The Use of Satire in Tartuffe by Moliere - Book Report/Review Example

The Use of Satire in Tartuffe Tartuffe is a comedy written by Moliere and “was first performed before Louis XIV at Versailles in 1664” (Molière and Burleson 4). The characters in the play include Tartuffe, Orgon, Elmire, Dorine, Cleante, Mariane, Damis, Madame Pernelle, Valere, Monsieur Loyal, Flipote, and a police officer. The comedy contains five acts, with a primary theme of social order satire. This is mainly because the main characters are seemingly religious and witty people, but there is so much irony surrounding their behaviors, which leads to a lot of questioning regarding their degree of being religious or witty, making the comedy completely satirical. The use of satire can be seem in the character of Tartuffe, Dorine, Orgon’s relationship with his children and Tartuffe, and Orgon’s relationship with his wife, Elmire. The use of satire in the play can be seen in Tartuffe, who appears to be a very religious man, but he is a hypocrite. This is because when he arrives in Orgon’s house, Tartuffe possess as a poor, but extremely religious man of God. In fact, this is the reason Orgon decides to take him in. Despite the fact that Orgon and his mother Madame Pernelle view Tartuffe as a devout Christian, the rest of his family views him as a hypocrite, who is out to exploit every chance he gets (Knight 130). In Orgon’s house, Tartuffe behaves more like the owner and seems to take advantage of every opportunity he gets. Orgon and his mother do not notice anything odd about their guest (Tartuffe) as Orgon seems to get obsessed with him after some time. This is seen when Orgon travels, and his wife Elmire falls sick when he is away. When he returns he only asks about Tartuffe’s welfare and does not concern to check on his ill wife. Tartuffe’s hypocrisy is also clearly displayed when he shows interest in taking Mariane to be his wife, despite being a devout and knowing very well that Mariane is betrothed to another man (Valere). In fact, he seems happy with Orgon’s decision to break his daughter’s engagement to Valere, in order to give him his daughter in marriage, even if Mariane does not approve of it (Knight 130). If Tartuffe was as devout as he pretended to be, he should have been the first person to refuse the proposal, and advice Orgon on allowing his daughter to choose the man she wanted to marry. He should not have also shown any interest in Marianne, since she was already engaged to Valere. Apart from being interested in Mariane, Tartuffe is also interested in Elmire, his host’s wife. This makes his behavior even more unchristian and questionable. During his first attempt to seduce Elmire, Damian is able observe the whole acts and decides to tell his father, Orgon about it, so that he can open his eyes and see that Tartuffe is not the kind of person he thinks he is. Orgon however fails to believe his son, who is telling the truth by defending Tartuffe, and in fact, disinherits his son and gives his rights to Tartuffe. All this while, Tartuffe pretends to be innocent and makes no attempt to convince Orgon not to disinherit his son. Dorine who is only a servant in Orgon’s house seems to cross the line of being just a servant when she does anything she wishes and goes away with it, making the whole situation rather ironical. This can be seen when Orgon, who is her master, asks his daughter Mariane how she feels about Tartuffe and suggests that since she is fond of him and respects him, she should marry him. Dorine thinks that the suggestion is ridiculous and does not hesitate to tell it to her master. She intentionally makes fun of Orgon and succeeds to terminate Orgon’s conversation with his daughter by getting him annoyed. Dorine is also oblivious of Madame Pernelle. In the beginning of the play, she openly snaps at Madame Pernelle by telling her that she condemns her (Dorine) and the rest of the members of the household, because she is old. Madame Pernelle does not fail to notice this. In fact, she at one point expresses that she feels that Dorine crosses the line; meaning that she does not act as a servant is supposed to. She is also not afraid to tell Madame Pernelle that Tartuffe is a hypocrite given that this could cost her, her job. This makes it quite satirical, since given her position as a servant; Dorine would not have been oblivious towards Madame Pernelle and would have preferred to keep quiet regarding what she thought about Tartufee, in order to keep her job. It is also quite satirical that Dorine is the most brilliant person in Orgon’s household, despite being a servant. Trollope points out that “though nominally a subordinate character, she is at least on the stage, the brightest figure in the play, and her irony and her banter come as a pleasant relief by the side of Tartuffe’s self-seeking and perpetual falsehood” (366). She constantly challenges Mariane, who is her servant’s daughter and is seen advising her on a number of occasions. She is also the mastermind behind the plan to expose Tartuffe’s hypocrisy, since she is the first to realize his interest in the madam of the house. Her plans succeed and at the end of the play, Tartuffe’s cunningness is exposed. The relationship between Orgon and Tartuffe and between him and his children is also ironical, since he seems to care so much about a stranger (Tartuffe), to the point of disinheriting his son. It is ironical that Orgon is so dumb yet he is the master, owner, and head of everyone and everything in his household. He is easily deceived by Tartuffe, who is a complete stranger to him and this almost costs his life and property. Orgon’s loss of reason and foolish behavior is as a result of acting under strong emotion. He goes to the extent of putting his children second after Tartuffe, and is willing to give him everything he owes, leaving nothing to his children and wife. Orgon’s relationship with his wife Elmire is also ironical. While it is common knowledge that husbands are close to their wives and vice versa, Orgon is clearly not close to his wife. He is able to replace her position with Tartuffe by showing more concern for Tartuffe. As a result of this, Elmire does not attempt to tell her husband about Tartuffe’s advances towards her, since chances are that he will not believe her. She instead plans on how to reveal Tartuffe’s real character to her husband by hiding him and letting him witness Tartuffe’s attempt to seduce her (Trollope 366). Orgon only gets to believe his wife after observing Tartuffe trying to seduce her, and it is at this time that he realizes that Tartuffe is a hypocrite. Works Cited Knight, Charles A. The Literature of Satire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Print. Molière, J. P. and Noyce Burleson. Tartuffe. Illinois: Dramatic Publishing Company, 1993. Print. Trollope, H. The Life of Moliere. Montana: Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2005. Print. Read More