Not a single Moliere comedy brought him so much suffering, but also such enduring success. For five years the playwright fought for its production, correcting the text, softening the critical focus of the comedy. Moliere directed his attack on the secret religious organization “Society of the Holy Gifts,” which was engaged in surveillance of ill-intentioned fellow citizens and apostates. By removing specific allusions to the activities of the Society of the Blessed Sacrament, he achieved more by showing how religious fanaticism cripples the souls of believers. “Tartuffe” eventually became a parable about how ardent piety deprives a person of sound mind. Before meeting Tartuffe, Orgon was a caring father of the family, but the bigot and hypocrite hypnotized him with ostentatious asceticism so that the noble nobleman was ready to give the swindler everything he owned.
The name Tartuffe has gone down in history as a common noun. In it close up hypocrisy shown
But for the comedy to reach the viewer, Moliere had to fight the powerful church authorities for five years. M dressed Tartuffe in secular clothes, and changed the name to “The Deceiver,” but even so everyone recognized Tartuffe. The ban on the work dealt a blow to Moliere's repertoire.
Tartuffe. Hypocrite. And here it doesn’t matter to Moliere whether he is a nobleman or a bourgeois. We do not know the environment in which he acquired this trait. His passion itself is significant - hypocrisy, a psychological trait, and not a social background. This is a crystal clear image, taken from the historical environment. Moliere strives to create pure abstract stage space and time. This desire for abstraction is characteristic of classicists, and this desire is reflected even more strongly in the characters. Moliere, typifying the image, cannot help but give the hero and individual traits. Individual feature Tartuffe is that he is a bearer of hypocrisy. He is arrogant and stubborn. It's like a person. And as a type, he embodies what Moliere wants to express in him - condensed hypocrisy. One way to depict such an image is the hero’s surroundings. It emerges from this environment. Tartuffe is generally outlined by those around him. Orgon admires him. Dorina talks about him. This environment of Tartuffe is artificial. With the hand of Moliere, all obstacles were removed from the path of the protagonist. The reverse side of Tartuffe’s boundless arrogance and hypocrisy is Orgon’s boundless gullibility, his devotion to Tartuffe. Moliere's second way of achieving abstraction is hyperbole. He introduces this hyperbole with strokes. It is necessary that the exaggerated trait be truthful, real, fixed in gestures, intonation, phraseology, and behavior that are truly characteristic of a person obsessed with this passion. Tartuffe is absolute in his imaginary piety: he covers Dorina's neckline with a scarf. Classical principle Moliere brings characteristics to the last degree of completeness, surpassing in this sense the most orthodox classicists. In general, the principles of classicism are very important to him. For example, for What is important to him is his attraction to symmetry, to the balance of all parts. Moliere always has two heroes who complement each other using the method of contrast. In "Tartuffe" it is the arrogant Tartuffe and the gullible Orgon
15. Creativity of J. - B. Moliere
In the history of literature, Moliere is usually considered one of the representatives
classicism.
However, obeying the basic laws of the poetics of classicism, Moliere managed
use all realistic possibilities allowed within this framework
directions, and in some cases genius artist came out of these sometimes
constraining framework for him and created truly realistic
works and images that retain their significance to this day.
The typicality of images, the ability to find the most
essential, socially conditioned features of the human being he portrays
character - this main feature of realism appears with great force in all
best comedies Moliere.
Moliere surrounds his “heroes” with a non-fictional setting, in which
the heroes of classical tragedies act - he places them in a typical
living environment, surrounded by typical circumstances. Most often the action
his comedies develop in a bourgeois family (“Tartuffe”, “The Miser”, “The Tradesman in
nobility"). The relationship between the head of the house and members of the household, masters and
servants, parents and children, speech patterns, mindset, customs
French bourgeois of that time are represented in Moliere's comedies with fidelity
and liveliness.
In the accusatory content of comedies, in the choice positive characters
Moliere's democratic sympathies clearly appear.
Moliere used the weapon of laughter for the purposes of sharp social satire. This
led to the extreme sharpening of the images he created, to hyperbolization,
i.e., strengthening their leading features (Harpagon in the comedy “The Miser”, Tartuffe in
comedies of the same name, etc.).
A sharp division of heroes into positive and negative, introduction
the didactic nature of the comedy also limited the realism of the image.
In his work "A tradesman among the nobility" he creates the image of the tradesman Jourdain, who at all costs wants to become a nobleman. This passion takes over all the thoughts of the hero, becoming an obsession and pushing him to funny, unreasonable actions.
