“Tartuffe” is one of the masterpieces of Moliere. 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 the religion at all. Rather, it depicts the true picture of a foolish person using religion for his benefits 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 hypocrite people who use religion for showing themselves off, and also for gaining benefits. Moliere also pointed his fingers towards all the hypocrite people and made fun of them to let them know how double-faced, selfish and unfaithful they are; not only towards God but also for 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 was 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 of Tartuffe’s character. When Elmire showed that she loves him, he wanted 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 also the people. Thus, using a poetic, ironic and humorous essence, the author brings such hypocrite people on the surface and makes everyone aware of them. Some people did criticize the play since they thought Moliere made fun of the religion while it wasn’t true.
In fact, he made fun of those people who use religion for their benefits and desires and show 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 the judgment of the people by someone’s appearance. The author made clear that the appearances deceive us, and hence must not be trusted. And that there are many people around us like Tartuffe who makes 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
