Flaws In Human Nature In Tartuffe

Through its contrasting scenes, Moliere’s “Tartuffe” illustrates the flaws in human nature with regard to the foundation of morals. Religious hypocrisy plays a major role in each of the characters’ lives. One character, Orgon, in particular falls subject to the deception of Tartuffe, who pretends to be a devout, pious, and humble man. Orgon is a firm believer that morals are derived from religion and that a strong religious conviction is the foundation for morality. He is so convinced that a religious person can do no wrong that he would sacrifice those he loves, as well as his worldly possessions as he is duped throughout most of the play. Most of the characters in the play do not agree with Orgon’s view and believe Tartuffe to be a fake

Morality does not depend upon religion although this is "an almost automatic assumption." (INSERT REF HERE 69) According to The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics, religion and morality "are to be defined differently and have no definitional connections with each other. Conceptually and in principle, morality and a religious value system are two distinct kinds of value systems or action guides. (INSERT REF HERE 70) Facts, statistics, and expert evidence have demonstrated that morality can be found in Evolution, Secularism, and Modern Huminism (free thinking), to name a few, without the presence of religion. I find it very hard to believe that 100,000 or 200,000 years ago, our ancestors did not believe in right and wrong, and did not punish bad behavior, did not care about fairness. Very long ago our ancestors had moral systems. There are clear predecessors of morality in non-human primates, but no precursors of religion. So it seems reasonable to assume that as humans evolved away from chimps, morality emerged first, followed by religion. Evidence has shown that animals can exhibit behavior we might classify as "moral" without religious orders to guide them. Dr. Frans de Waal, director of

There are those who believe religion approaches moral issues from the standpoint of faith, and according to according to Greg Epstein, "The idea that we can't be 'good without God' " has been with us for nearly 2,000 years. This idea is seen in various holy books, for example in Psalms14 of the Christian Bible: "The fool says in his heart, 'there is no God.' They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good ... not even one." (REFERENCE) During the time of Moliere’s play, King Louis XIV was in power and he was a strong believer that the Roman Catholic Church was an essential tool within France for defining morals to maintain control over the people. King Louis XIV appointed members of the church and believed that the church should speak on behalf of his ideas. This ultimate control over the church contradicts the idea that morals are derived from religious beliefs because it was a single man who defined what was right and what was wrong. Even in modern times, many people would still argue that religious beliefs are necessary to provide moral guidance and standards of honest conduct. However, research has shown that morality can found in secular societies. Secularism is defined by Wikipedia as “The principle of the separation of government institutions and persons mandated to represent the state from religious institutions and religious