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    Tartuffe
    Tartuffe
    Tartuffe
    Ebook116 pages1 hour

    Tartuffe

    By Molière

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Renowned for his satirical works, Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, 1622–1673) delighted in lampooning the social pretensions and conceits of 17th-century French society. In this 1664 verse comedy with serious overtones, Tartuffe, a penniless scoundrel and religious poseur, is invited by a gullible benefactor to live in his home.
    Imposing a rigidly puritanical regimen on the formerly happy household, Tartuffe wreaks havoc among family members. He breaks off the daughter's engagement, attempts to seduce the wife of his host, acquires his patron's property, and eventually resorts to blackmail and extortion. But ultimately, his schemes and malicious deeds lead to his own downfall.
    Attacked by the Church and twice suppressed, Tartuffe opened to packed houses in 1669. Teeming with lively humor and satirical plot devices, this timeless comedy by one of France's greatest and most influential playwrights is essential reading for students of theater and literature.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDover Publications
    Release dateMar 2, 2012
    ISBN9780486112848
    Author

    Molière

    Molière was a French playwright, actor, and poet. Widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and universal literature, his extant works include comedies, farces, tragicomedies, comédie-ballets, and more.

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    Reviews for Tartuffe

    4/5

    15 ratings12 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This full cast recording of Tartuffe was excellent! A great way to finish the digital audiobook of "The Moliere Collection" (I listened to this 5th play last knowing that it is a favorite of mine).
    • 4/5
      I prefer the version in verse, but in any event, the story is wonderful. The language of Moliere (even if translated) is what makes it all really work.
    • 5/5
      The humor's a bit outdated, and it's rather short, but if you know anything about how strong the church was in the 1600s then this is the boldest play you will ever read. The balls, Moliere, the balls.
    • 4/5
      I read this for my World Lit II class. I'm glad it was assigned because I really enjoyed it - way more than I expect I would enjoy a French play from the 17th century. But the subject of religious hypocrites never go out of style. Tartuffe is a major tool, and a master manipulator who, sadly, reminds me of someone I know. Lots of good nuggets of prose and quotable dialogue here. It's pretty much as awesome as awesome can get.
    • 4/5
      The comedy of this play walked the fine line between humor and tragedy. In the modern world there are all kinds of people insisting that black is white and white is black and declaring others crazy for not believing, so Tartuffe is readily believable. The appeal to the king is overt - the ending is resolved through the "wisdom and benevolence" of the king in the play. Even so, the story is a powerful warning against hypocrisy.
    • 4/5
      Moliere has long been on my to-read list because his comedies were on a list of "100 Significant Books" I was determined to read through. The introduction in one of the books of his plays says that of his "thirty-two comedies... a good third are among the comic masterpieces of world literature." The plays are surprisingly accessible and amusing, even if by and large they strike me as frothy and light compared to comedies by Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Wilde, Shaw and Rostand. But I may be at a disadvantage. I'm a native New Yorker, and looking back it's amazing how many classic plays I've seen on stage, plenty I've seen in filmed adaptations and many I've studied in school. Yet I've never encountered Moliere before this. Several productions of Shakespeare live and filmed are definitely responsible for me love of his plays. Reading a play is really no substitute for seeing it--the text is only scaffolding. So that might be why I don't rate these plays higher. I admit I also found Wilbur's much recommended translation off-putting at first. The format of rhyming couplets seemed sing-song and trite, as if I was reading the lyrics to a musical rather than a play. As I read more I did get used to that form, but I do suspect these are the kinds of works that play much better on stage than on the page.Tartuffe is the second play by Moliere I've read out of five; this one, about over-religiosity and hypocrisy is my favorite. The title character Tartuffe is a conman who prays on the religious sensibility and man-crush of his patron Orgon. The scene in particular where Orgon responds to reports of his wife's illness by repeatedly asking, "But what about Tartuffe" nearly had me laughing out loud. The character of the pert and shrewd lady's maid Dorine is particularly delightful.
    • 4/5
      I read this for my World Lit II class. I'm glad it was assigned because I really enjoyed it - way more than I expect I would enjoy a French play from the 17th century. But the subject of religious hypocrites never go out of style. Tartuffe is a major tool, and a master manipulator who, sadly, reminds me of someone I know. Lots of good nuggets of prose and quotable dialogue here. It's pretty much as awesome as awesome can get.
