Reading Response #1

I’d like to share my thoughts about Tartuffe by Moliere. It’s the first drama that I completely read in English. At first, I was surprised by how long it was. But as I read it, I found the story quite interesting and profound. The personality of each character is very vivid and easy to tell. For example, Dorine is brave and cheerful, she says whatever she thinks, even though her role as a maid may not allow her to do so. Orgon is autocratic at first, but he changes his mind at last. More importantly, although Moliere may exaggerate a little bit when he creates these characters, we can actually find many people similar to these characters in our real life. And I suppose this is the reason why this drama is considered as a “Great Work” —-it originates from our life but is above our life. In reality, I came across some people really like Tartuffe. Even though the people I met had no relation with religion, they did show their hypocrisy when they pretended to be sympathy and warm-hearted to give others a hand but actually only wanted to be worshiped by others and even aimed at the long-term gain after giving this generous help. The value that this text offers me involves we should be kind to others, not hypocrisy; we should argue for our own right and freedom even though we might meet some problems and we cannot only look at the appearance of superficiality of people and things, instead, we should look inside to the truth and consider other people’s opinions. One thing really interests me, and I am still trying to figure out is that why Orgon is totally attracted by Tartuffe and gives him blindly trust? I think Moliere doesn’t explain this issue very clearly. He only mentions that Orgon is captivated by the way Tartuffe “humbly bowed and kissed the floor” and “takes the gift and shares it with the poor”. But I think all these descriptions are not enough to solve this puzzle. Can merely these “kind” movements make a man gives out all his trust and even his wealth to a stranger even though his family all oppose him? I think this is not only unreasonable but also preposterous. But perhaps this is how the drama differs from the real life. The emphasis is on the argument that the drama makes and the value that it reveals, not some illogical details.