Blindness In Tartuffe

Blindness Leads to Disruption in Tartuffe

In Moliere's Tartuffe, Orgon’s blind eye to the disruption Tartuffe brings into the household causes relationships in the household to severely suffer. Orgon sees Tartuffe as someone equal to a priest while the rest of the household sees him as an imposter and a hypocrite. Everyone in the household can see Tartuffe stringing Orgon along like a puppet, except for Orgon himself. Orgon’s delusional thoughts concerning Tartuffe and his lack of care for his family’s well being prevent him from upholding his responsibilites of a husband and father.

Orgon’s obsession and delusional thoughts associated with Tartuffe is seen towards the very beginning of the play. Cleante is talking to Dorine and mentions

It could also imply that this is the way in which Orgon grew up and back when this was written, it was probably pretty common for you to have similar beliefs as your parents well into adulthood. Both Orgon and his mother seem to think that Tartuffe is this God send to the household. In the beginning of the play Madame pernelle says “heaven sent him here to fill a need/ To save you from yourselves--oh yes, indeed” (18) and later on Orgon states that “ever since he came/ My home’s a happy one” (23). Both Orgon’s and Madame Pernelle’s idea of how the household is unfolding is completely delusional. The rest of the household quickly shows their distrust in Tartuffe. Damis and Madame Pernelle are talking about Tartuffe and Damis refers to him as a “trickster” (16) that has come into this house and is now “ the voice [they] answer to” (16). This demonstrates that Tartuffe quickly became in charge of the household, almost

While he cares deeply for Tartuffe his relationship with his daughter Mariane demonstrates the lack of care he has for her. The first we see of their relationship is how controlling Orgon is by demanding Mariane to do “..anything [he] ask[s]”(27). Orgon is asserting dominance over Mariane and when she asks who he requests to have “make him [hers]”(27) it is revealed that it is indeed Tartuffe. Mariane is overwhelmed and tries to tell her father that she can’t promise something that just simply isn’t true but he interrupts her by saying “Have it be the truth, then. It’s decided” (27). This implies that Mariane has no say in whether or not she is to marry Tartuffe. Essentially her fate has already been decided by her father and this creates the disheartening truth of Orgon’s genuine lack of care for anything his daughter has to say on the matter. You see Mariane’s despair in the next scene when she is talking to Dorine about the inevitable outcome of her planned marriage. This planned marriage leads to a fight between Mariane and her fiance, Valere. Valere begins to question Mariane’s love for him: “Your heart never felt a true love for me” (35). Valere discrediting Mariane’s love for him demonstrates that Orgon has not only caused tension in his relationship with his daughter but has ultimately caused tension between his daughter and her fiance. This power Orgon holds over Mariane is the