Contents: IntroductionPlot Summary Characters Themes Style Critical Overview Sources Further Reading |
Criticism
Liz Brent
Brent holds a Ph.D. in American culture from the University of Michigan and is a freelance writer and editor. In this essay, Brent discusses the theme of deception and the motif of the social mask in Molière's Tartuffe.
Deception is a recurring theme in Tartuffe. Tartuffe himself is a master of deception, successfully deceiving Orgon into believing he is a virtuous man. Tartuffe is sometimes referred to by the title "Tartuffe, or The Imposter." An imposter is one who fools others into thinking that he is someone other than who he really is. Tartuffe turns out to be a sort of professional imposter who has committed a long list of crimes under various false identities.
As in many of Molière's plays, the symbol of the social mask is central to Tartuffe. The mask symbolizes the ways in which people tend to present an outward appearance to others that hides their true nature. The mask is a recurring motif in Tartuffe through which Molière explores the theme of deception. Throughout the play, various characters refer to the idea of the social mask in relation to Tartuffe. Dorine comments that Tartuffe puts on a "pious mask" in order to gain financially from Orgon's devotion to him. Cléante later points out to Orgon that he has made the mistake of taking Tartuffe's "mask" of piety for the face of his true nature; Cléante tells Orgon that he must learn to distinguish between such false appearances and the true intentions of those around him. After Orgon learns that Tartuffe has been tricking him, Cléante suggests that, in the future, he learn to "strip off the mask and learn what virtue means" — in other words, to learn to distinguish between outward appearances and inner character.
Other characters throughout the play, however, also engage in various forms of deception and social masks. Although deception is a tool of the villain in Tartuffe, it is also used as a means for the good characters in the play to reveal Tartuffe's true nature, as well as for other purposes serving their own ends. In two important scenes, for example, one character hides somewhere in order to eavesdrop on a conversation between two other characters. Thus, while Molière in some ways condemns the use of deception on the part of Tartuffe, he also suggests within the play that deception is a common practice among human beings, both for good and bad.
Through the symbol of the mask and the theme of deception, Molière explores a variety of social and familial power dynamics. He demonstrates the use of deception through the social mask to be a function of hierarchies within the family structure. Thus, characters with less power in the family hierarchy (such as the servant, the women, and the children) sometimes employ deception and the social mask as a means of gaining greater power within the household unit.
In one scene, Dorine, a servant, employs various forms of deception and the social mask as a means of protecting Mariane from her father's oppressive authority over her. In this scene, Orgon informs Mariane that he wants her to marry Tartuffe and that he will not take "no" for an answer. Mariane, although horrified by this prospect, is too obedient and passive to protest her father's wishes. At this point, Dorine appears, and Orgon accuses her of eavesdropping on their conversation. One can surmise that Dorine has intentionally hidden herself from view in order to overhear this conversation. Thus, Dorine has employed a means of deception — hiding and eavesdropping — in order to protect the interests of Mariane.
Much to Orgon's annoyance, Dorine openly protests the proposed marital arrangement. At first, she argues directly with Orgon, expressing at length the various reasons why he should not make Mariane marry Tartuffe. Orgon responds by ordering Dorine to shut up and allow him to speak to his daughter. Dorine then tries a different approach to protesting Orgon's decision; she repeatedly interrupts him each time he begins to speak to Mariane. In anger and frustration, Orgon tries to slap Dorine to get her to shut up. After this point, however, Dorine stands behind Orgon so that he cannot see her; while Orgon is speaking to Mariane with his back to Dorine, Dorine mimes to Mariane various gestures encouraging her to protest her father's words. By this means, Dorine uses a form of visual deception in order to resist Orgon's dominance over both Mariane and herself. During this interaction, Orgon repeatedly turns around to look at Dorine, prepared to slap her; but every time he turns around, according to the stage directions, Dorine "either freezes, silent and motionless, or changes her signal to Mariane into an innocent gesture." Thus, Dorine is able to present a mask of passivity to Orgon's eyes in order to hide the opinion she is miming to Mariane behind his back — as well as to avoid being slapped by him.
