The Pitfalls of Being Extreme
Traditionally, religion has served as a guide in people’s lives and is, supposedly, not to be questioned. Because of this expectation, some people become societal outcasts by challenging religion. But, reasoning and science are other ways people can make sense of the world and their lives. The 17th-century French playwright, Molière, examines this thinking in his satirical play, Tartuffe. Molière lived during the Enlightenment period and witnessed a shift from religious thinking and ideology to a focus on rationality, practicality, and science. Tartuffe is a response to those new ideas. The antagonist, Tartuffe, uses religion to justify his hypocrisy to trick Orgon, a devout character, into believing he is good. However, the less religious and emotionally biased characters are not fooled by Tartuffe. Molière uses irony, an artificial tone, and symbolism to assert that one who has an extreme attachment to religion or an extreme attachment to emotions cannot make fair decisions because the use of both are necessary to avoid being misled.
Molière uses irony to mock people with a strong relationship to religion through character interactions. Specifically, in Act I, Scene IV, Orgon comes home from a trip and inquires about the status of his family from his maid, Dorine, but he cares more about Tartuffe’s well-being than his wife’s. Orgon constantly says, “Ah. And Tartuffe?” and “Poor fellow!” (Molière 183) as a response to hearing his wife, Elmire, is very ill while Tartuffe is fine. The recurrence of these phrases shows that Tartuffe’s facade tricks Orgon, even though he is an outsider. Orgon invests too much faith in Tartuffe, rather than choosing the more reasonable option of caring for his real family. This is also funny because Orgon does not realize like Dorine does, that he gives too much power to Tartuffe. He sees him as godlike when Tartuffe is taking advantage of him. In this same scene, Dorine exaggerates Elmire’s condition, but when she sees that it is not working, she ends the conversation by saying “Both are doing well, in short. / I’ll go and tell Madame that you’ve expressed / Keen sympathy and anxious interest” (185). This is ironic because Dorine knows that Orgon is foolish for trusting Tartuffe and says she will notify “Madame” that Orgon expressed concern for her even though he only expressed concern for Tartuffe. Therefore, she does not mean what she says. This shows that it is sympathy and interest that Orgon seems to lack for his family who should be important to him since he is religious. These examples reflect Orgon’s extreme emotional connection that makes him support Tartuffe, leaving him vulnerable not only to how he is treated, but how he treats others.
In the scene where Tartuffe is talking to Elmire and trying to persuade her to have an affair with him, Molière suggests that religious people are not always as faithful as they appear. In fact, Tartuffe says, “It’s scandal, Madam, which makes it an offense, / And it’s no sin to sin in confidence” (289). Tartuffe is being a hypocrite because he is pretending to portray the image of an extremely pious person. Religion says that sinning is bad, however, Tartuffe is saying that it is only a sin to get caught committing a bad act. This shows that having a powerful attachment to religion can blind people from seeing that religious figures may use faith to rationalize inappropriate behaviors. Molière is also conveying that religion should not be used for manipulation.
Molière creates an artificial tone to the overall play to convey that being excessively emotional can cause people to create their own suffering. For instance, Molière writes in rhymes which makes the situations the characters endure sound more lighthearted, rather than realistic. This causes the reader to lose the ability to sympathize with the characters, especially the ones that are predominantly emotional. Namely, when Orgon tells his daughter Mariane that she is forced to marry Tartuffe instead of Valère, she tries to get Dorine to pity her. “Dorine, if Father makes me undergo / This dreadful martyrdom, I’ll die, I know” (221) said Mariane. In this situation, the audience should feel bad for Mariane because she is innocent and gets an unwanted marriage imposed on her, but because the lines rhyme, Molière makes readers feel like Mariane is being overdramatic. The dramatization makes the serious situation appear silly. This means that making decisions based solely on emotions can produce unfairness because Mariane should not have to marry Tartuffe, but she agrees because of the guilt she would feel for defying her father. Therefore, Mariane’s emotions subject her to choosing to suffer.
Molière uses his characters to symbolize the different people in the Enlightenment period and show how each type of person struggles to make just decisions. Orgon represents a more emotional religious person because he doesn’t consider that Tartuffe might be playing him until the end. Orgon is willing to disown his son, Damis, for Tartuffe. He refuses to listen to Damis’ claims that Tartuffe is taking advantage of Orgon’s kindness (260-261) and he gives Tartuffe the deed to all of his possessions. This shows that Orgon’s behavior is unreasonable because he is too stubborn to listen to what others are saying about Tartuffe, even though they are right. Orgon believes in the image of Tartuffe that he wants to believe in and this clouds his mind, blocking out the reality. By making Orgon blinded by his own faith, Molière is successfully able to say that rejecting reason can cause people to be misled.
