The Ending Of Tartuffe

When producing a play that is considered a classic and has remained popular for centuries, it is easy to fall into the habit of directing it the way that it usually is, without giving much thought to all of the individual elements of it. One of the crucial elements to any production that is all too frequently overlooked in these situations is the feeling that the audience is left with after the end of the play. For Tartuffe in particular, it is convenient to assume that because the play is labeled as a comedy, it will have a happy ending that will leave the audience feeling content. In reality, while the contrived ending that Moliere has written and a direct interpretation of the text in the staging of the play will leave the audience feeling …show more content…
When Moliere originally founded his theatre troop, the Illustre-Theatre, the group was so unsuccessful that Moliere ended up in debtor’s prison (Wilson and Goldfarb 217). Even when he had gotten out of prison and had made a name for himself as a playwright, there was still the possibility of going back to debtor’s prison if he could not produce enough funds from his work and troop to support himself while touring around France, in exile and without a permanent stage (Walker 437). Eventually Moliere and his troop got the chance to perform for King Louis XIV, and their performance was so successful that “the company was invited to settle in Paris, where Moliere quickly began the task of writing [the king] a repertoire” (Walker 437). This royal connection offered the troop some extra stability that they had been needing and made them one of the only five government-supported acting companies in France (Wilson and Goldfarb 221). Of course, the negative of government support is that Moliere had to keep the troop in the king’s favor to maintain the financial security, especially against other groups that would try to shut him