French Neoclassicism
The 17th century in France, the age of the sun-king LOUIS XIV, witnessed the rise of the neoclassical ideal and, with it, France's three greatest masters of the drama: Corneille, Racine, and Moliere.
Following the decline of religious drama in the mid-16th century, the French theater had been slow to develop. The French Renaissance began in 1630 and ended in 1700. It was Pierre Corneille's enormously popular tragedy Le Cid (1636) and the controversy it aroused that set the standards for the rest of the century's dramatic development. Although today it appears thoroughly classical--a drama of a hero, his lover, and their struggle with claims of honor--to the newly formed Academie Fracaise, French Academy, it violated certain Aristotelian precepts. Despite this adverse judgment, Corneille went on to create a string of tragedies--among them Horace (1640), Cinna (1641), and Polyeucte (1642)--that are still mainstays of the French repertoire. Although Cornielle did write comedies, he is primarily remembered for his tragedies.
In 1637 and organization called the French Academy was formed. The academy was patterned after the Italian academies, and limited to “forty men of letters.” The guiding force behind the Academy was Cardinal Richelieu (1586- 1642).
It was formed to study and codify the French language and literary, including dramatic style.
Jean Racine experienced his first success with the tragedy Andromaque in 1667. Three years later, when his Berenice proved more popular than Corneille's dramatization of the same story, his success eclipsed that of the master. Whether his settings were Greek, as with Phedre (1677), Roman, as in Britannicus (1669), or Oriental, as in Bajazet (1672), his major tragedies all touch beneath the classical surface to probe the irrational, fierce, sometimes uncontrollable emotions occasioned by the onset of love. Racine was noted to adapt Greek tragedies, primarily the works of Euripides. He is also noted as France’s most important tragic playwright.
Jean Baptiste Poquelin, who took the stage name of Moliere to spare his family embarrassment when he became the manager and leading actor of a struggling theatrical troupe, began his career by adapting Italian farces for the French stage, imitating the improvisational style and character types of the commedia dell'arte. When finally he branched out from farce to write his own comic satires, he both delighted and scandalized his Parisian audiences. His satire was by no means tender; Tartuffe (1664) attacked false religiosity, and the darkly philosophical Don Juan (1665) provoked a number of powerful enemies.
The French Revolution was a period of radical change of political, economic, and social structure in France in the eighteenth century. During this period, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette were in power, but soon were beheaded by the infamous guillotine during the overthrowing of the French monarchy. This was caused by their neglect to address the agrarian distress between the middle class and peasants in France, the lack of trust between the French and their monarchy due to Queen Marie-Antoinette’s suspicious correspondences with Austria, and the sheer and absolute hatred that the French had for the Austrian Empire in which Queen Marie-Antoinette was born in.
Creator of Le Misanthrope and French playwright Jean-Baptiste Poquelin had written Tartuffe, or the Impostor during the 17th century. Among the classical stories of the Chinese literature entitled Journey to the West, otherwise known as "Monkey" is created by Chinese scholar Wu Cheng'en. The comedy Tartuffe and the Monkey by Wu Cheng’en are stories accentuating on the exploration of the concepts of appearance and reality.
that contributed to the rise and fall of the French Monarchy. The ideas of the
By restructuring France’s laws into one standard legal code Louis gained public support, by showing that he was a fair leader. “The Code”, as Louis labeled it, was applicable to everyone (except Louis, of course), and universalized laws across France. The power to enforce “The Code” was taken away from lords and nobles, and instead given to “Intendants”, upper-middle class men appointed by Louis. These intendants, having recently “fallen” into their positions of power, were not used to their positions, and because of this felt indebted and completely loyal to Louis. The lack of criticism and discussion allowed decrees to be passed more quickly. The end consequence of these actions was that the government operated more efficiently.
In conclusion, through his depiction of the giant in his Gargantua and Pantagruel, Rabelais effectively satirizes two periods of thought, Medieval and Renaissance, and creates the argument that each, in its extreme, is limited. By comparing these two ages in the same satirical manner, Rabelais suggests that both schools of thought are transitory and that learning is often a necessary, yet futile, attempt to understand our world.
