This line from the play, Tartuffe, shows how the theme of hypocrisy played a large role in being able to understand the play. The author, Moliere, did not write his play to attack religion or religious people, but instead he wanted to bring hypocrisy to light and allow the audience to realize that it is important to use common sense and clear thinking in all areas of life. He is not upset with religion, but become frustrated when people use religion as a way to achieve personal gain, which is what he portrays in Tartuffe. This play helps protect and promote religion by exposing frauds and showing the real danger that they pose to society and religious organization when unopposed. The play starts off by showing the importance of clear thinking …show more content…
This serves as a warning to the audience to avoid letting others take advantage of them, by having careful observations and a clear scrutiny of human behavior. While some of the characters are able to see him religious hypocrisy, Orgon and others are incapable in seeing that by giving Tartuffe control of his families assets, he is actually jeopardizing his family, wealth, societal position, and his own faith by indulging a hypocrite. While Orgon is able to get all of his wealth and power back, it takes an officer to the king to accomplish this, and it demonstrates to the audience that foolish decisions to satisfy a hypocrite leads to extreme downfall, and unless your family comes from money and the king serves you, there is little possibility to get all of your family estate back. Not only does this play hold the theme of hypocrisy, but also along with hypocrisy it has a theme of the importance of having common sense and clear thinking to be able to live in a well-ordered society. Though it was a comical setting, the unraveling of Orgon’s life at Tartuffe’s expense allows the author to show that when an individual ignores common sense and becomes captivated with charming figures, the results are often tragic. Not only do these troubles have a negative impact on Orgon and his family, but also on society, because the dishonesty from one man leads chaos in everyone’s
He refuses to accept the fact that Tartuffe is an imposter and is more of a hypocrite than a reverent man. " My mother, children, brother and wife could die, And I'd not feel a single moments pain.oh, had you'd seen Tartuffe as I first know him, your heart, like mine, would have surrendered to him". Orgon makes this completely irrational declaration regarding Tartuffe. This nonsensical statement proves just how deeply fixated he was with believing that Tartuffe was a righteous and honest individual.
Tartuffe is nothing more than a traveling confidence man who veils his true wickedness with a mask of piety. Orgon and his mother Madame Pernelle are completely taken in by this charade. On the other hand, Cleante, Elmire, and Dorine see Tartuffe for the fake that he really is. Cleante is Orgon's wise brother who speaks elegantly about Tartuffe's hypocrisy. Through Cleante, Moliere most plainly reveals his theme.
The ideals of the Enlightenment can be found in many of the writings from this time period. There are a few characteristics that are commonly associated with the Enlightenment.
Molière’s play “Tartuffe and Oscar Wilde’s play “The Importance of Being Earnest” both demonstrate a comical portrait of hypocrisy. In “Tartuffe”, the main character Tartuffe is seen as a religious hypocrite who takes advantage of Orgon’s wealth and agrees to marry his daughter, Mariane against her wishes. In “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Jack and Algernon both lie about their identity to get the woman of their dreams. The authors use the concept of double personalities in the play to reveal the deceit and lies to represent the theme of hypocrisy. In fact, hypocrisy is not only displayed in the characters but in the play as a whole. Additionally, the plays are both hypocrital in ways that they do not follow the structure of comedy.
Few plot elements inspire such an emotional reaction in readers as does hypocrisy. Not only do readers feel genuine anger at the actions of the hypocritical character, but they also feel deep sympathy for the Hester Prynnes of the stories they read. This tandem of anger and sympathy is a powerful tool for an author to use to draw readers into his or her tale, because creating an emotional response in one’s audience is the best way to make them identify with the story. The response of the readers to these situations is a fascinating one. Perhaps the reader remembers a time when s/he was the victim of a two-faced action. Perhaps stories about hypocrisy evoke a sense of moral outrage or awaken a sense of justice in the reader. Perhaps the reader is simply fascinated with having a secret that s/he is unable to tell. For whatever reason, authors have carefully woven threads of hypocrisy into the fabric of their stories since the very dawn of literature. Some of the best examples of this skill (as indeed of many others) come from the writings of William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s astute observations of human nature coupled with his amazing word craftsmanship have created some of the most memorable hypocrite characters in all of literature. From the twisted, jealous, hatred of Iago in Othello to the lusty self-righteousness of Angelo in Measure for Measure, we can glean a sense of Shakespeare’s masterful manipulation of hypocrisy to create a tempting tale. Iago and Angelo are true hypocrites.
my opinion Shakespeare uses the play to show the hypocrisy of the status quo that
In Moliere's comedy, Tartuffe, the main focus of the play is not of Tartuffe, but of Orgon's blind infatuation with Tartuffe. It just so happens that the title character is the villain, rather than the hero. Orgon is Moliere's representation of how a man can be so blind in his devotion to a belief that he cannot make accurate judgment as to the sincerity of others who would use that belief to deceive him. Tartuffe easily achieves total power over Orgon's actions because of his gullibility. However, as the play progresses, Orgon's view of Tartuffe changes and results in Tartuffe's removal.
