“Tartuffe” is one of Moliere’s masterpieces. This comedy play was first shown in May 1664. It was highly condemned and criticized for seemingly making fun of the religion through the interpretation of its main character, Tartuffe. Regrettably, it wasn’t the first or the last time such extremist people had taken exception to entertainment, while the humorous play isn’t aimed at religion at all. Rather, it depicts the true picture of a foolish person using religion for his benefit and desires.
Thematic Analysis
“Tartuffe” has a humorous and ironic style with the help of which the author conveys his message to the audience. The aim of the play was to make the audience aware of the hypocritical people who use religion to show themselves off and also to gain benefits. Moliere also pointed his fingers at all the hypocritical people and made fun of them to let them know how double-faced, selfish, and unfaithful they were, not only towards God but also towards the people around them. The poetic structure of the play also adds to the play’s humorous side.
For instance, the way Orgon scolds Dorine (Moliere, p.39, line 20). A humorous and ironic scene is observed in the play when Tartuffe, shown as a very religious person, tries to flirt with a married woman, Elmire (Moliere, p.73, line 18). Here, Tartuffe admits that he is religious, but he’s a male, too, and that he’s not an angel. He didn’t say to anyone but Elmire, knowing that she already has a husband who’s his dearest friend. This shows how unfaithful and insincere Tartuffe was to his friend Orgon. He didn’t even feel a slight shame in saying all this to Elmire and tried to tempt her with his flirtatious words. Through the scene, the author depicts how some people cover up themselves with a cloak of piety, and when they want something or for the fulfillment of their worldly desires, they start admitting that they aren’t angels.
Tartuffe’s hypocrisy is found out by Damis, and he responds furiously since he thinks that he had suffered much scolding from his father due to Tartuffe, and now he got the opportunity to reveal his true face in front of his father (Moliere, p.77, line 7). The most interesting part of the play comes when Elmire wants to prove Tartuffe’s hypocrisy to his husband and Tartuffe’s friend, Orgon. In this scene, everything becomes clear about Tartuffe’s character. When Elmire shows that she loves him, he wants her to satisfy his desires so that he can know the truth of her love (Moliere, p.107, line 12). These lines truly depict the character’s unfaithfulness to God, religion, and the people. Thus, using a poetic, ironic, and humorous essence, the author brings such hypocritical people on the surface and makes everyone aware of them. Some people criticize the play since they think Moliere made fun of religion, even though it isn’t true.
In fact, he made fun of those people who use religion for their benefits and desires and showed the world how pious, faithful, and religious they are. The most disturbing belief one can find in Tartuffe’s dialogues is, “There is no sin if one sin in silence” (Moliere, p.108, line 8). This depicts his level of religiousness and also his knowledge of religion. One more thing to consider is people’s judgment of someone based on their appearance. The author made clear that appearances deceive us and, hence, must not be trusted. And that there are many people around us like Tartuffe who make religion their outer cloth in which they hide their real face of selfishness, insincerity, and hypocrisy. Thus, the outer appearances must not be trusted at all.
References
Moliere, Tartuffe. Classics in English, http://www.ataun.net/bibliotecagratuita/Classics%20in%20English/Moliere/Tartuffe.pdf
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