Is Tartuffe: Born Again Insulting to Christians
Tartuffe Introduction
Molière wrote Tartuffe , originally entitled Tartuffe, ou fifty'Imposteur (Tartuffe the Imposter) in 1664. In the play, Orgon, a wealthy Parisian patriarch (male caput of household) falls nether the influence of a self-righteous hypocrite named Tartuffe. Orgon becomes obsessed with Tartuffe and the religious ethics the trickster supposedly stands for. Molière was apparently very fond of plot lines where a guy becomes obsessed with something. Many of his plays have similar plots. In Tartuffe, it'southward religion; in Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (The Conservative Admirer), it's social condition; in L'Avare (The Miser), it's money; in Le Malade Imaginaire (The Hypochondriac), it's doctors, etc. In each case, the main grapheme's obsession interferes with his daughter's marriage plans – in Le Malade Imaginaire, for instance, he wants his daughter to marry a doctor instead of her lover – which forces his family to intervene. If you've already read Tartuffe, this should audio pretty familiar.
We've spent all this time talking about how typical Tartuffe is by Molière standards, then it may surprise yous to find out that it's (quite perchance) his best-known play. The reasons backside the play's fame are simple: it was scandalous. By 1664, Molière was already a big proper noun in French theater. That aforementioned year, Male monarch Louis Fourteen had agreed to be the godfather of Molière's first son. Molière's theater troupe was called the Troupe du Roi. That'south The King's Troupe. Yeah, let's simply say he'd striking the big fourth dimension. As y'all probably know from VH1 Behind the Music, major success seems to always cause lots of problems. In Molière's case, the problems came in the form of critics, many of them religious, who thought his plays were irreverent, irreligious, and just obviously naughty.
Tartuffe riled upwardly Molière's critics even more than his previous plays. At the fourth dimension, the Catholic Church was a major political power in France. As you might imagine, a play about a hypocritical criminal masquerading equally a holy man didn't go over too well. The dévots, a group of ultra-conservative Catholic nobility, were especially offended. Oh, and it didn't help that Orgon, a member of the upper class, was portrayed equally a total fool. All of this "offensive" material, acquired the play to be banned.
As they say, at that place's no such thing every bit bad publicity; and Tartuffe has certainly benefited from its notoriety. "Tartuffe" (along with the substantive tartuffery) has entered into the dictionary in both English and French. A tartuffe, every bit you might wait, is a hypocrite, religious or otherwise; tartuffery is, well, acting like Tartuffe. The play has been filmed, circulate on Goggle box, brought to Broadway (and, quite probably, a high school near you!). Information technology'south pretty much the classic French play for English speakers. Now it's your turn enjoy information technology.
What is Tartuffe Virtually and Why Should I Care?
First, a disclaimer: Tartuffe was scandalous dorsum in the day, and there'due south a reason why. It deals the idea of religious hypocrisy. This issue was hard to tackle back then and, well, it remains hard to tackle now. Nosotros hither at Shmoop think everybody has a right to believe what they want; nosotros're just here to present the facts. Sure nosotros have lots of opinions on literature, simply fifty-fifty then, we want yous to challenge them and come up with your ain thoughts. OK, time to get on to the issues Tartuffe.
In 2007, an American Christian group chosen LifeWay Research conducted a survey in which they asked participants nigh their behavior and churchgoing habits, among other things. According to the survey, a majority of Americans who said they believed in God didn't go to church. Why? Well, 72% of the non-churchgoers said it was because the church building was "total of hypocrites" (source). Those are pretty strong words, right?
Now, although surveys are by no ways perfect, there's some indication that Americans don't like religious hypocrisy. These same Americans live in a gild that protects gratis spoken communication and guarantees the separation of church and state. So they're immune to express their opinions without the regime imposing whatsoever item religion on them.
When Molière wrote Tartuffe in 1664, he didn't take those kinds of guaranteed freedoms. The Roman Catholic Church was a hugely powerful cultural and political strength dorsum then, so you can imagine what kinds of risks he was taking when he wrote and performed a play whose title character was a hypocritical holy man, a self-righteous sham. But in Tartuffe Molière was wise enough not to fill it with specific references to the Catholic Church, or the French religious climate in general. Instead, he presented a rather uncomplicated bulletin that is just as applicable now as it was over three centuries agone.
And Molière's has a universal bulletin about hypocrisy, one that is about religion, but non merely religion. Information technology'south applicative to most any situation, and it'due south quite a surprising bit of wisdom to find in such a lite one-act. And, really, tin can you lot call back of a better antidote for self-righteousness than humor and self-deprecation? Nosotros tin't.
Tartuffe Resource
Websites
Tout Molière
For all y'all francophones out at that place, here's a website featuring the consummate works of Molière.
Full Text of Tartuffe
For those of yous who don't speak French, here's one of many poetry translations of Tartuffe y'all tin can observe online.
Moving picture or Idiot box Productions
Herr Tartüff, 1925
A High german language take on the play, brought to y'all by F.W. Murnau. He'due south the dude responsible for Nosferatu – quite perchance the freakiest version of Dracula e'er filmed.
Tartuffe, 1978
An American Goggle box production based on Richard Wilbur's translation. Ray Wise, likewise known as Leland Palmer from Twin Peaks plays Damis.
Le Tartuffe, 1984
A French version of the play featuring everybody's favorite Frenchman, Gérard Depardieu.
Molière, 2007
A fictional interpretation of the life of Molière, in which the playwright is pretending to be a man named Tartuffe.
Images
The Playwright
Here'south a portrait of Molière. And, no, he didn't dress up similar that all the time. At least non as far as we know.
Production Photo
Elmire attempts to "seduce" Tartuffe while Orgon hides under a table.
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Source: https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/tartuffe