Tartuffe symbolizes someone who uses religion to his own benefit. He uses religion to justify his bad deeds which makes it difficult to distinguish between true piety and false gestures. People like Tartuffe cannot make fair decisions because they are focused on being conniving. When being conniving, people are either thinking of how to rationalize their actions or they are selfishly fixated on their own emotions. They choose to do things that harm other people so that they can have the upper hand. Molière explores this idea in Act III, Scene VII, where Orgon is conversing with Tartuffe in the aftermath of Damis’ argument with Orgon. Tartuffe says, “For your dear honor, and for our friendship’s sake / There’s one precaution I feel bound to take. / I shall avoid your wife, and keep away...” (268). This means that Tartuffe is promising to be good by staying away from Orgon’s wife and to “honor” the friendship as a way of persuading Orgon to feel sorry for him. By feeling sorry for him, Tartuffe is able to get what he desires, like the closeness to Elmire.
Cléante, Orgon’s brother-in-law, represents someone who embodies an enlightenment thinker because he values rationality. He is one of the few characters in the play that logically argues why Tartuffe is a bad person and expresses these concerns to Orgon as warnings. Although Cléante can see Tartuffe is malevolent, Molière makes Cléante a repeatedly ignored character. In one instance, Cléante says, “You’ve recognized your recent grave mistake / In falling victim to a pious fake; / Now, to correct that error, must you embrace / An even greater error in its place...” (301). He does not get to the point quickly and often adds more information than necessary when he says Orgon realized his “grave mistake” by believing “a pious fake,” as if implying that Orgon does not already know the mistake he has made. This example indicates that Cléante is wise, nevertheless, he speaks in a way that makes him sound pompous. Consequently, Cléante cannot get through to Orgon, showing that trying to find a reason to explain everything is not effective.
The King in Tartuffe serves as a symbol for someone who makes balanced decisions because he holds a lot of power and considers both his emotions and logical thinking. In the text, the King serves justice because he sees through Tartuffe’s act which allows him to arrest Tartuffe and give Orgon his home back. Because of the King’s appearance and role as the hero, Molière suggests that people should mimic the King in how they make decisions. Notably, in Act V, Scene VII, the officer says, “His royal soul, though generous and human, / Views all things with discernment and acumen” (323). The King perfectly helped Orgon because his soul is “human” meaning that he experiences feelings like everyone else, and yet he is sensible and sharp. Hence, Molière implies that the ultimate way to stop deception is to find a balance between emotions and practicality.
Molière implies that the reader is the person he wants us to emulate. The reader of the play is the most impartial in decisions because the reader does not feed into either side: religion or emotion. The reader views the pros and cons to both, creating less bias. Molière makes this point clear in Act III, Scene VII, where Orgon reconfirmed his faith in Tartuffe after Damis' disinheritance. While both converse about Damis’ claims of Tartuffe’s hypocrisy, Tartuffe admits to what his intentions are, but in an underlying way. Molière writes, “These scenes, these dreadful quarrels, have got to end. / I’ve much upset your household, and I perceive/ That the best thing will be for me to leave” (266). Tartuffe pretending to feel sorry for himself causes Orgon to vow to protect Tartuffe against the family. In this example we as readers are aware of Tartuffe’s real intentions and that Orgon is being naïve in believing him, even while Tartuffe is outright confirming what Damis says about him. This reasoning suggests that Molière wants readers to observe that Orgon makes a wrongful decision to disinherit Damis and to ignore Tartuffe's faults because Orgon’s reactions are based only on emotion. Molière is allowing us to see that balanced judgment is best.
Finding ways to justify decisions and trying to get people to see the world the way you do, whether it be through religion, science, or emotions, is a challenging task. Anyone can pretend they are someone that they’re not or try to exploit you for what you are worth. In this play, Molière expresses how carefully weighing situations without relying on extremes is the way to see the world clearly.
By M'Niyah Lynn
Illustrations done in collaboration with the New Media Artspace at Baruch College. The New Media Artspace is a teaching exhibition space in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at Baruch College, CUNY. Housed in the Newman Library, the New Media Artspace showcases curated experimental media and interdisciplinary artworks by international artists, students, alumni, and faculty. Special thanks to docent Maya Hilbert for creating artwork for this piece.
Check the New Media Artspace out at http://www.newmediartspace.info/