Thus, through the use of deception — such as eavesdropping and a mask of passivity — Dorine, a servant with little or no real power in the household, manages to outwit and resist Orgon, the master of the house. In the process, she encourages Mariane to resist the tyranny of her father and succeeds in frustrating Orgon so much that he ends the conversation.
In another scene, both Mariane and Valère present to each other a mask of indifference in order to conceal their true feelings for one another. Mariane had explained to Dorine that, although she is in love with Valère and wishes to marry him, she does not want to protest her father's wishes because she doesn't want Valère to see how much she really loves him. Mariane's attitude in this matter is a traditional one in which the woman feels that it makes her look unvirtuous if she expresses her love for a man too strongly. Thus, Mariane takes it for granted that a woman is required to wear a mask of indifference with a man she loves in order to conceal her true desire for him. Mariane tells Dorine:
But if I show defiance to a parent,
Won't my love for Valère be too apparent?
Shall I give up, for all his charm and beauty,
The modesty that is a woman's duty?
And is my love a thing you'd have me flaunt ?
In the scene that follows, Valère confronts Mariane with the news that their engagement has been broken and she is now free to marry Tartuffe instead of him. In this scene, both Mariane and Valère attempt to conceal from one another their true feelings for each other. Mariane does so in order to preserve her sense of feminine modesty, whereas Valère does so in order to preserve his masculine pride. As he tells Mariane:
To show our love for one who's turned us down Is to be both a coward and a clown.
In the process of trying to hide their true feelings of love for one another behind a mask of indifference, both Valère and Mariane manage to hurt each other's feelings and almost sabotage their relationship. It is only with the intervention of Dorine that Mariane and Valère are forced to drop their masks of indifference and admit that they truly do love one another and wish to get married.
However, once Dorine has gotten Valère and Mariane to admit this to one another, she proposes another deception in order to convince Orgon to allow them to get married. She suggests that they ask everyone else in the family to help them once again gain Orgon's consent, and she advises Mariane in the meantime to present to her father "the appearance of a meek consent" to the marriage with Tartuffe. Thus, once again, deception and the false appearance of the social mask are employed as a means for the good-hearted characters in the play to overcome Orgon's foolishness and Tartuffe's trickery.
In another important scene of Tartuffe, Elmire uses deception and the social mask as a means of proving to Orgon that Tartuffe has betrayed him. Orgon has been told that Tartuffe tried to seduce Elmire, his wife, but refused to believe this report. Thus, Elmire tells Orgon to hide underneath a table in order to overhear a conversation between herself and Tartuffe. By this means of deception, Elmire hopes to show Orgon that Tartuffe wants to have an affair with her. Orgon's act of hiding under the table is one level of deception, while Elmire's false expression of passion in conversation with Tartuffe adds another layer of deception.
Elmire explains to Orgon ahead of time that everything she says to Tartuffe will be said for the purpose of revealing Tartuffe's true nature. She warns Orgon of this ahead of time because she does not want him to think that she has any sincere interest in Tartuffe as a lover. She tells Orgon that she will be playing along with Tartuffe in order to "lure this hypocrite to drop his mask" and reveal the "shameless lust" beneath his outward show of moral purity. In other words, Elmire puts on a mask of false passion while speaking to Tartuffe for the purpose of getting Tartuffe to drop his mask of false piety. When Orgon finally comes out from under the table where he has been hiding, he accuses Tartuffe of betraying him. At this point, Elmire tells Tartuffe, "I do not like the part I've had to play" — again highlighting the fact that she has shown Tartuffe only a mask of false passion for him but that the role she played in this conversation was contrary to her true feelings.
Although Elmire does not enjoy the use of the social mask, her deception succeeds in convincing Orgon that Tartuffe has betrayed him. Orgon's stubbornness and persistence in his foolishness and tyranny over his family is only put to an end by Elmire's scheme. As a woman and wife, Elmire's power within the structure of the traditional family unit is limited, and it is only through deception that she is able to influence her husband's position as master of the household. Like Dorine and Mariane, Elmire, as a woman, has limited power within the household. For these women, deception and the social mask is one means of resisting, or at least influencing, Orgon's authority over the rest of the family.