    • 4/5
      Now this was funny and meaningful. It has a great history, being banned by those whom it attacked. The preface and 3 requests of the king are a work in themselves.
    • 5/5
      This is a fabulous contemporary translation. We saw this version performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. As a theater major well-acquainted with other translations, I was wondering how this one would compare, and we were very impressed. The language is humorous and accessible to modern audiences, yet remains faithful to the rhythmic meter and period feel.
    • 3/5
      I read this for my History of Theatre class, and loved it immediately, although several of my classmates did not. It seems that a lot of people these days have trouble with the language and rhythm of the plays by people like Moliere and Shakespeare, and even the novels of Austen and Dickens. As with most of the plays that I've read and then seen, I really enjoy the live performance more--Moliere's characters in particular simply pop off the page.
    • 4/5
      Reading the introduction of Moliere’s 1664 “Tartuffe”, I noted several distinctions for this celebrated play. - It is the most frequently produced play in the French language and considered to be Moliere’s best. - The play was written entirely in rhymed iambic pentameter (or according to Wiki – in 1,962 twelve-syllable lines [alexandrines] of rhyming couplets). - The play was so “famous” (or as it turns out - “infamous”) that King Louis XIV refused a private performance request from Queen Christina of Sweden and no public performances were allowed for 5 years, i.e. it opened widely in 1669. The third bit caught my attention as I pondered (before reading the play) what was so different about this play that the King kept it from the public for 5 years. “Tartuffe” is the main character and subject of the play where he is a vagrant and a pious fraud, who fooled and influenced the wealthy Orgon and his mother. Much to the chagrin of his other family members, Orgon fell deeply under the spell of Tartuffe, believing all his martyr-like yet self-promoting speeches, so much so that he disowned his son, broke a promise of marriage for his daughter to a loyal young man, and instead offered her to Tartuffe. Believing all of Tartuffe’s preaches and trusting him, Orgon renounced his wealth and contractually signed his possessions to Tartuffe, including a briefcase with confidential and damning information, which is then used against Orgon upon the reveal of the betrayal. The happy ending came when the enlightened King intervened, nullifying the contract, pardoning Orgon, and arresting Tartuffe for fraud. Moliere was quite explicit with his condemnation of the church. “Who could imagine that devout façade could hide such double-dealing wickedness?... he’s the last religious man I’ll trust; in future I’ll recoil from them in horror.” 1664 is far too early and risky for the arts to openly mock the church. On the other hand, the King was presented as the all-seeing wise and mighty hero who swooped in to save Orgon. In short, it is a (perhaps unintended) bold piece of literature that pitted the King against the Church. Though my book’s introduction didn’t include this, I found articles online that validated my hunch. The French Roman Catholic Church was displeased with the play; the Archbishop of Paris issued an edict banning it with the threat of excommunication. Meanwhile, King Louis XIV got his jollies from the play and protected Moliere from excommunication. To be honest, with my modern mind, the plot sounded so preposterous that it is laughable. Though putting on a lens of time, I believe that is the intended appeal of this play – mocking the gullibility of the wealthy and the falsehood of piety. Surely, such was a provocative rarity then. Without being able to read it in French, the charm of the alexandrines rhymes is absent. However, there are indentations that mark the pace of lines; these remain to be affective even in English. Favorite Character: Dorine, the maidservant who was vocal and spoke the truth and obviousness and never held her tongue regardless who she is addressing. You go girl!3.5 stars for the play+0.5 star considering the original publication year
    • 3/5
      Moliere’s most famous play, concerning the obsequious and hypocritical houseguest Tartuffe. Mildly entertaining, but just OK in my book.Just one quote, on old age: “As long as ‘twas in her power to make conquests, she did not balk any of her advantages; but when she found the luster of her eyes abate, she would needs renounce the world that was on the point of leaving her; and under the specious mask of great prudence, conceal the decay of her worn-out charms.”

    Book preview

    Tartuffe - Molière

    Act I.

    Scene I.

    MADAME PERNELLE, ELMIRE, MARIANE,

    DAMIS, CLÉANTE, DORINE, FLIPOTE.

    MME. PERNELLE. Come Flipote, let’s be gone, that I may get rid of them.

    ELMIRE. You walk so fast that one has much ado to follow you.

    MME. PERNELLE. Stay, daughter, stay; come no farther; this is all needless ceremony.

    ELMIRE. We only acquit ourselves of our duty to you; but pray, mother, what makes you in such haste to leave us?

