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
In Moliere’s comedy Tartuffe, The play centers on the family of Orgon, a wealthy and impressionable man, his central target of ridicule is Orgon. Orgon is Moliere’s character of how man can be so blind in his devotion to a belief that he cannot make a good judgement as to the sincerity of others who would use that belief to deceive him. This play fits into the concept of comedy because all of the elements of comedy are present. It happens that the title character is the villain rather than the hero
flaw in their human nature. There are two characters who portray the main flaw presented in the play. Both Madame Pernelle and Orgon are blinded to the farces of Tartuffe and must be coaxed into believing the truth. The fact that Orgon and Madame Pernelle are too weak to see the truth is an important theme of the play. The most obvious weakness shared between Orgon and Madame Pernelle is gullibility. The trait of gullibility can be seen as a family trait as suggested in an essay on "Tartuffe"
aforementioned ways. This essay will focus on the act or acts of deception in Tartuffe by Molière, Phaedra by Racine, and The Marriage of Figaro by Beaumarchais. In Molière's Tartuffe, the primary action of the play is focused upon the deception of Orgon as performed by Tartuffe. Tartuffe is a hypocritically pious Christian much like the televangelists of the present day. His nature is best illustrated in scene two of act three with: Hang up my hair-shirt, put my scourge in place, And pray, Laurent
children, and their maid. Speaking to Elmire, she hisses, "I wouldn't make you welcome in my house. / You're full of worldly counsels which, I fear, / Aren't suitable for decent folk to hear" (Molière 21). Tartuffe dupes her as easily as he dupes her son Orgon. She states boldly, "[Tartuffe... ... middle of paper ... ...n the early 1900s. All the women in Tartuffe, regardless of their station in life, are striving for something more, something closer to being equal to men. The majority of the women are
the main character, Orgon, discuss Tartuffe and both agree that he has captivated Orgon. Damis, Orgon's son, wonders whether his father will allow Mariane, Orgon's daughter, to marry Valere, who she is in love with, because Damis is in love with Valere's sister. Orgon comes and tells Mariane that he wants her to marry Tartuffe instead of Valere because he wants to ally Tartuffe to his house. She is so shocked that she does not say anything. Cleante tries to tell Orgon about Tartuffe's misleading
religious piety but do not themselves live by the morals they try to force upon others, Orgon is the complex character through whom this religious hypocrisy is channeled. In the beginning of the play it is hinted that Orgon is perceived as an honorable and respected man by his family and friends, but then through out the play the question raises why he has become such an absurd and unusual person. It seems that Orgon is the type of character who can no longer participate successfully in society and who
mother. In Tartuffe the father, Orgon is in conflict with his son, Damis. Damis is a rash person who does not think things completely through before choosing a course of action, as seen when he says abruptly, "I'll go and tell [Tartuffe] off-, I'm out of patience" (3. 1. 10). He verbally spars with his father, who is completely infatuated with the behavior of Tartuffe, to see Tartuffe for what he is. After eavesdropping on the conversation between Elmire, the wife of Orgon, and Tartuffe, Damis is convinced
the reader a basic flaw in human nature. This flaw is shown through two characters, Madame Pernelle and Orgon. These two are blind to the truth concerning Tartuffe and fall victim to his wiles. The fact that these two are too weak to see the truth is a basic human flaw as well as a major theme of the play, represented through their flawed characters. If anything, Madame Pernelle and Orgon are incredibly gullible. One author suggests that this gullibility is a shared family trait, stating that
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. One of the characters that obviously fall into the extreme character category would be that of Madam Pernelle. Madam Pernelle is an excellent example of an extreme character
religious factions kept the play banned from theatres from 1664-1669, "Tartuffe" emerged from the controversy as one of the all-time great comedies. Tartuffe is a convincing religious hypocrite. He is a parasite who is sucking Orgon, the rich trusting father, for all he is worth. Orgon does not realize that Tartuffe is a phony, and caters to his every whim. For instance, he reneges on his promise to let his daughter Mariane, marry Valere. Instead he demands that she wed Tartuffe, whom she despises. He also
Orgon and candide were two major characters from different books that were devoted to Tartuffe and pangloss respectively. Orgon was a man that followed Tartuffe blindly and candide was a devoted student of pangloss. Orgon and Tartuffe both depended on Tartuffe and pangloss to the point of folly. Pangloss’s teachings were centered on the fact that everything happens for the greater good. This could be seen in candide chapter 3 when candide said master pangloss was right when he told me everything
every relationship. In Tartuffe, Orgon has an insurmountable amount of trust for Tartuffe. Regardless of the accusation made against Tartuffe, Orgon continues to trust him wholeheartedly. Orgon makes it clear that he trusts Tartuffe more than he trusts his own family. This type of household dynamic is very interesting, and can be amounted to two things. Orgon loves and trusts Tartuffe more than his own family because he humbled himself before Orgon, and because Orgon respects his spiritual knowledge
Orgon, the son of Madame Pernelle and husband of Elmire, was loyal and obsessed over Tartuffe. Tartuffe, the religious hypocrite, was arranged to marry Orgons daughter, Mariane, but he had his eyes on Orgons wife, Elmire, instead. Orgon and Tartuffe pursued life, liberty, and happiness with many strengths and weaknesses and some questionable morals and values. My first impression of Orgon was that he was heartless and did not care about his family. Dorine tried telling Orgon about how sick Madame
In the story, Tartuffe a man by the name of Orgon is very gullible and naïve towards his family. He is wrapped around Tartuffe’s finger and does whatever he demands. Tartuffe is a hypocrite that uses people to get what he wants. He has a way of getting inside people’s mind and making them believe his every word. However, Orgon’s family knows the kind of man he is and tries to warn Orgon about him, but he does not listen. It is not long after Orgon finds out the kind of man Tartuffe is when he hears
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
Moliere's Tartuffe and the Religious Hypocrisy Moliere's Tartuffe is a satire based on religious hypocrisy. Every character is essential in Tartuffe. All of the characters play an important role, but it is easy to say that Tartuffe and Orgon are the main characters. First, we must know the definition of satire. According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, satire is defined as "literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn" ("satire"). In other words, a satire is
around the family of Orgon and the character of Tartuffe, who has become Orgon’s personal holy man. Before being brought into Orgon’s home, Tartuffe was nothing more than a common beggar who learned how to act pious. Throughout this play, we see Orgon give everything he owns to Tartuffe: his love, his money, his daughter, and even the deed to his house. While everyone else in the household sees Tartuffe for who he really is, Orgon remains blind to it throughout most of the play. Orgon is warned many times
In Tartuffe, Cleante says of Orgon: "Ah there you go--extravagant as ever! Why can you not be rational? You never manage to take the middle course, it seems. But jump, instead, between absurd extremes." With this comment in mind, describe/discuss the character of Orgon. Use examples from the text to support your discussion In Moliere’s comedy Tartuffe, the main focus is not on Tartuffe but of Orgon who is blindly infatuated with Tartuffe. The character Orgon represents how man could be so blind
seeing, which is what starts this sequence of events. Orgon refuses to see the fact that Tartuffe is a hypocrite and won't believe it until he sees it with his own eyes near the end of the play. To see how loyal Orgon is to Tartuffe, just look