Examples Of Hypocrisy In Tartuffe

Tartuffe is a satirical theatrical comedy written by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière in seventeenth century France. This time period in France is characterized by an oppression of women due to the hierarchical social class system that was set into place. Fortunately, the Age of Enlightenment was forming its roots and emerging as a prominent movement at the end of the seventeenth century. Molière used his progressive outlook upon the society, in which he lived, and brought to life many emerging issues the Enlightenment transformed. Among the main concern of hypocrisy depicted by the play of Tartuffe, Molière creates an even greater social annotation in his story when he gives unconventional female characters the ability to think with reason and logic and have a voice of intelligence during a time of patriarchal domination.

“Structured on the basis of a rigid class system, the traditional

Seventeenth century France was dominated by the patriarchal social class system and among the many different rules that this society was conformed to, the Enlightenment of the Eighteenth century challenged the way society viewed norms of authority. “Prerevolutionary French society… depended on clear hierarchical structures… assuming the rightness of their knowledge of how people should feel and behave” (Puchner 92). One such view or norm of authority that was challenged was the role of women in society. Women had always taken a submissive role, being under-valued, unappreciated, or even seen as incapable to think intelligently with logic and reason, “the public world belonged entirely to men, who determined… [and] defined the limits of the important” (Puchner 93). As Molière viewed the way the French viewed and treated women, he proposed a strong supporting satirical literary work that was very controversial