Tartuffe is a satirical comedic play written by Molière in 1664. It is focused 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 by different members of the household, including his own son, yet he only chooses to lash out against those speaking. From early on in the play we as readers are able to recognize that Tartuffe is no more than a hypocrite and Orgon is a blind fool. In the play Tartuffe by Molière there are several different important themes that impact this work,
Orgon is deceived because he cannot or refuses to see Tartuffe for the con artist he is. Tartuffe is hugely successful for most of the play because he is so good at wearing a mask of piety to cover his deception. Orgon regards Tartuffe as his religious guide and is blind to the fact that Tartuffe is deceiving him.
Tartuffe is an excellent example of a neoclassical drama because of its close adherence to the guidelines set forth in Aristotle’s Poetics, its use of character structure, and its incorporation of the common neoclassical ideas involving: reason, rational thinking, as well as logical problem solving.
Many would perceive madness and corruption to play the most influential role in Hamlet. However, it could be argued that the central theme in the tragedy is Shakespeare's presentation of actors and acting and the way it acts as a framework on which madness and corruption are built. Shakespeare manifests the theme of actors and acting in the disassembly of his characters, the façades that the individuals assume and the presentation of the `play within a play'. This intertwined pretence allows certain characters to manipulate the actions and thoughts of others. For this reason, it could be perceived that Shakespeare views the `Elsinorean' tragedy as one great puppet show, "I could see the puppets dallying".
Molière also uses Cléante to teach the importance of moderation. Cléante calls to Orgon’s attention the foolishness of his extreme actions by telling him to “Listen to yourself! You’re over the top, / Getting carried away again. Just stop. / “Moderation.” Is that a word you know? / I think you’ve learned it, but then off you go.” ( ) Orgon has not only gone to the extreme of believing in Tartuffe but after learning the truth he flipped to the extreme of believing in no one. Cléante responds to Orgon’s reaction of religion being the cause of all his troubles by questioning, “…Rather than change your ways, you turned / Like that. [Snaps fingers] Attacking holy men who’ve earned / the right to stand among the true believers. / So now all holy men are base deceivers?” Molière demonstrates with these lines that one should recognize there are truly devout religious men in the world, even though there are men like Tartuffe, who are religious impostors and take advantage of faith to deceive others. Tartuffe’s character is a representation of how Satan deludes people. In the Bible, Jesus tells his followers that Satan is out to deceive and turn people away from him. Consequently, Tartuffe’s purpose was to deceive Orgon and take everything from him, resulting in his turning against religion completely. There are people who pretend to be righteous, but this is not a reason to classify all righteous people as imposters since overreactions can lead to the wrong conclusion and disastrous results. Molière’s intent is to show that moderation is important in all areas of
Ambition is a force of driving passion, one which inherently connotes neither a sense of right or wrong, the flavour of the ambition is defined by the selfish- or selflessness of the intent. In Hamlet, Shakespeare draws focus mostly upon the malevolent face of ambition, which arises from greed, lust, ignorance, and fury. Through this exploration of ambition and its effects, Hamlet encapsulates the cause of suffering, as Claudius’ act of regicide is the first boulder in a terrible rockslide of woe and madness which ensues. While this tale may be fiction, it teaches the very true nature of suffering, and coerces the audience to reflect on the effects of their actions, and to take responsibility for the pain and suffering which happens around them. Every instance of sorrow and death which arises throughout the play can be traced back to the original coup d’état of King Hamlet, exemplifying how deeply corruption can effect one’s surroundings. Although, just as the first drop of water into a vase cannot be defined as the one responsible for filling it1, the ambition of others – mainly Hamlet and Laertes – also contribute to the suffering of the royal community.
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,
Tartuffe is a comedy, but it still follows these characteristics. Firstly the appearance of a tragic hero. In this play, our tragic hero is not Tartuffe for whom the play is named, but is instead Orgon, the head of the household where the play takes place. Orgon is our tragic hero because he really isn’t a bad person. He isn’t seeking to ruin anyone with hidden plans or deception, he is just very unaware of what’s happening right under his nose. The tragic flaw that Orgon shows is just taking everything that tartuffe says as absolute truth and not questioning it at all. This is what ultimately leads to his error in judgement which is telling his daughter that she is to marry tartuffe and not Valere who she’s already proposed to. Of course, this doesn’t