— Discuss the theme of appearances or masks in Tartuffe? How does the issue of appearances vs. reality connect with the central concerns of the play?
— Discuss the role of Dorine, Mariane’s lady maid. What kind of servant is she? What role does she play in the action of the drama?
— How is the institution of marriage treated in Tartuffe? What are some of the models or ideals of marriage that are raised by Moliere or his characters?
— Describe the character of Orgon. Why do you think he’s so vulnerable to Tartuffe?
— Can you think of a contemporary example of the kind of religious hypocrisy exemplified in Tartuffe?
— Describe one aspect of the play that seems very modern to you and one that seems very dated or old-fashioned.
One aspect of the play that I find very old-fashioned is how Mariane will do whatever her father Orgon tells her to do, which is to marry Tartufee. She said that she will marry him even though she is already in love with someone else and they were supposed to get marry soon, just because her father said so. But one aspect that i find very modern, is that Mariane’s maid, Dorine, always talks back to everyone, she speaks her mind and she will constantly use irony.
I agree, and I like the comparison between Mariane and Dorine. I found it ironic how they have such a close relationship with each other, yet they are so fundamentally different. Despite Dorine being a maid, which would put her “below” the other characters in terms of social status, she seems to be more intelligent and rational than the other characters, which includes Mariane. She is a character who is not afraid to speak her mind and stand up for what she believes is right, which is in stark contrast to Mariane. This can be seen when Dorine scolds Mariane for not refusing to marry Tartuffe. Dorine does not adhere to societal norms for women during this time, which, as you said, is a very modern aspect of the play.
As this was written during the seventeenth century during the beginning of the enlightenment, question of faith became an important question among intellectuals. As the catholic church and its fixed dogmas spread its influence into politics, many enlightenment scholars in Europe were wary of this and detested the behavior of the church. The chemistry between Tartuffe and Orgon echoes this, as Tartuffe throughout act 1 appeases all of Orgon’ non-pious behavior. I believe this is because Orgon, as someone who served in the last war represents radical faith. Seeing someone who he believes to be pious, he idolizes Orgon and doesn’t hold him accountable because that would curtail questioning religion. As a consequence, falsely pious Tartuffe takes control of the house and doesn’t practice what he preaches. Orgon relies on emotion rather than reason to make his decisions, and this allows Tartuffe to manipulate the household to the extent to which he does in this play.
Despite what people tell Orgon about Tartuffe, he is still biased to his actions and doesn’t believe his family members when they suggest he may not be who he presents himself to be. Instead, he defends Tartuffe. Orgon sees Tartuffe as a selfless deity and a well-rounded holy man who can protect his home from sin. Orgon clearly relies heavily on religion and because of this, it makes sense for him to be so optimistic of his word. It is hard for him to go against a man who is based in faith and claims to be this great man of God. In a way, if he were to argue against Tartuffe, he would be going against God. He thinks this is what is best for his family and to protect him home, which makes him vulnerable to who Tartuffe is presenting himself as.
In the play “Tartuffe”, Dorine is the lady maid to Mariane. Dorine seems to have taken care of Mariane since she was little and is very protective of her. She is like a mother figure to Mariane. She wants Mariane to be happy and knows that Mariane wants to marry Valere. She tries to help Mariane by talking back to Orgon, Mariane’s father, who wants his daughter to marry the old and poor man, Tartuffe. She risks getting punished by Orgon in order to help her not get married to Tartuffe. Dorine’s role in this play is to help Mariane and Valere get married because that is what they both wish. She helps them devise a plan to make Orgon end his desire to get his daughter married to Tartuffe. She tries to help Mariane stand up to her father and make him realize that she does not want to marry Tartuffe. Dorine wants Mariane to tell her father to keep his original word of having her marry Valere.
I’m not sure about a specific contemporary example of religious hypocrisy but if you subscribe to any religion, you have points in your life where you question something that seems illogical and then people around you try to prevent you from questioning it. It seems as if it is wrong to question why certain things are, the way that they are. They might even go as far as to call you an atheist because you question things. Let’s take Islam for example, my mom’s friends reads something on Facebook or hear something somebody else read on Facebook and now it becomes part of our religious doctrine. Like now it is something that we must follow or else there is no point in praying. It shouldn’t be this easy to manipulate or change something that’s been passed down for so long. This form of misinformation is the exact same thing that is presented in Tartuffe by Orgon going along with everything Tartuffe did. He genuinely believed that’s the only way that he was going to benefit. Furthermore, he discredited anybody that questioned such an action, thinking he understood more than they did.
