The Foolish Orgon of Tartuffe
In Molière's Tartuffe, translated by Richard Wilbur, the central character, a man named Orgon, has been completely brainwashed and taken advantage of by the title character, a lecherous and parasitic "holy man." Tartuffe has made use of one of the oldest scams in human history to insinuate himself into Orgon's household; he appeals to Orgon's desire to be a good, upstanding, and pious man by appearing to be the same. Tartuffe's manipulations are evident to everyone but Orgon, and seem to the reader to be blatantly obvious. His use of religion to manipulate Orgon is consistent throughout the play. In his religious zeal, Orgon is blind to the truth about Tartuffe's character. As a result, Orgon, in a vain attempt to secure religious favor, almost bring himself and his family to ruin.
From the very beginning, it is evident that nearly all of the other characters see through Tartuffe's deceitful veneer of civility and piety. In Act I, Scene 1, Madame Pernelle, Orgon's mother, dominates the conversation, refusing to allow anyone to criticize Tartuffe. Orgon's son Damis is finally able to tell his grandmother, "Good God! Do you expect me to submit / To the tyranny of that carping hypocrite?" (10). His outburst opens the way for others to agree. Dorinne, the maid, adds, "Surely it is a shame and disgrace / To see this man usurp the master's place -- / To see this beggar [. . .] behave / As if the house were his / And we his slaves" (11). Everyone at the table disagrees with Madame Pernelle, who insistence that Tartuffe is a holy man parallels her son's own feelings, which will be shown all too clearly throughout most of the play. It is clear from t...
... middle of paper ...
...
Bishop, Morris, trans. Tartuffe. In Great Books of the Western World. Vol. 31. Ed. Mortimer Adler. Chicago: Encyclopedia Brittanica, Inc., 1990. 61-106.
Fernandez, Ramon. Moliere: The Man Seen Through the Plays. New York: Hill and Wang, 1958.
Gossman, Lionel, "The Comic Hero and His Idols," pp. 69 - 78. Rpt. from Men and Masks, a Study of Molière, Johns Hopkins, 1963.
Guicharnaud, Jacques, Ed. Molière: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1964.
Moliere, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin. Tartuffe. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Sarah Lawall. 7th ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 1999. 11-68.
Wood, John, and David Coward, trans. Tartuffe. In The Misanthrope and Other Plays: A New Selection. New York: Penguin Books, 2000.
29-88.
Moliere’s Tartuffe assumed set of social conventions were shaped by all the characters within the play, however the authoritative figure was established depicted by the father, Oregon. Oregon’s character assumed the role of king or lord of his household. He believed that as the head of household, he had the right to rule over his kingdom as he saw fit. His kingdom had to run smoothly in order for it to be effective. No matter how harsh, unfair and painful it was for his, wife daughter or servants.
Orgon was swindled by Tartuffe out of all his possessions because he agreed to marry Tartuffe to his daughter, Mariane. In addition to this, Tartuffe also got hold of Orgon’s strongbox that held papers of an enemy of the king that Orgon was hiding. Instead of providing a punishment the king shows mercy for Orgon’s crime in the Gentleman’s soliloquy. The Gentleman tell of how “the King now [chooses] to invalidate the deed of gift that cost you your estate, and finally he pardons your offense in shielding even a friend at his expense” (1935). These were actions that Orgon did incorrectly and therefore “the courage that [Orgon] once displayed against [the King’s] enemies” has now led to the mercy that the king gifts him (1939). The Gentleman finished this praise of Orgon by the king with a characteristic of him that is also meant for flattery. He reminds Orgon that the king “remembers help better than harm” (1944). King Louis XIV would be honored if his subjects remembered this about him even if it was not completely true. Tartuffe captures the king as this type of person and will be remembered this way because this is a timeless and still famous story in
..., which made him more upset because it was his own father. Also, he speaks about reaching down into his inner conscious to find out why he really was not as upset and he would have been if it were the first week in the camp. Elie believes that if he reached into his thoughts he would have come up with something like: “Free at last!...”(112).
France, Marie De. Lanval. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H.Abrams. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, Inc., 2000. 127-140.