The French government was a complete monarchy. At the time France had thirteen different regions. Each of these thirteen regions made up their own rules. What did that mean? France didn't have a unified law system, basically a government, to make up the rules; everyone made their own through Parliament. The Parliament had the jurisdiction to make laws in their own region. Each individual Parliament had between 50 to 130 members made up of judges and “legal elites” in that region. This was the only government in France. The Parliament were the ones set prices on foods, and held trials including murders and thefts. Even though they served as the government of the region, they were hated by everybody, including the king. The King had people called intendents who “curbed the power of nobility” who were hated even more than Parliament.
Phaedra, a tragedy written by Jean Racine, tells the tale of forbidden relationships and the consequences of following one’s passion rather than abiding by the neoclassical virtue of reason. The comedy, Tartuffe, written by Molière also displays a set of forbidden relationships and the consequences of pursuing passion. In each play, there exists a father/son relationship that is either saved or broken by the actions of the characters in the play. While the father/son relationships in Phaedra and Tartuffe are similar in that each son battles with forbidden relationships that they want to exist and ones that they do not, the sets of relationships are more different in the following: one son attempts to preserve his father’s pride, the father
It is in the duality of Orgon, the believing subject, and Tartuffe, the manipulating hypocrite (or impostor), that Moliere takes his digs at the extremes of enthusiastic belief. Tartuffe plays the role of a man whose greedy actions are cloaked by a mask of overwhelming piety, modesty and religious fervor. Orgon is the head of a household who has taken Tartuffe in. We laugh at Orgon because everyone else (except his mother) knows that Tartuffe is a fake. All of Orgon's relatives warn him of Tartuffe's gluttony and of the false nature of his pious proclamations.
A satirical comedy is an attempt to ridicule a certain aspect of government, religion, or another aspect of society to bring about change through the use of comedy to lighten the blow. Tartuffe is a prime example of a satirical comedy. Molière used this play to point out one of the biggest flaws of organized religion during his time, religious hypocrisy. Although he may not have directly intended it to be about the Catholic Church, it was interpreted by them as such so they made the king ban it for a period of time. By making it into a play, Molière was able to reach a larger audience. People tend to enjoy plays more so due to their quick, lively nature. Plays are always changing, and they are stories being brought to life. A reader may not be interested by a short story or novella, but a play could be the very thing to draw in their attention. Molière was able to reach more people by making this into a play, therefore making the problem of religious hypocrisy more widely
The play Tartuffe is a comedy written by French playwright Moliere. Most of his plays were meant to critique common behaviors he saw in his society. In Tartuffe, he is criticizing those people who pretend to be very pious and religious, when in fact, they are simply pretending devotion to God to further their own personal desires.
In Moliére’s Tartuffe (Moiré 1664), the reader is able to see a great contrast of Extreme and 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.
The French Revolution was one of the bloodiest and terrifying times that France as a nation had to undergo. As would be expected, the Revolution pervaded all forms of life, and arts and culture were not immune to its reach. Ballet in France was commonly associated with Louis XIV at the onset of the Revolution because of the huge impact that he played in the growth of ballet. He established the Academie Royale de Danse, which was the first recognized school of ballet.
During the beginning of the 17th Century neoclassical thought began to dominate the stage in France. In the domain of theatre, this meant that neoclassical writers began to look back to the ideals and beliefs of classical times, accentuating the classic ideas of rational control and discipline. It was an age intrigued with regularity as the ideas stemming from this period insist upon certain norms of behavior in society. Throughout the period, specific emphasis was placed upon rational perspective and behavior (Neoclassicism).
Thesis: The French Revolution transformed not only the French society, but also had a huge influence and marked impact on what the purposes of the arts and their expression were now, making profound changes in what they would supposed to be used for, in the form of the Neoclassic works of art that made their appearance prior to the French Revolution, in which very special emphasis is given to the patriotic, the nationalist feeling, together with a strong sense of self-sacrifice that should be present in every person’s heart.
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 defined as literary work that uses humor to point out the foolishness of a person or just in human nature. Religious hypocrisy can be self-defined as a false assumption of a person. What follows are examples of how I believe Tartuffe exposes humor through religious hypocrisy.