Orgon's Women Relatives in Tartuffe - Book Report/Review Example

Character Analysis: Orgons Women Relatives in Tartuffe Tartuffe, ou LImposteur is one of the French playwright Molières most famous works. First performed in 1664, and for a while thereafter censored and banned for religious controversy, the play tells the story of a man – Tartuffe himself – who makes use of affected religiosity to trick the head of a family (Orgon) into signing over “all [Orgons] property” (Molière, III.vii) to him. Many of the characters of this scathing social commentary – one of many such incisive plays penned by Molière – are one-dimensional, allowing each persona to highlight one aspect of the central dilemma. The women in Tartuffe are mostly background characters, their presence only necessary to create problems for Tartuffe and Orgon, but they are nonetheless endowed with some exaggerated form of personality. This essay will look at Orgons three closest female relatives: Madame Pernelle, his mother; Elmire, his wife; and Mariane, his daughter – three characters about each of whom the audience is intended to feel differently. It will analyse these characters in reference to Tartuffe to show that in spite of certain events, this seventeenth-century portrayal of French women exposes the difference between what they should be and what they are. The scope of this essay, like the play itself, necessitates describing these women in relation to the men in their lives. To begin with, Tartuffes relationship with Orgon poses a different challenge for each woman: Madame Pernelle is forced to revise her first, glowing opinion of him, whereas Elmire must put up with him sexually pressuring her, and Mariane must navigate her fathers wishes to avoid marrying him. The mostly passive reactions of these three characters to male imposition on their lives reveals the common expectations of contemporary French women. As a character, Madame Pernelle provides a frame for the play, as her only appearances are in its first and last few scenes. In the opening scene, Madame Pernelle attacks the other characters in the play, with the notable exception of Cléante – her sons brother-in-law, whom she “Loves” (I.i) – and Tartuffe. The other characters react unfavorably to her mention of him, Damis calling the antagonist a “bigot criticaster” (I.i), to which Pernelle responds “My son should train you all to love him well” (I.i). Molière portrays Orgons mother as a formidable woman, who makes liberal use of the word love and yet shows little compassion herself. Women were expected to be religious, although Pernelles piety already reflects Tartuffes. Even when Orgon is convinced of Tartuffes treachery, having seen him “wish to kiss [Orgons] wife” (V.iii), Madame Pernelle cannot believe him – her own son – until the court-bailiff comes to eject the family and their possessions because “The house is now, as well you know, of course/Mr Tartuffes” (V.iv). Madame Pernelle is a diluted version of Tartuffe, as we discover in the very first scene: she lauds his morals, believing “Things would go better/If all were governed by his pious orders” (I.i) but is incapable of seeing his true hypocritical nature. Her exhortations that others should trust him are undermined by her vicious jibes at members of her own family. In the final scenes, she remains dedicated to Tartuffes cause even when her own son reprimands her that “Your speech [about Tartuffe] has not a single grain of sense” (V.iii). Interestingly, Madame Pernelles loquacity after this point is considerably dimmed: in the first scene, she has ninety-nine lines, whereas in the last five, she speaks only eleven words. When she reprimands, she has much to say, but fails to articulate her own mistakes. This reflects one of her character failings, as well as her one purpose as a character: to highlight Tartuffes power of persuasion by emulating his hypocrisy. Similarly, Elmire is a character with just one purpose, although she is more likeable than Madame Pernelle. Her main role is as the object of Tartuffes affections, and her job is to sit passively and be wooed at. It is telling that her own husband disavows her testimony of Tartuffes behaviour, for “You were too calm, to be believed; if that/Had happened, youd have been far more disturbed” (IV.iii). Elmire believes that her character should be “gentle-natured” (IV.iii), yet this is exactly what compels Orgon to dismiss her story. Her conscious passivity makes her both a fine species of womanhood and not to be trusted. However, this characterization is not as solid as it seems: in scene iv, as Orgon hides in preparation to listen to Tartuffe, Elmire orders him around, saying “Do as I say” and “Get under [the table] now, I tell you” (IV.iv) for example. She then decides spontaneously to pretend to return Tartuffes “shameless passion” (IV.iv) to trick him into revealing this passion to Orgon – a ploy which reveals that she is, again, not entirely of such gentle virtue as befits her sex. It is somewhat disturbing that the protagonists wife is encouraged, by her step-son and her husband in two separate situations, to allow another man to make advances at her, but admirable that she takes control of the situation and weaves it to best effect. Although her predicament is an odd one, being wooed at her close familys behest, she manipulates it beyond their wishes, even to the point that she tells Orgon to “get back under the table” (IV.vi) when she feels that Tartuffe has not yet exposed himself enough. To take a bad situation further than expected to teach her family a lesson requires vast amounts of strength. However, she is still nothing more than a plot tool to expose the hypocritical nature of Tartuffe. Mariane is, like Elmire, subjugated to the whims of Orgon, but unlike Elmire she remains mostly passive. Though she is engaged to Valère, Orgon offers her hand to Tartuffe, dismissing her love of Valère as a “silly love-affair” (IV.iii). This dilemma is the sole function of the Mariane character, and as such defines her personality: in her first scene (excluding the “I think...” (I.i) line in the first scene) she declares that loyalty to her fathers desires “is the height of [her] ambition” (II.i). In the following scene, it is Dorine the maid who makes an impassioned defence on Marianes behalf. Although the outspoken Dorine is little more than a comical anomaly, she also plays the voice of reason, and a foil to Marianes weakness. Dorine asks of her mistress “Say, have you lost the tongue from out your head?” in Act II, scene iii, and the scene continues with the maid chastising Mariane for not opposing such a hateful plan. Indeed, Marianes best efforts at deciding her own future come in the form of begging – in Act IV, scene iii, the stage directions read that she is “on her knees before Orgon” before beginning her speech with “Father, I beg you”. She is utterly incapable of changing Orgons mind, and appears to be doomed to a loveless marriage with a “bigot” and a “vagabond” (II.ii) until that man shows himself to be such. Mariane embodies the “gentle-natured … virtue” (IV.iii) of womankind which Elmire espouses, and her horrific fate is evaded only through the actions of men. Arguably this shows the ineffectiveness of obedience. Indeed the case could be made that Molière uses Madame Pernelle, Elmire and Mariane to expose the absurdity of contemporary values of women. However, the fact that this has rarely been brought up in criticisms, as well as the plot being a secondary one about subordinate characters, suggests that the various female behaviours portrayed are either for comedic value or to move the plot along. The small degree of autonomy Molière imbues on his women characters is to emphasize the main story of religious hypocrisy; the women are one-dimensional and stuck in servitude to the main plot. Their characterization serves to provide the one purpose for which each was intended, no more. Works Cited Molière. Tartuffe. Trans. Curtis. Project Gutenberg. Web. 16 March 2011. Read More