17th Century Society
In Jean Baptiste Poquelin Moliere’s “Tartuffe,” we are given a list of character names and their association. This provides some insight on 17th century social structure. Dorine and Flipotte are written as servants to their own respective masters thus implying wealthy family set within a hierarchical society that also maintains an elaborate hierarchy within the household. In addition, act one shows many of the characters protesting Tartuffe’s influence and choices within the household. This exchange of words reveal various changes taken within the house despite most of its members protesting the changes. This further supports the idea of a hierarchy established within the house in which all lower members must obey the rules fixed by the head members. Finally, the last scene shows a king’s messenger rendering judgement on the conflict. This denotes that 17th century France was under a monarchical government.
Religion seems to be a central topic throughout the poem. However, it should be noted that religion is not the subject of mockery but rather hypocrisy within those who claim religious devotion yet use religion as a means of manipulation. Moliere uses several characters to represent the central theme within his play:the difference between true and false religious devotion. Cleante, and the women plays the role of the voice of reason and true understanding of religion while Tartuffe is a manipulative character only using religion for his own gains. The third character, which I believe is the most important for this theme, is Orgon. Despite Cleante, the women, and Tartuffe playing the roles of truth and false, Orgon represents the common man or rather one who doesn’t fully understand the religion yet is extremely eager and inclined to believe anyone that offers guidance. In other words, the relationship between Orgon, Cleante, the women, and Tartuffe represent the religious conflict that was happening during early 17th century. Many Catholics in power misused their authority to accumulate wealth thus causing a conflict within practitioners from distinguishing true religious leaders.
Lastly, the theme of logical vs irrational is prevalent throughout the plot. Orgon and Pernelle are shown to behave irrationally by holding a unjustified yet grandiose view towards Tartuffe. Additionally, Orgon commands his household with harmful and foolish reason that not only brings about the trouble but further exacerbates it. This is most notable when he demands his daughter to marry Tartuffe simply because it is the right thing to do and hands the deed to the family house to Tartuffe. On the other hand, Pernelle holds an undying devotion towards Tartuffe only for it to be distinguished after considerable effort on from other members accompanied by undeniable evidence of Tartuffe’s treachery. Hence, it should be noted that the prevalent theme of logic and reason is due to the Enlightenment movement that was taking place in 1660 in which “Tartuffe” was published 1664.
Therefore, we can view early 17th century society that was dominantly ruled with a patriarchal hierarchy in which males are consistently the head figure. Authority was held by members highest within the system and lower members had to obey. Furthermore, “Tartuffe” reveals a religious struggle during the time in which priests misused their authority in order to accumulate wealth which ultimately led to a great disdain towards the Catholic religion. However, despite the existence of a submissive system, a movement was taking place that fought against unreasonable oppression and celebrated logic and reason. This movement ultimately led to a period in Europe called the Enlightenment Era.
17th Century Women
Moliere’s “Tartuffe” mainly gives the impression of a satirical play on religious hypocrisy. However, throughout the plot, it is apparent that “Tartuffe” also functions as a social commentary on women and the patriarchal hierarchy that deems them necessary for little purpose. This is most apparent on his use of several female characters to critique the social structure that oppose them so unfairly and, through them, demonstrate that females are capable of much more. After all, it is the female characters that utilizes logic and cunning to bring about Tartuffe’s unmasking and succeed where the men failed to do so. Hence, it is through the females characters insistency that guides the family through Orgon’s foolish decisions and Tartuffe’s scheme.
Firstly,Mariane is portrayed as an obedient and submissive female who refrains from outwardly expressing her opinion. In this respect, Mariane is the most conventional character of her time. She reflects what society finds acceptable in women and displays what function women played within a hierarchical system. This is most apparent within several scenes between her and Orgon. The scene where Mariane expresses her disdain towards her father’s plan only to have it utterly dismissed by Orgon shows the dilemma most women at the time faced. Their voices were largely unheard even though it is rational and morally right. Furthermore, Orgon states “to graft Tartuffe into my family. So he must be your husband” portrays women as intermediaries of wealth, power and ownership. Lastly, Mariane further supports the conventional ideal women by her soft spoken nature and her decision to delegate the responsibility of vocalizing her direct disdain towards her father’s plan to Dorinne. During the time, it was expected of women to be submissive and obedient. In summation, Mariane portrays the conventional women who is oppressed under a patriarchal system. They were expected to hold blind obedience towards men even though men’s decisions can lead to an unfavorable outcome.
Dorine and Elmire are perhaps the stars of “Tartuffe.” They are largely outspoken characters that consistently defy conventional standards with tremendous vigor and enthusiasm. Dorine, the maid of the family, outwardly expresses her opinion despite her role as a maid. She openly expresses that Tartuffe is a fraud defiantly towards Orgon with reason and understanding in which Orgon seems to lack. Dorine’s absolute disregard for her position combined with her rational ability to see through Tartuffe’s scheme communicates Moliere’s argument that women should pay no heed to their position within the hierarchy since they are capable of using logical reasoning and making rational decisions, just as much or even more so than men. In addition, Elmire is shown to display a great degree of intelligence through her subversion of authority and using social conventions to convince her husband of Tartuffe’s scheme. Most notably, Elmire uses cunning to expose Tartuffe by advancing on Tartuffe with Orgon hidden. This ultimately leads to Tartuffe’s demise, as well as, Orgon dismissing his plans for his daughter. In the scene. Elmire displays a great degree of intelligence in many regards. Firstly, despite Elmire’s social status, she uses her position to convince Orgon to follow through with her plan. Furthermore, she displays a great understanding of men and expertly uses persuasive language to expose Tartuffe within her grand scheme. In summation, Moliere demonstrates that women are capable beings who deserve more than what the patriarchal hierarchy deems them.
In conclusion, women within the 17th century were largely oppressed due to the nature of society. As such, women’s roles were limited to function as a bond or contract between wealth and power. Furthermore, due to society largely ignoring women, they were forced to use indirect tactics to influence social decisions. Despite this, Moliere recognizes this as evidence for women’s rights and uses the play to shun the oppressive system women lived under.
In the first post, it is agreeable and similar in Japanese society whereas males are the predominant rulers of society, but not in a hierarchical way. Women depended on privileged men to support them. You mentioned that priests misused their authority in order to accumulate wealth and it reminded me of stories that mentioned priests misusing their authority in order to accommodate their sexual desires.
In the second post, we can agree that Japanese women were also oppressed due to the nature of society. Their roles were limited to function as a contract amongst the wealthy and powerful men of Japanese society. The women in Tartuffe used indirect tactics to influence social decisions, meanwhile women in Japanese literature used tactics of manipulation and deceit to get what they wanted.