Tartuffe Paper

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“Yes brother, I am wicked, I am guilty, a miserable sinner, steeped in evil, the greatest criminal that ever lived. Each moment of my life is stained with soilures; and all is but a mass of crime and filth; heaven, for my punishment, I see it plainly, would mortify me now. Whatever wrong they find to charge me with, I’ll not deny it but guard against the pride of self-defense.” (Act 3 Scene 6 page 74) What Tartuffe basically did was put some pity on him and make Damis look like a discredited dark-hearted fool. Orgon falls for Tartuffe’s trick yet again and instantly scolds his own son Damis. Orgon says, “You miscreant, can you dare, with such a falsehood, try to stain the whiteness of his virtue?” (Act 3 Scene 6 page 75) Tartuffe is able to play with Orgon’s mind that Orgon banishes Damis for saying such a thing about Tartuffe and signs all of his worldy possessions to Tartuffe.

Tartuffe is exposed as a fraud and a hypocrite when Elmire plots to have Tartuffe seduce her again while Orgon is listening under the table. When Elmire and Tartuffe are talking, Tartuffe basically concedes that what he preaches about holiness and honesty is not what he cares about. This supposed righteous man, Tartuffe, is himself disregarding Christianity. When talking to Elmire, he says, “If Heaven is all that stands no in my way, I’ll easily remove that little hindrance; your heart need not hold back for such a trifle.” (Act 4 Scene 5 pg 97) Orgon, still under the table, is astonished of what he has just heard and finally knows the truth about Tartuffe. It is clearly expressed in the book how disgusted and angry Orgon is by what he says, “Nothing more wicked e’er came out of Hell.” (Act 4 Scene 6 pg 100) Orgon then continues to state that Tartuffe is, by definition a hypocrite. Orgon says, “How is your soul abandoned to temptation! Marry my daughter, eh?-and want my wife, too? I doubted long enough if this was earnest, expected all the time the tone would change; but now the proof’s been carried far enough; I’m satisfied, and ask no more, for my part.” (Act 4 Scene 7 pg 101) Moliere was able to express how deceitful and a hypocrite by Orgon’s reaction and anger when he finally finds out the truth. Orgon demands Tartuffe to leave his house immediately. He says, “Come, now, no protestations.” “Get out from here, and make no fuss about it.” (Act 4 Scene 7 pg 101)

In the end, Tartuffe is revealed as a liar and a hypocrite. However, Tartuffe is still not letting up. Tartuffe was able to convince Orgon to sign all of his possessions to him before he was caught as a liar. There is nothing that Orgon and his family can do at this and Tartuffe goes to the Prince to get Orgon and his family evicted as soon as possible. When all seems lost for Orgon and his family, a stunning change occurs and the Prince was able to look through Tartuffe’s lies and arrests him instead of evicting Orgon. The story and play ends and everything ends happy and positive. However, with this type of ending, in that all seemed lost for Orgon, Moliere was trying to explain Tartuffe the sly hypocrite and hypocrisy in general. It took a Prince who somehow “sees through his heart” and knows that Tartuffe was a liar. Any man going by the law of the land would evict Orgon and his family because he did sign over his possessions to Tartuffe. Moliere uses this to show hypocrisy and the flaws of this world and how an individual can get cursed by another man’s lie.

Jeane-Baptiste Moliere was successful in using Tartuffe as a symbol of hypocrisy and greed in his play. Moliere illustrates just how easy it is to deceive people in this world who have strong feelings or beliefs in something, like Orgon did. It is Orgon’s religious faith and spirituality that Tartuffe preys on to get his trust and ultimately get what he wants. It is this trust that Orgon almost lost all his property and possessions, his wife, and marrying his daughter to Tartuffe. It is not by his direct confrontations or interactions with others that makes Tartuffe the character that he is, but rather by rumors, arguments, and the perception of others that make him one of a kind. Deception is all around us in this world. People in real life like Bernard Madoff who lied to people to get millions of dollars or a religious figure like Ted Haggard, who denounced homosexuality in his church but was secretly meeting with male prostitutes, are liars and hypocrites. Hypocrisy is hear and prevalent and Jeane-Baptiste Moliere does a successful job of pointing out hypocrisy through his play “Tartuffe”.

References

Tartuffe

Molière, and Richard Wilbur. Tartuffe; Comedy in Five Acts, 1669.

e-book edition

Project Gutenberg’s Tartuffe, by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Moliere

http://www.gutenburg.org

Produced by Dagny and John Vickers

Fairbanks, AK 99712

Webster’s Dictionary – (hypocrisy)