The relationship between Orgon and Tartuffe in Moliere’s “Tartuffe” is a very deceptive one. On the surface, Tartuffe takes on the appearance of a lowly servant, one who was at church day in and day out, humbly kneeling and drawing “the eyes of everybody there by the deep fervor of his heartfelt prayer.” He would “sigh and weep”, sometimes even kissing the ground in what appeared to be a heartfelt show of devotion. He would run to offer Orgon holy water at the door, and when Orgon tried to give him gifts in return, he would humbly “beg [him] every time to give him less.” In Orgon’s eyes, Tartuffe was a blameless man, someone who believed in Heaven and lived his life devoted to his beliefs. Because of this, Orgon held him to an almost God-like standard, worshiping him even at the expense of his family and trusting him as though the words he spoke came from heaven itself. He gave him money, food, a place to stay, even his daughter to marry, yet to him it all paled in comparison to what Tartuffe claimed to be able to give him – a soul free from sin. Orgon was only able to see the surface – unlike the rest of his family, he was so in awe of Tartuffe that he was naïve to his hypocritical ways. Tartuffe, on the other hand, saw an affluent man, one with naïve, trusting tendencies and exploited them. His relationship with Orgon was deceptive from the start, never one based on good intentions. He used his words to manipulate and deceive, and Orgon was too blinded to see it, despite his family’s best efforts to open his eyes.
While reading “Tartuffe”, I was drawn to some of the parallels I saw between the story and things I’ve witnessed in my life. I grew up in a very religious family, going to church two or three times a week when I was younger. While I’ve never seen such an extreme example of Tartuffe, Cléante’s words stuck a familiar chord when he said “Those whose hearts are truly pure and lowly, don’t make a flashy show of being holy. There’s a vast difference, so it seems to me, between true piety and hypocrisy.” Growing up, it always stuck out to me how the people who always sat front and center at church, the ones who were always so vocal about their service, were the ones who often times were the biggest hypocrites. They were the ones who were the most unkind, the ones who would put others down and act in a way that was so different from what they preached. It was always kind of disheartening to me, so I really appreciated the truth in Cléante’s words. As he put it “those whose courage shines the most, in battle are the least inclined to boast.”