    MME. PERNELLE. Because I can’t endure to see such management, and nobody takes any care to please me. I leave your house, I tell you, very ill edified; my instructions are all contradicted. You show no respect for anything amongst you, every one talks aloud there, and the house is a perfect Dover Court.

    DORINE. If—

    MME. PERNELLE. You are, sweetheart, a noisy and impertinent Abigail, and mighty free of your advice on all occasions.

    DAMIS. But—

    MME. PERNELLE. In short, you are a fool, child; ’tis I tell you so, who am your grandmother; and I have told my son your father, a hundred times, that you would become a perfect rake and would be nothing but a plague to him.

    MARIANE. I fancy—

    MME. PERNELLE. Good-lack, sister of his, you act the prude, and look as if butter would not melt in your mouth; but still waters, they say, are always deepest, and under your sly airs you carry on a trade I don’t at all approve of.

    ELMIRE. But mother—

    MME. PERNELLE. By your leave, daughter, your conduct is absolutely wrong in everything; you ought to set them a good example, and their late mother managed ’em much better. You are a sorry economist, and what I can’t endure, dress like any princess. She who desires only to please her husband, daughter, needs not so much finery.

    CLÉANTE. But madame, after all—

    MME. PERNELLE. As for you, sir, her brother, I esteem you very much, I love and respect you; but yet, were I in my son’s her husband’s place, I should earnestly entreat you not to come within our doors. You are always laying down rules of life that good people should never follow. I talk a little freely to you, but ’tis my humour; I never chew upon what I have at heart.

    DAMIS. Your Monsieur Tartuffe is a blessed soul, no doubt—

    MME. PERNELLE. He’s a good man, and should be listened to; I can’t bear, with patience, to hear him cavilled at by such a fool as you.

    DAMIS. What! shall I suffer a censorious bigot to usurp an absolute authority in the family? And shall not we take the least diversion, if this precious spark thinks not fit to allow of it?

    DORINE. If one were to hearken to him, and give in to his maxims, we could do nothing but what would be made a crime of; for the critical zealot controls everything.

    MME. PERNELLE. And whatever he controls is well controlled. He would fain show you the way to Heaven; and my son ought to make you all love him.

    DAMIS. No, look you, madame, neither father nor anything else can oblige me to have any regard for him. I should belie my heart to tell you otherwise. To me his actions are perfectly odious; and I foresee that, one time or other, matters will come to extremity between that wretch and me.

    DORINE. ’Tis downright scandalous to see an upstart take on him at that rate here. A vagabond that had not a pair of shoes to his feet when he came hither, and all the clothes on his back would not fetch sixpence, that he should so far forget himself as to contradict everything and to play the master.

    MME. PERNELLE. Mercy on me! Matters would go much better, were everything managed by his pious directions.

    DORINE. He passes for a saint in your imagination; but, believe me, all he does is nothing but hypocrisy.

    MME. PERNELLE. What a tongue!

    DORINE. I would not trust him without good security, any more than I would his man Laurence.

    MME. PERNELLE. What the servant may be at bottom, I can’t tell; but I’ll answer for the master that he is a good man; you wish him ill, and reject him, only because he tells you the naked truth. ’Tis sin that his heart can’t brook, and the interest of Heaven is his only motive.

    DORINE. Ay; but why, for some time past, can’t he endure that anybody should come near us? How can a civil visit offend Heaven, so much that we must have a din about it, enough to stun one? Among friends, shall I give you my opinion of the matter? [Pointing to ELMIRE] I take him, in troth, to be jealous of my lady.

    MME. PERNELLE. Hold your peace, and consider what you say. He is not the only person who condemns these visits. The bustle that attends the people you keep company with, these coaches continually planted at the gate, and the noisy company of such a parcel of footmen disturb the whole neighbourhood. I am willing to believe there’s no harm done; but then it gives people occasion to talk, and that is not well.

    CLÉANTE. Alas, madame, will you hinder people from prating? It would be a very hard thing in life, if for any foolish stories that might be raised about people, they should be forced to renounce their best friends; and suppose we should resolve to do so, do you think it would keep all the world from talking? There’s no guarding against calumny. Let us therefore not mind silly tittle-tattle, and let’s endeavour to live innocently ourselves, and leave the gossiping part of mankind to say what they please.

    DORINE. May not neighbour Daphne and her little spouse be the persons who speak ill of us? People whose own conduct is the most ridiculous are always readiest to detract from that of others. They never fail

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