I think what you’re saying is incredibly valid! Especially now in the age of the internet being the main source of communication and the spread of information it’s incredibly easy to pollute these public forums with falsities that go unchecked. In the time of Tartuffe, information was even harder to spread and the words of an authoritative figure, no matter how moral they truly are, can seem like fact.
Describe the character of Orgon. Why do you think he’s so vulnerable to Tartuffe?
Orgon is land owner who supported LouisXIV which is what his family believe led to his downfall. He is self absorbed in his own following of Tartuffe. He does not love his family due to the fact that he states he is only devout to his religion. He is solely concerned with Tartuffe’s wellbeing as seen when speaking to Dorine about Elmire, his second wives well being when it is discovered that she was very ill when Orgon was away. Orgon is meant to portray someone who bases there worth off of the church , like a king, who because he has divine aristocracy needs to have a strong hold to the church. But this strong hold could backfire like his relationship with Tartuffe, how he is being used and controlled. Even though Orgon is not a king, he is a land owner and well off, which has a lot of weight socio-economically in this time period. We can see throughout the acts that he helped Tartuffe come out of poverty and now Tartuffe lives in Orgon’s families home and is engaged to Orgon’s daughter. Tartuffe is able to stroke Orgon’s ego and make him. believe how powerful he is and how much the people who’s land he owns needs him.
Also Tartuffe acts like a holy person yet he is a very fake and self absorbed person.
Dorine is a brave and outspoken girl who is also genuine to everyone. She is brave enough to say the truth even though her social status may not allow her to be that offensive. She is also very warm-hearted to Mariane since she is always on her side whenever Mariane needs help. In addition, I think Dorine has a very high EQ because she know how to end up the quarrel between Mariane and Valere and let them back to each other. Her honesty is a great contrast to Tartuffe’s hypocrisy.
Dorine is absolutely a main character in this play. She presents in almost every scene especially in act 1-3. She does several important things in this play. The first one is that she reveals the ugly truth of Tartuffe when she has an argument with Madame Pernelle. Then, she tries to protect Mariane when Organ asks her to marry Tartuffe. Also, she acts as a mediator when Mariane and Valere misunderstands each other. In short, she is a key role to resist Tartuffe’s hypocrisy and Organ’s despotism and benightedness.
In the play “Tartuffe”, Dorine is the maid to Mariane the daughter of Orgon. She can be described as a very outspoken, brilliant, and educated lady. Although it wasn’t mentioned in the play that she was educated, from the way she talks, it could be assumed that she was. Also, from how she convinced Mariane to go for the man she loved, and not settle for what her father wanted for her, you could tell that she was a go getter. You could also tell that she was loved by the family and was a significant part of it the family,which contributed to her outspokenness on matters involving the family.
In this play, I believe that Dorine is a very important character, and one message I think Moliere was trying to pass out in the play through Dorine, was that irrespective of social class, everyone has the capability of intelligence in them. In the play you could see that Dorine stood out the most compared to the people she worked for, especially her boss, Mariane. One very important role she served was helping Mariane and Valere come up with solutions to the problem they were faced with.
The theme of appearances or masks is shown in Tartuffe how people/characters, social groups, wear different masks, in this case portray themselves in a way that they want to be perceived. Symbolically speaking, a mask is used to hide one’s face or true identity much like what a superhero does. But in this case the character Tartuffe is no hero, it is revealed that he’s in fact a villain. For example, Tartuffe is someone who displays from the outside (his frontal appearance) someone who is pious and a devoted religious man. Tartuffe showed modesty towards Orgon, when Orgon gave him money and with that money, Tartuffe returned half. This was all a front on Tartuffe part because he was not what he appeared to seem. When Orgon brings Tartuffe into his home Tartuffe’s true colors are revealed. He is not the man he reveals to the world. From that, Orgon’s plan to bring him in to save and bring order to his household has failed because Tartuffe’s frontal appearance was a facade; he masqueraded himself, covering his real intentions and his true self. Tartuffe’s true self was an evil man, deceitful, minipulative, greedy, and so on. This story brings up another issue where people put on an act to appear a certain way to their community. In this case Orgon and Madame are concerned about how their neighbors view them and don’t want them gossipping about them and their family. They’re dealing with the struggles of being judged by others, fitting in, maintaining a certain appearance of propperness, and wanting to be accepted amongst their social circle the wealthy class.