In Tartuffe, Molière utilizes the recurring motif of the social mask and the theme of deception in an exploration of power struggles within the traditional family unit. Whereas Tartuffe uses deception as a means of achieving evil ends, the good-hearted characters in this play, such as Dorine, Mariane, and Elmire, use deception as a means of resisting the dominance of Orgon in the household and restoring harmony to the family unit. Though Molière does not seem to place a specific value judgment on the use of the social mask and other forms of deception, the character of Cléante does express a sentiment that may be read as one moral of the play. Cléante at one point comments that he does not concern himself with how his behavior may be perceived by the rest of society based on outward appearances, because "Heaven knows my heart." Cléante's comment suggest that, though many people may at times hide their true nature behind a social mask — for a variety of reasons, both good and bad — it is what's in one's heart that determines one's true virtue.
Source: Liz Brent, Critical Essay on Tartuffe, in Drama for Students, Gale, 2003.
David Partikian
Partikian is a freelance writer and English instructor. In this essay, Partikian explains that although Tartuffe has historically been read as a critique of religion and the church, it can be read more subtly as a critique of France's patriarchal monarchy.
Censorship and Molière's Tartuffe have run hand in hand since the very first production of the play, which scandalized ecclesiastical authorities to the point of banning the play for many years. Many studies on the work examine the trials and tribulations that Molière underwent in order to stage the work; Molière had to rework the play no less than three times over the course of five years in order to have the production finally staged. However, in spite of Molière's extensive changes, there is still an allegorical criticism of authority, especially a patriarchal monarchy which runs throughout the play.
Considering the era in which the play was staged, Molière could not have helped but step on a few toes in writing Tartuffe; the comedy, which originally poked fun at religion, when combined with the low regard for theater in general, was bound to cause offense no matter what the author's true intent. Richard Parish sums up the predicament in which Molière found himself:
Relations in France between the Catholic Church and the theatre were, throughout the seventeenth century and beyond, conflictual, irrespective of any perceived offense. Those sections of the church which promoted an austere morality were predictably uncompromising. Within the climate of disapproval, the threat of Tartuffe is easy to account for: if all theatre is sinful, comedy as a frivolous genre, falls into a more sensitive category again; and comedy which addresses itself to religious issues, however superficially, pushes the tension to the limit.
Unfortunately, there is no extant complete text of the two earlier versions which Molière had to emend to appease the ecclesiastical authorities who specifically appealed to the king. Nevertheless, scholars have managed to piece together the major changes implemented in the final version in order to get the seal of approval from King Louis XIV. The most obvious change involves a toning down of the character of Tartuffe in order to make him less priestly. Mikhail Bulgakov summarizes the original Tartuffe: "The play portrayed the most complete and consummate swindler, liar, scoundrel, informer, and spy — a hypocrite, lecher, and seducer of other men's wives. And this personage, clearly a danger to surrounding society was none other than a priest. All his speeches were interlarded with honeyed, pious maxims, and in addition to that, he accompanied his reprehensible actions at every step with quotations from the Holy Writ." Of course, the final version of the comedy portrays Tartuffe as an imposter who puts on religious airs but who is clearly not a priest. Tartuffe pretends to be holy, but he holds no official office. He is an imposter, a fact clearly illustrated by the expansion of the title Le Tartuffe, ou L'Imposteur (Tartuffe, or The Imposter) a title which is often shortened to just Tartuffe in English translations. In addition to no longer wearing holy garb, the final Imposter does not quote directly from the Holy Writ. The Tartuffe who has survived is clearly a flawed man taking advantage of religion to further his material aims, not a legitimate member of the clergy who is a representative of God. In order to emphasize this change, Molière beefed up the lines of the level-headed Cleante, a character who is a counterbalance to all the chaos in the play and who embodies reason and diplomacy and who is not fooled by the imposter Tartuffe. Throughout the play, he attempts to reconcile the feuding family factions. One brief speech stands out as a virtual disclaimer for any religious authorities who might still have been offended by the play:
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, And judge our worthy neighbors as a whole By what you've learned of one corrupted soul? Come, just because one rascal made you swallow A show of zeal which turned out to be hollow, Shall you conclude that all men are deceivers, And that, today, there are no true believers? Let atheists make that foolish inference.