In Tartuffe, the nobility (mostly Orgon and his mother) is depicted as being fools because of the way they are easily tricked by the “holy impostor”. When Madame Pernelle praises Tartuffe for being a good holy man, her grandson Damis says “No, look you, madame, neither father nor anything else can oblige me to have any regard for him. I should belie my heart to tell you otherwise. To me his actions are perfectly odious; and I foresee that, one time or other, matters will come to extremity between that wretch and me” (Act 1, Scene 1). This representation of the nobility places them exactly where Louis intended. Spielvogel says that Louis removed the nobles from the royal council and lured them to be part of his court as a way to keep them occupied with trivial matters and out of important roles in politics
Fernandez, Ramon. Moliere: The Man Seen Through the Plays. New York: Hill and Wang, 1958.
The Norton Anthology World Literature Volume 2: 1650 to the Present. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. New York: Norton, 2013. Print
Frankenstein is the story of an eccentric scientist whose masterful creation, a monster composed of sown together appendages of dead bodies, escapes and is now loose in the country. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelly’s diction enhances fear-provoking imagery in order to induce apprehension and suspense on the reader. Throughout this horrifying account, the reader is almost ‘told’ how to feel – generally a feeling of uneasiness or fright. The author’s diction makes the images throughout the story more vivid and dramatic, so dramatic that it can almost make you shudder.
This was the age of reason. People at this time began to apply rational thoughts to figure out and understand nature and to guide their human existence. In Moliere’s Tartuffe, this ideal is expressed through the character of the king. In the end, Tartuffe has brought an officer of the king back to take Orgon away. However, in Tartuffe’s attempt to get Orgon arrested, the king saw through him and reasoned that Tartuffe was the one to be accused and put to trial.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a truly famous novel that has been revisited by many, as well as revised by the author in the many years since its original publication. Within this novel Shelley conveys the tragic fictional story of Victor Frankenstein and his monster that he thoughtlessly brought to life, as well as the lives of those affected by his hideous creation. Throughout the novel it is made quite apparent that the monster was not inherently evil, in fact the monster was quite benign, however through its interactions with society the monster is slowly shaped into a being that can truly be called just that, a monster. All of the aforementioned change to the monster are brought about in part by the societal standards of the time period
The play of Tartuffe really had many different personalities in it. Even though The Death of Ivan Ilyich really only had one main point of view, enough information was given on Ivan’s wife to make an assumption about her attitude. The first characters that come to mind to compare are Madame Pernelle and Ivan’s wife, Praskovya. Both women were raised high on the social scale and both seemed to have a sense of self entitlement. They also felt the need to call the shots and demanded to be heard. There are not many things that keep women like this off their course and it can either help or hurt people. It seems in both of these stories that they truly were a nuisance for other members of the family. Praskovya was not the caring wife for Ivan that sh...
Moliere was a moderate and against excess and obsession with all things. In Tartuffe, he has. used Orgon as an example of how the obsessive need to believe can cause man to be taken in by those who would cloak themselves in, and manipulate themselves with, those beliefs. The play is
In Moliére’s Tartuffe (Moiré 1664), the reader is able to see a great contrast of Extreme and Moderate characters. Extreme characters being those who are seen as over the top, or very passionate people, and the moderate characters having a more calm and subtle approach to ideas. The extreme characters in this case would be Madam Pernelle, Orgon, Tartuffe, and Dorine. The moderate characters are seen as Cleante and Elmire.
Burke, Edmund. On the Sublime and Beautiful. Vol. XXIV, Part 2. The Harvard Classics. New
In a class lecture, the professor pointed out that the word/name Tartuffe means hypocrite, which can easily be seen as the drama unfolds. Early in the story, the audience learns that Tartuffe has a sleazy talent to receive piety in Orgon's household. In Act I, it is implied that Orgon has offered his daughter's hand in for marriage to Tartuffe, although Damis, Orgon's son, believes that Tartuffe does not wish to do so. Damis states, "I think Tartuffe's against it, and that he's been urging Father to withdraw his blessing" (Tartuffe 1.2.8-9). At this point, it is obvious to see that Orgon has a lot of respect for Tartuffe, although others may think differently. Cleante, Orgon's brother in law, is shown as the voice of reason and questions Orgon by saying,