying the ultimate example of such hypocrisy in the service of affected piety. The thesis of the essay is that in Tartuffe Moliere uses hypocrisy and superciliousness to critique segments of his society.
What moral and ethical issues does the play raise? The two most important characters are obviously Tartuffe himself and Orgon. While there …show more content…
Why is the play so amusing? What is Moliere’s secret, that has allowed him to delight readers for centuries? And finally, what is it about the cultural context in which the play was written and initially performed that makes it, as claimed at the outset of the paper, a critique of supercilious elements of society.
The play seems to be amusing primarily in its extreme absurdity, especially the absurdity of Tartuffe’s speeches, both before and after he is found out. However, it is nearly as absurd that Orgon should have been taken into the extent that he was, even going so far as to sign over his possessions to Tartuffe. Here are some of Tartuffe’s more absurd claims and exclamations. At the very beginning of Scene VI, having been caught attempting to seduce Elmire, Tartuffe confesses:
“Yes, brother, I am wicked, I am guilty, a miserable sinner, steeped in evil, the greatest criminal that ever lived … Believe their stories, arm your wrath against me, and drive me like a villain from your house; I cannot have so great a share of shame but what I have deserved a greater still
What moral and ethical issues does the play raise? The two most important characters are obviously Tartuffe himself and Orgon. While there …show more content…
Why is the play so amusing? What is Moliere’s secret, that has allowed him to delight readers for centuries? And finally, what is it about the cultural context in which the play was written and initially performed that makes it, as claimed at the outset of the paper, a critique of supercilious elements of society.
The play seems to be amusing primarily in its extreme absurdity, especially the absurdity of Tartuffe’s speeches, both before and after he is found out. However, it is nearly as absurd that Orgon should have been taken into the extent that he was, even going so far as to sign over his possessions to Tartuffe. Here are some of Tartuffe’s more absurd claims and exclamations. At the very beginning of Scene VI, having been caught attempting to seduce Elmire, Tartuffe confesses:
“Yes, brother, I am wicked, I am guilty, a miserable sinner, steeped in evil, the greatest criminal that ever lived … Believe their stories, arm your wrath against me, and drive me like a villain from your house; I cannot have so great a share of shame but what I have deserved a greater still