Tartuffe
Moliere's Tartuffe is from 17th century France, during the Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason. Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, was the ruler of France at this time. People in Paris were interested in Enlightenment values such as rationality, moderation, and order. Also, social graces, good manners, and gender roles were strictly enforced during this period. Moliere demonstrates all of these Enlightenment values in his play. The difference between true religious piety and religious hypocrisy is, of course, the main theme of Tartuffe. Morality was also considered to be important during the Enlightenment. Moliere created the character Tartuffe, who lacks morality. Moreover, Enlightenment thinkers believed that reason was the highest expression of the divine. Moliere's play does not reject religion, because religion played an important role in Enlightenment France. Instead, Moliere created the character of Cleante, who demonstrates both reason and religion. Cleante sees Tartuffe for who he really is and tries to warn his brother of Tartuffe's treachery. Cleante also advises against hating Tartuffe and the Church once the villain is exposed because hatred is not a rational response. Throughout Tartuffe, Cleante remains the levelheaded, reasonable, and wise voice of reason and thus he is a true Enlightenment man.
If Cleante represents reason in Tartuffe, then Orgon is the opposite of reason. Although he conforms to society's conventions and he accepts...
Tartuffe "Let's not descend to such indignities. / Leave the poor wretch to his unhappy fate, / And don't say anything to aggravate / His present woes; but rather hope that he / Will soon embrace an honest piety, / And mend his ways, and by a true repentance," states Cleante at the final scene of Moliere's Tartuffe. The fact that Cleante offers forgiveness in a most noble manner reveals that
Tartuffe In the play, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Moliere narrates the story of how a scoundrel and a hypocrite disguises himself as a pious man of religion. By affecting religious behavior, Tartuffe charms his way into the house and the favors of Orgon, a local rich man. Orgon is unfortunately unable to see through Tartuffe's duplicity, and in the process almost loses all his possessions to the scoundrel Tartuffe. Only the fortuitous intervention
Tartuffe An Analysis of Hypocrisy in Moliere's Tartuffe No greater example of the religious hypocrite exists in all history than the example of the Philistine. What characterizes the Philistine (and all hypocrites) is something Richard Weaver describes as a barbarian desire to see a thing "as it is" (24). What Weaver implies is that the hypocrite, while making a great show of piety and the possession of virtue, actually lacks the interior
Misanthrope- Honesty In one of the best plays of Moliere, The Misanthrope, we come across honesty as the main theme, which has been carefully incorporated to show the adverse effects of tactless honesty and the consequences of complete lack of honesty. The play was written in the 17th century and the society it depicts is the one that prefers flattery to honesty and conceit to modesty. Despite the fact that
Versailles was more than just a place inhabited by the French royal family and those close to them, as it was a location where art was in the making, with Moliere and Lully being two of the individuals responsible for transforming the palace into the home of French art in the seventeenth century. Louis, Lully, and Moliere all collaborated in assisting France in experiencing a process of enlightenment, as the
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now