Dorine, Marian’s lady maid played an important role in this play even though of her social position as a servant. She always have something to say and good advices to offer. she had the confidence to speak out against Tartuffe and tried unmask his really identity to Orgon. Dorine also went against Oregon’s blinded decision to give Tartuffe his “poor” daughter Mariane. I think without Dorine being outspoken and very resistant on Orgon’s decision, Mariane would’ve be taken by the hypocrite Tartuffe. In other words, Dorine used all these tactics in exerting power although her social position as a maid was limiting her. This shows how Dorine used her wisdom as a servant to help Orgon and more importantly Marine without benefiting.
In my opinion, Dorine, Mariane’s lady maid, is the type of servant who is probably near her golden years. I say this because I think she’s the kind of woman who has had lots of experience and wisdom to impart, which shows in every good thing and advice she says to other characters in the play. She’s very outspoken – rebellious, I would say, in light of the context of Moliere’s time when servants were as low class people – and quick to point out the things she believes are wrong, such as Tartuffe’s veil of deceit. Her use of the power of freedom of speech as a voice of reason has been significant in kicking Tartuffe out of the house, by urging Mariane and Valere to do something about the marriage. It is trumped, however, by Orgon’s governing authority as head of the household.
Describe one aspect of the play that seems very modern to you and one that seems very dated or old-fashioned.
Moliere presents several aspects of the play which connect with more modern ideas and of more old fashioned as well. What stood out to me as being very modern is the aspect of the household always seem to argue. Throughout the week play the family throughout the household tends to argue often, particularly about Tartuffe. I feel modern families today let their emotions be known and may often have disagreements. Family may have their differences and may seek to express the discontent they happen to be feeling at the moment. Just like brothers and sisters may complain about one another in this case the whole house is complaining of Tartuffe. What stood out to me throughout the reading of Tartuffe of being more old fashioned is the idea of having kings and servants and such. Today, in the United States at least, one man doesn’t have all the rule and say and can just send whoever they want to jail. A few people in the household have servants to attend to them and that is just a more old fashioned aspect of how things use to be back in the King Louis days.
As every reader can probably tell, Dorine plays a significant role throughout the whole drama. On one hand, she’s the servant of this family in 17th century. Yet, opposed to her occupation/position in the family, she always feels to speak up and comment on things confidently. She’s the one who really nudges the plot to keep going. I’ve found this character setting done by the author very interesting. Despite her modest life, she appears to be experienced, wise, and brave. Her character contrasts with Orgon’s. As he blindly “worships” the self-righteous man Tartuffe, Orgon fails to use his own judgement and becomes vulnerable to Tartuffe’s manipulation. Moreover, he is concerned about how neighbors’ opinions on him and his family and is strained to his social circle.
Appearances and masks play an essential role in converting the central theme of the play “Tartuffe”. Once a mere beggar off the streets, Tartuffe had come close to swindling the entirely of Orgon’s fortune as his own. Tartuffe achieved such a feat through the usage of appearances and masks; appearing pious and devoted to God. Fooled by his appearance, Orgon brought Tartuffe into his household as an attempt to bring order. His appearance is all a facade, brought chaos instead of order into the house. In disgust with Tartuffe, the majority of households participated in a plot to strip him of his mask and reveal his deceptive nature to Orgon. In response to the defamation, it is revealed that Tartuffe is so manipulative of Orgon, that he chooses to trust Tartuffe over the rest of the household. Going to the extent of disinheriting his son and presenting Tartuffe as his sole heir. Only after witnessing the events in person, did Orgon come to a realization that Tartuffe is a swindler. The realization came too late, had it not been for the wisdom of the king, Tartuffe would have succeeded in depriving Orgon of everything. The play portrays the issues of appearances vs reality and its contribution to the central concern of religious hypocrisy. Tartuffe took advantage of religion to mask his true intentions, almost leading to the tragic end of Orgon, a faithful believer of God.