The role of religion in Tartuffe and Candide - Essay Example

 Did religion play a superstitious role in “Tartuffe” and “Candide”? Introduction Religion was a solemn topic of discussion in 17th century Europe and regions beyond. In the early 17th C through to the 18th C followed a period of a great rivalry in society. One of the factors contributing to this rivalry being the ever rising doctrinal differences particularly in the Roman Catholic Church. The Enlightenment era writers focused on knowledge, rationality and reason as major themes. In this era, the Catholic Church was never the less still a tremendously powerful institution working throughout much of Europe. However, the reason was beginning to emerge as an alternative to religion and faith, later on Enlightenment writers began to explore the world rationally and critically (Molière and Ranjit, 5). Much of the essential literature of the period was satirical in nature, using irony, humor, and a times exaggeration to criticize and expose individual’s stupidity or vices, specifically in the context of contemporary politics and other significant issues such as religion. Individuals too began to question the basis of faith and the root causes of their oppression and how the role of religion had affected individual’s thoughts. Two great Enlightenment writers, Voltaire and Moliere, use satirical techniques in their literary works that have innumerable similarities. Moliere’s Tartuffe, and Voltaire’s Candide is each exemplary literary works giving the presentation of the 18th century in their rights. While Tartuffe is a satirical comedy, Candide is a thought-provoking travelogue. The pieces of literary work were written during the Age of Enlightenment. While each observes austerely to its genre, several comparison, as well as contrasting differences; can be drawn among the aforementioned literary works (Lowers, 44). This happens as a result of various ideological reflections and representations in this era of historical concern. Sharp doctrinal divisions emerged in the society at this point in time in Europe and through the piece of literary work of Tartuffe and Candide we are able to understand the role that religion played. In both work, the society had a strong link with religion and it formed basis of every day live hood of the individuals. In my critical analysis there is a clear link between the societal expectation and the role of religious leaders. In both literary works religion played a role condoning the unaccepted norms within the society. Despite various styles that the literary works had their was convergence in the role religion played in shaping the other aspects of the society such as politics and marriage rituals and believes. Moliere’s Tartuffe and Voltaire’s Candide are similar in their presentation of the role of religion in many ways. Firstly, each of these literary works glorifies the reason over religion and the theory that human beings are responsible for their actions (Molière and Ranjit, 17). These ageless masterpieces were revolutionary amongst contemporaries thought Europe and beyond Europe. Moliere in his work uses comedy to ridicule hypocrites, fools and impostors who ignore judicious common sense. He goes ahead and criticized religious sects and tried to point attention to the specific corrupt among them. At this period in Europe, such mocks of those associated with the Church were highly intolerable among faithful and non-faithful and was considered as radical. Voltaire literary work too tried to poke fun at members of the institutionalized religion and upper class through the character portrayal of Cunegonde’s brother who was young the baron. He made him look like a man of stringent narrow-minded ideas and a homosexual. Both literary works explore hypocrisy in religion and try to criticize it by all means in the society by using mockery and portraying it Tartuffe using a satirical comedy while Candide a thought-provoking travelogue. Religion and religious leaders had a way of life that all individuals in the society respected and as such contradiction of the same began to raise eyebrows in both eras. For instance, Moliere's "Tartuffe” explores a religious hypocrite in the figure of the title character, a man who makes a living by sponging off of the family of a middle-class gentleman (Molière and Ranjit, 13). However, it is never the most academically knowledgeable characters that disillusion the householder of his view that Tartuffe is a virtuous man. Somewhat, it is the natural and instinctive motive and commonsensical impulses of the man and wife and the lower class servant who initially see through Tartuffe's use of phobia to manipulate the individual out of his hard-won returns and ingrate his way into the pockets, home, and through to the bed of the man's wife and daughter. Voltaire’s Candide also has some figures that are acting opposite to how they should be acting. For instance, in chapter 11, we understand that the old woman traveling with Candide and Cunégonde is by the fact the Pope's daughter. This example is a form of hypocrisy as we expect the pope to be a celibate! The Catholic Church at this point in time was the mother church with a lot of doctrines and religious believers and their opinions were respected highly. A pope having a daughter is a contradiction of their religious believes .There is several instances that Voltaire’s Candide portrays hypocrisy (Lowers, 89). Another aspect in Moliere’s Tartuffe and Voltaire’s Candide worth comparing is the picturing of female characters in these plays and religious its link to religious intolerance. Despite the role that religion plays in this era of history and the literary works; every classic portray their female characters as gorgeous, smart, deceptive and opportunistic. In Tartuffe for instance, the lady of the family Elmire seduces Tartuffe in order to bring to light his true character and protect her family’s fortune. In Candide on the other end, the female characters - Cunegonde, the servant, the Marquise and Paquette of Parolignac are described as conniving, astute and opportunistic. Thus, the two literary works have a similar discernment of women, and this is ironical to the conservative role played by the church and religion as a whole in this era. These two literary works; Moliere’s Tartuffe and Voltaire’s Candide both despise the role played by religion and organized religion as a whole as superstition. They despised superstitious people and their religious roles. In candide, this perception is demonstrated by showing to the readers of his work Cacambo’s acceptance of the religious practices of the natives that was in South America. Compared to Jesuits, cannibals were much wiser and were considered better placed religiously. This illustration can enable the readers, and analysts see through the eyes of the writer the dangers of organized religion. Moliere’s Tartuffe also uses various situations, and religious theme not only to expose the role religion