—Anonymous
I would consider “Tartuffe” by Moliere to be a great work because of its commentary on not only society during the Reformation, but on hypocrisy in general. Although the play is a satire and uses humor to deliver the message, I think it does a great job of providing an alternate point of view on the Church and religion at a time when people blindly followed these rules but were still hypocritical about their beliefs. At this time, people tended to only go by what the Church said, despite the fact that the Church was actually partaking in hypocritical acts such as selling indulgences. It wasn’t until the Enlightenment that people began to question these acts and turn away from superstition, and more toward logic and reasoning.
In the play, we witness Tartuffe tearing a family apart by letting his desires get the best of him, yet still claiming that he’s a religious and pious man despite his unholy actions. He is set to marry the daughter of the family but continuously tries to make advances on the girl’s mother. Orgon, the patriarch of the household, allows his naivety to take over and refuses to believe his family’s claims that Tartuffe isn’t the good human that he seems to be. Orgon instilling all of his trust in Tartuffe without considering that his family’s claims could be true reflects how people acted during this time period, and shines a light onto the idea that people should form their own beliefs and not just follow what they’re told. Even though the play was a bold commentary for its time and was even banned by the King for five years, I think that it overall contributed to the social development of people because it exposed the harsh realities of that particular era.
