Essay On Tartuffe

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Sarah Marriott Professor Lavatori French 100 15 April 2014 Tartuffe I saw the comedic play Tartuffe on April 10, 2014 with a small group of my classmates for a field trip. The play was originally called The Impostor, or The Hypocrite, because it is about a con artist named Tartuffe that manipulates Orgon by making him think he is a religious saint. Tartuffe tries to take over all of Orgon’s possessions, and it almost works because all but Orgon knows that Tartuffe is a scoundrel. It was written by Molière and first performed in 1664 at the Versailles fêtes. After its first performance, King Louis XIV censored it because it was thought to slander religion. Molière was hated by many people after that, because he was pegged to be an atheist,…show more content…
For instance, the father was attempting to arrange the marriage of his daughter Mariane to Tartuffe. This was accepted in the 1600s as the norm, but today women have freedom to marry who they wish despite what their parents would rather have happen. It is similar to today’s culture in America because it shows that the man of the house, Orgon has all the authority over every decision made in the house. He did not even tell his wife, or anybody else for that matter, that he was going to make Tartuffe the sole heir to everything he owns. Although the man of the house today does not usually have quite that much power over the family, it is still known that the man will make most, if not all of the bigger decisions in the house. Another similarity between the culture from the play and the culture of modern day America would be the comedic factor of Tartuffe. The jokes were timeless. My personal favorite scene was when Orgon hit beneath the table while his wife, Elmire, tried to seduce Tartuffe in an attempt to show Orgon that Tartuffe is lusting for her behind his
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