Tartuffe By: Moliere

Characters Madame Pernelle Orgon’s mother Believed Tartuffe to be godly and should be respected as a saint Didn’t want Orgon to let Tartuffe go because she saw Tartuffe as a saint Orgon Elmire’s husband Blinded by Tartuffe’s “loyalty” Believed Tartuffe over his own family and would do what Tartuffe said was the smart idea

Characters cont’d Elmire Damis Orgon’s Wife Sees through Tartuffe’s lies Later decieves Tartuffe in order to make Orgon see the real criminal that he is Damis Orgon’s son Elmire’s stepson Never thinks before he acts. He always rushes into things which later create problems within him and his family

Characters cont’d Marianne Valere Orgon’s daughter Elmire’s daughter In love with Valere Almost married Tartuffe under father’s command Lets her father control her life Childish and naïve Valere In love with Marianne He is charming like Prince Charming Respects Marianne and wants her to make her own decisions He also respects Orgon and his choices

Characters cont’d Cleante Tartuffe Orgon’s brother-in-law Tries to help the family with Tartuffe because he also believes Tartuffe is a fraud Tartuffe A hypocrite, False Prophet Cunning Reminds people of Honest John from Pinocchio Tries to steal everything from the family Betrothed to Marianne but infatuated with Elmire

Characters cont’d Dorine Marianne’s lady-maid Not afraid to speak her mind and opinions Does not follow rules and she acts as part of the family instead of a maid Minor Characters: Monsieur Loyal- a bailiff; told the family that they had to leave under Tartuffe’s orders; seduced by Tartuffe Police Officer- loyal to the Prince (King Louis XIV) instead of Tartuffe Flipote- Madame Pernelle’s man- servant, does not get treated well

Plot Focuses on Orgon’s desire to preserve control in his family. Using his authority as her father, Orgon plans to force Marianne to marry Tartuffe. Tartuffe attempts to seduce Elmire. Elmire tries to reveal Tartuffe’s true nature to Orgon by getting Tartuffe to repeat his passionate revelations while Orgon is hiding in the room. Elmire’s plot succeeds, but it is too late because Orgon has already signed the house and properties over to Tartuffe. Although the ending is contrived, all does end happily and poetic justice is accomplished.

Setting In a Parisian luxurious home of Orgon mid 1600s

Irony The beginning of the play- Damis and Dorine call Tartuffe a hypocrite while Madame Pernelle says that he is a fine man and would save their souls. Orgon throws Damis out of the house and Tartuffe tells him that it was wrong in God’s eyes to throw someone out of the house and than Tartuffe later tries to throw the family out of their house.

Theme The central theme is the exploration of religious hypocrisy in contrast to true Christian value the theme leads to the satire

SATIRE satirizes religion and being pious parody of St. Augustine’s Authoritarian and misanthropic version of Christianity Orgon is eager to believe in Tartuffe for a variety of reasons, but one of these is because the religion that Tartuffe is peddling is a version of Christianity that Moliere regards as insane

SATIRE (cont'd) Orgon’s dependents are connected with his relish over original sin of human nature- He’s a “by the book” Christian The target of the play’s satire is Tartuffe himself and that Tartuffe is obviously not an example of a religious hypocrite. Orgon eagerly buys into Tartuffe’s mindlessly disciplinary rigor( based on the “extremist theory of Original Sin”)

SATIRE (cont'd) The play pokes fun at the obsessive fanaticism and the blind gullibility of those who allow themselves to be victimized by the greedy and self- serving.

EXTRA NOTES Tartuffe is considered a comedy and a satire work comedy- contains basic and accepted patterns of comedic development satire- takes a very specific human vice( religious hypocrisy) and censures it with the intent of improving humanity the characters in the play always hide in order to obtain secretive information

EXTRA NOTES (cont'd) Tartuffe first appears in Act 3, Scene 1, but the reader and audience have already been well- introduced to his character before his appearance characters of Tartuffe are intended as types, rather than realistically drawn literary figures -Tartuffe: archetypal hypocrite -Orgon: archetypal gullible fool - may not always be “realistic”, but represents typical behavior of personality type that the character embodies