Appeasing the clergy was only part of the battle. Molière also inserted a new ending which includes a literary device known as deus ex machina. Playwrights and authors resort to a deus ex machina (Latin for "God out of the works") to create a neat ending. Basically, a deity descends onto the scene to restore order to the chaos. In this instance, the deus (god) is literally the king, which in Latin is rex. Thus, deus ex machina is transformed by Molière to rex ex machina. In the final scene, the benevolent and omnipotent king saves the day by jailing Tartuffe and returning Orgon's property. The play winds down with the utterly expected lines by Orgon, "Well said: let's go at once and, gladly kneeling, / Express the gratitude which all are feeling." In other words, "Hail to the King!" Although seemingly obvious to the modern reader, the employment of this modified literary device must have mollified King Louis XIV, since he granted permission for Tartuffe to be performed.
While the above changes considerably lighten any tone of religious mockery which may have appeared in the earlier versions, it is still surprising that permission to stage the work was finally granted. Although Tartuffe is a mere criminal and the king a benevolent and wise ruler, there is a subtle allegorical criticism of patriarchal monarchy embedded within the play. If a viewer or reader understands the Orgon family as an allegorical representation of the French monarchy, with Orgon in the role of king, the play can still be viewed as quite seditious.
The prevailing philosophy which dominated the Ancien Régime (Old Guard) in France during Molière's era was that of the Divine Right of Kings. This philosophy, which fell out of favor after the French Revolution, compares the king favorably to God. Just as God rules in heaven, the king rules on earth. The king need only answer to God for his actions. An often overlooked condition in this philosophy is that the king is male. The French monarchy is a patriarchy. Unlike several other European monarchies, France had to be ruled by a king, never a queen. While this system was relatively stable in Molière's era (it was, of course, to come crashing down about a hundred years later during the French Revolution), it was by no means perfect. Nevertheless, questioning the prevailing system was inconceivable. Witness the lines of Monsieur Loyal when he comes to evict Orgon and his family:
Young man, my business here is not with you, But with your wise and temperate father, who, Like every worthy citizen, stands in awe Of justice, and would never obstruct the law.
Although Molière would not dare to openly question authority or the law, he creates a work in which a main character and his family represent a microcosm of the French crown. Orgon is the patriarch, the king within his family. The female characters are all reduced to a state of powerlessness that mirrors French society of the time. Madame Pernelle is the perfect example of the powerlessness of French woman, all complaint and no action. Her status is due only to her son's position as the head of household. Elmire's power resides in her tact and sexual wiles. Mariane is unable to disobey her father. Although her maid, Dorine, has a saucy tongue, she is constantly told to shut up, and on one occasion, Orgon even tries to slap her. The male characters are all reduced to trying to make Orgon realize that he is being duped. Orgon clearly has all the power. Unfortunately, he is unworthy of it. One might even claim that the household is dysfunctional based on the bizarre behavior of a leader, Orgon, whose authority cannot be questioned.
The beauty of the theater resides in the play's ambiguity, where so much rests on the interpretation of a particular performance. Depending on the director's whim, Orgon can come across as a fool, a man undergoing a midlife crisis or even worse, a man with a mental illness. Cleante, always the voice of reason, makes an accurate diagnosis: "That deed of gift, were actions of a kind / Which scarcely indicate a prudent mind."
