Tartuffe Essay

A Shadowy Practice

Four centuries ago, there was a crisis in Europe known as the enlightenment. This generation began to stir up controversy and questioned the validity of the major religions throughout the period. The revolutionaries during this new world order were made up of unlikely sources; the artists. Among them was a play write who brought the storm of this era to the stage in the form of a heavy comedy known as Tartuffe. In this play, the French writer surfaced a character who exploited the religion of Christianity to obtain a selfish goal. Such a subject would have been seen as extremely taboo in the year 1664; however, Moliere placed comedic relief around the production so that his audience would be amused at the atrocity. Conversely, his message was and is still quite lucid. In the play Tartuffe, Moliere depicts a theme of exploited religious authority and the perpetual malice which it creates.

The power of religious authority distorts the perception of the bearer in the play and this power is utilized in exploiting the innocent and naive. In Tartuffe, Moliere shapes his main characters around the goal of displaying this phenomenon. Tartuffe, the title character, has a weighted disposition as Moliere transforms him as, not only a hypocritical holy man, but a sadist when it comes to religion. The theme leaks from sieve when Tartuffe speaks this line, “No one shall know our joys, save us alone. And there is no evil till the act is known” (4.5.117-205). With these words, Tartuffe implies that none of the characters will interpreted his evil acts because of his secretive misuse of his pious buff; thus, Moliere attempts to raise the gates, and bring to the surface, this common (but almost unknown) devious corruption. In a time where this sacred creed could be seen as law, the placement of doubt in religious power was a cry to revolution against such oppressors. With Moliere using this vessel of Tartuffe’s malicious deeds, he shows the cynical nature of...