plays in the society then but also as in Voltaire’s Candide. This was able to make the readers of his work see the dangers that an organized religion plays in the society. While these literary works; Moliere’s Tartuffe and Voltaire’s Candide are similar in several ways in the role played by religion, and they also have a wide range of contrasting differences that they possess. The most notable difference among the; Moliere’s Tartuffe and Voltaire’s Candide is the emotional ambience set throughout the individual works in portraying the role religion plays in the society in the era of their individual work. Tartuffe, for instance, maintains comical situations through each scene, majorly satirical with a touch of jesting for relief to give clear illustrations (Voltaire and Roger, 24). Candide in his work however transcends genres as it moves from tragedy to comedy. Described as a black comedy, it merges comedy and tragedy to form a new genre. All this is a different focus by the literary work in explaining the role of religion. A noteworthy dissimilarity that exists between the two literary works is the period during which they wrote their piece of work. Although writers discussed the role of religion in their work, the time distinction in their work is evident, and it is clear that the basis of the role various religious rituals and leadership roles had changed in the society. For instance, Moliere had involuntarily used much more subtle satire as upshot of the oppressive Roman Catholic Church. Voltaire, on the other hand on his part, wrote nearly one hundred years and over later and was far less constrained and hence able to apply a much more brutal form of satire to illustrate the role of religion in their various societies (Voltaire and Roger, 56). This to a way contrasted to both Tartuffe and Candide examination of the role religion plays undermining their joint excellent representations of social criticism and enlightenment thinking at their time. Another remarkable contrasting difference is that Religion role in Candide is one of the central targets of Voltaire’s radical. Freestanding of the fantasy world of El Dorado, religion role is consistently portrayed as morally bankrupt and corrupting. Religious figures and leaders in Candide, such as the Inquisitor, Protestant minister, and the Jesuit Baron are occasionally self-righteous and less tending to charity than their secular colleagues. Looking at this era of strong doctrinal believes, this was the unaccepted .The one concession to Voltaire’s sarcasm is James the Anabaptist (Voltaire and Roger, 114). This occurs, and it stems from the datum that the Anabaptists were highly ostracized and persecuted at the era of Voltaire’s writing. On the other hand on his part portrayed the role of religion in his work slightly different as Tartuffe tried as much not to make much fun of role of religion in that era: His work in a way makes fun of those individuals who manipulate religion to get what they wanted. Tartuffe still it's worth noting that they never exist straight religious thwart for Tartuffe; instead, he has to do two duties as the voice of reason and the representative of exact religious knowledge. Through Cléante, Molière ensures that everybody is aware of how imprudent Orgon is acting and lets them know that he is aware of what religion's role is all about. This form of religious portrayal contrast in a way to the two literary works. In Tartuffe, Moliere's use's plot to protect and oppose characters that signify and mock habitual behavior's that seem obligatory during this era. Moliere's work, known as a comedy of manners, consists of flat characters, with similar and few traits and that occasionally restore some peace in the end. In his submission he downplays religious society as a whole by generating a microseism, where everybody in the family has to be respectful, obedient and mindful of the head of the family, which he made to be played by the father Orgon. In Candide, Voltaire's approach to discussing the role of religion in his society in this era is called black comedy (Voltaire and Roger, 4). Several devastating factor's play into the character's lives that causes the reader of his work to be amused in a skeptical way in order to guard their inner feelings. The writer challenges society as a whole by the way he applies real life occurrences into his work and makes them come alive. This best evident and illustrated when Dr. Pangloss told Candide what Cunegonde became at the castle of Westphalia after he had gone. Pangloss labeled her as being "disemboweled by the Bulgar guards, after having been raped to the utter limit of individual endurance." This originates the imagination to display a clear picture of the cruelty of the situation. Is by a fact a contrast in both in Moliere’s Tartuffe and Voltaire’s Candide. Conclusion Basing on the analysis of literary work in both Moliere’s Tartuffe and Voltaire’s Candide it can be concluded that the issues addressed by the two writers were specifically viewed in their famous works. Tartuffe, a play developed by Moriele, and Candide, a philosophical story by Voltaire, were both meant to answer the questions of the role religion play in society. The most outstanding factor unifying each of the two genres is that they all aim to entertain the readers of their work as they try to discuss the role of religion in their work. The role played by religion is clearly illustrated as it played an important part in shaping the societies that these individuals live (Voltaire and Roger, 34). . In both work, the society had a strong link with religion and it formed basis of every day live hood of the individuals. In my critical analysis there is a clear link between the societal expectation and the role of religious leaders. In both literary works religion played a role condoning the unaccepted norms within the society. Despite various styles that the literary works had convergence in the role religion played in shaping the other aspects of the society such as politics and marriage rituals and believes. It is also worth pointing out that Moliere’s Tartuffe and Voltaire’s Candide are both similar in their presentation of role religion plays in many ways despite the period separating them. However it is evident that their techniques of reaching this common goal varies in a way and while these literary works; Moliere’s Tartuffe and Voltaire’s Candide are similar in several ways in the role played by religion, they also have wide range of contrasting differences they possess. Work cited Molière, , and Ranjit Bolt. Tartuffe. London: Oberon, 2002. Internet resource. Voltaire, , and Roger Pearson. Candide and Other Stories. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. Print. Lowers, James K. Cliffsnotes, Candide: Notes, Including Introduction, Summaries and Commentaries, Background on Candide, Structure and Style, Satire and Irony, Questions, Bibliography. Lincoln, Neb: Cliffs Notes, 1965. Internet resource. Read More