Use Of Satire In Tartuffe

Why Enlightenment Triumphs
“When one becomes enlightened, they set themselves free of the mental chains that bind them.” Moliere used satire as a writing style to gain the audience’s attention and to portray a new way of thinking that directly challenged the traditional Christianity ways of his time. This play was seen as one of the pioneering works of the enlightenment era. This enlightenment was a movement that shifted people from a spiritual thought basis to a more sensible one. They stopped accepting things explicitly, and began expressing their own individual thoughts. Moliere’s “Tartuffe” used satire combined with the thoughts and actions of the characters to express enlightened thought and made it apparent that this new way of thinking

is vastly more practical compared to the religious traditional ways of the past.
The writing style of satire is seen all throughout “Tartuffe” and is used by Moliere to defend logical thought to the traditional blind trust that is prevalent during this time. Particularly, Moliere places prominence on the satire of hypocrisy such as when Orgon banishes his son for questioning the true motive of Tartuffe. “So! You insult him, and defy your father! Out of my house this minute!” (act 6, scene 6, line 63-66). Molière believes that each person has a mind capable of self and free thought, and this mind set should be used openly to guide ones path to enlightenment. This directly challenges the spiritual thinking processes of the aristocracy and was shown as a more practical way of thinking.
In “Tartuffe”, the theme of foolishness is displayed by the characters Orgon and Madam Pernelle.

They becomes smitten by Tartuffe, who exhibits himself as a holy man and appears to be more pious than any other person they have seen before. However, the rest of his family, see through Tartuffe’s façade and realize that he is using Orgon for his wealth. “Yes, but her son is even worse deceived; His folly must be seen to be believed.” (Act 1, scene 2, line 10). Using rational thought, they attempt to persuade Orgon that Tartuffe is deceitful. Yet, Orgon has to witness first hand Tartuffe pursuing his wife before he accepts the truth that Tartuffe is not the holy man as he once perceived. Moliere uses this example to show how using logical thought and reasoning is more sensible than following blind faith. It provides that individual thought triumphs over the contemporary ways before

enlightenment.
Another thing that Moliere addresses is the element of order in “Tartuffe”, which states that there is an inherent hierarchy in all things.

At the time this play was written, the French society placed emphasis on males exercising political and economic power. This is why the ranking started with the father being the supreme authority, followed by the males, then females, and lastly, the servants. “My girl, you take too many liberties. I’m master here, as you must not forget.” (act 2, scene 2, lines 20-22) Yet, the power order portrayed in “Tartuffe” is skewed and places Orgon’s mother over the males in the family. Orgon placed blind faith in Tartuffe because he allowed his mother’s influence to rein over the other family members. Moliere incorporates this varied structure of natural order to illustration how Orgon’s religious ideology was arrogant and not as practical as logical

thought.
Moliere was a groundbreaking writer during the enlightenment era and introduced “Tartuffe” to display the perils of following blind trust rather than having logical individual thought. A satire writing style was presented to draw the audience’s attention and make it entertaining to read. During the enlightenment period, people started to accept that the traditional spiritual ways of thinking was not the most practical way. In “Tartuffe”, Moliere used his characters joined with a comedic style of writing to exemplify that enlightened rational thought was a more useful way of thinking compared to the outlandish traditional religious ways of this time.