Orgon's behavior is that of a tyrant who does not have the best interests of his family in mind. In fact he almost brings about the ruination of his family due to his pig-headedness. While Molière may have tamed his play in that the Tartuffe no longer quotes Holy Writ, Orgon's speeches contain allusions to the Divine Right of Kings ("I plan, Sir, to be guided / By heaven's will.") as well as certain phrases which indicate that he believes himself to be a god. There is a certain Old Testament brutality to Orgon's speech, especially while arranging the marriage of his daughter. "Without delay, / I'll spite this household and confound his pride / By giving him my daughter as his bride." (64) Furthermore, religious connotations implicit in the command "mortify" (mortifiez in the original), which align themselves well with Augustinian Christian concepts of abstinence as well as the self-inflicted pain and discomfort of saints, make it clear that Orgon suffers from a severe delusion of grandeur:
Get up! The more you loathe the man, and dread him, The more ennobling it will be to wed him. Marry Tartuffe, and mortify your flesh!
Although the magical deus ex machina appears to restore Orgon to a position of dignity at the end of the play, the questions one might ask concerning his behavior and the irrational power that he wields within his family can lead to some disconcerting conclusions. Why is the family so powerless in the face of the father's mental breakdown? Is there nothing that can be done short of divine intervention to save the family from ruin? And if Orgon is viewed as an allegorical king, how should the family behave when faced with his insanity? Failing to obey would be tantamount to insurrection. Is this an instance — that is, when the king is not in his right mind — that a monarchy is not a reasonable political system?
The French revere Molière much the way the English speaking world reveres Shakespeare. New words, neologisms, were often coined by both authors. Today, the word tartuffe in French is a synonym for a hypocrite. Orgon's character is too ambiguous and rife with allusions questioning the legitimacy of monarchy to pigeonhole with a oneword definition; thus there is no word "orgon" in French to describe a delusional tyrant.
Although Tartuffe is billed as a comedy with the best laughs reserved for the imposter and the scenes involving seduction, it is no mistake that the character from whom the name of the play derives does not appear until Act 3, Scene 2, about halfway through the work; Molière's play is much more about Orgon and his struggles with his family than the folly of hypocrisy. These struggles contain a minefield of allegorical allusions which question the very idea of monarchy. By focusing attention on the imposter, Molière deflects attention from the uncomfortable questions that Orgon's character poses. If the play were entitled "Orgon," Molière, in spite of all his efforts and textual changes, might never have been given permission to finally stage it; with the title "Orgon," the inherent criticism of French royalty would have been all too blatant and not camouflaged sufficiently by the false piety of Tartuffe.
Source: David Partikian, Critical Essay on Tartuffe, in Drama for Students, Gale, 2003.
WHAT DO I READ NEXT?
- Pierre Corneille, a contemporary of Molière, was a master of French tragic drama and a major influence on Molière. His play Le Cid (1637) takes place during the time of the Roman Empire and concerns a conspiracy against the Roman Emperor Augustus.
- The School for Women or The School for Wives (1662) by Molière, was a popular success in its initial production but created controversy that lasted for over a year. The story concerns a man who, afraid of the power of mature women, opts to marry an inexperienced young woman only to find himself at her mercy.
- The Misanthrope (1666) is one of Molière's most celebrated plays. It is set amidst the fashionable Parisian high society of seventeenth-century France and concerns a young man who is disgusted with the hypocrisy, injustice, and overall corruption of human society. His disdain for society is complicated by the fact that he is in love with a young woman who represents all of the social behaviors he deplores.
- Molière himself starred in the initial production of his play The Hypochondriac or The Imaginary Invalid (1673) as a hypochondriac who is afraid of doctors. Molière had written the part to suit the cough he suffered due to tuberculosis, but he collapsed on stage during the fourth performance and died several hours later.
- Phèdre (1677) is the masterpiece of the great seventeenth-century tragic playwright Jean Racine. It concerns a woman who is hopelessly in love with her stepson.
- Molière was highly influenced by the French writer Michel de Montaigne (1533 – 1592), who is credited with the invention of the essay as a new literary genre. The Essays of Michel de Montaigne (1991) is a comprehensive collection of Montaigne's major works.