Moliere based the plot on a general trend that was increasingly taking root in the society of the 17th century. This time was characterized by a division into “court” and “city”. Moreover, in the “city” there was a constant tendency towards the “court”. In order to get as close as possible to those from whom their bourgeois origin separated them, the petty bourgeois bought positions, land holdings, and diligently (sometimes to the point of absurdity) mastered all the noble manners, language, morals, clothing style and many other features of the life of high society. But, despite all the efforts of the townspeople, the differences between them and the nobility remained significant. In his comedy, Moliere sought to show the destructive power of the “court” over the minds and actions of the bourgeoisie. And at the same time, his goal was to deprive the nobles of this power, to expose, to show their true low essence, the pettiness of their interests, hidden under the mask of nobility and sophistication, and, therefore, to emphasize the groundlessness of the desires of representatives of the philistinism to imitate in everything high society. The harmful influence of such aspirations can be most clearly seen in the image of the main character of the comedy.
At first, Jourdain's passion for the nobility is simply an innocent weakness. But, as the plot develops, it grows, reaching enormous proportions, expressed in unthinkable, almost manic, actions and judgments. For the hero, the opportunity to get closer to the nobility is the only goal, the highest happiness. He tries to achieve maximum resemblance to representatives of the nobility, and his whole life is spent imitating them in absolutely everything.
Gradually, the idea of joining secular society so captivates Jourdain that all real ideas about the world and life disappear from him. He completely loses his mind, causing harm, first of all, to himself with his actions. In his hobby, he reaches complete spiritual baseness, beginning to be ashamed of his loved ones, his parents. He does not pay attention to real values, to true human feelings.
In the times about which the author writes, the contrast between the nobility and the bourgeoisie was manifested, first of all, in the high level of noble culture and the low level of development of the bourgeoisie. However, in his thirst for imitation, the hero does not see these obvious differences. He does not realize how comical the claims to secular grace and gloss, culture and education look, against the background of his rudeness, ignorance, vulgarity of language and manners. He is so captivated by his idea that, without any doubt, he agrees to undergo the ridiculous rite of passage into “mamamushi”. And, moreover, he is ready to actually believe in his transformation into some kind of noble person.
Moliere made many discoveries in the field of comedy. Always striving to truthfully depict reality, he created vivid typical characters in his works. So did his master Jourdain. Depicting the life and customs of his contemporary society, reflecting the specifics of the social system, the author expressed his protest and decisive demand for social justice in such a unique form.
16Metaphysical poetry and creativity of J. Donne.
METAPHYSICAL SCHOOL - direction in English poetry 1st half. 17th century (J. Donne, J. Herbert). The “metaphysical school” is distinguished by a spiritualistic character characteristic of Baroque poetics, an intense experience of world knowledge, poetic meditation, a complicated form - sophisticated metaphors, symbols, allegories.
The founder was John Donne (157301631) - born into the family of a successful merchant, head of a workshop of hardware merchants. Mother Donna was the great-niece of Thomas More, famous humanist Renaissance, author of "Utopia". In his family, the future poet received a strict Catholic upbringing. Then he studied at Oxford and Cambridge....
His followers Gervert, Crashaw, Vaughan, were guided by the later work of their predecessor, adopted his penchant for mysticism, abstract “metaphysical” reasoning, and sophisticated verbal ornamentation. Metaphysical poetry is characterized by a feeling of a disintegrated universe and the loss of the integrity of the idea of it. As Donne noted, the human mind is not able to restore the universe, but there remains hope for an inquisitive mind that seeks and finds the necessary (possibly very distant) connections.
The main concept of Donnovsky aesthetics was conceit- a paradoxical or ironic comparison of extremely dissimilar objects in order to illustrate a particular idea (for example, the body of a beloved is compared with a map of the Earth, lovers moving away from each other - with the legs of a compass). The style technique uses dissonance and disharmony in a meaningful way (this emphasizes the authors’ characteristic feeling of confusion and confusion). The poetry of the “metaphysicians” gave the impression of exceptional intellectual complexity, was intended only for a select circle of readers and was alien to social and civil issues. He has written works on theological themes, poems with secular and religious content. Having started with poems of a cheerful, hedonistic character, the don over time became more and more immersed in a religious worldview, which meant the poet’s departure from the traditions of Renaissance humanism. (in the poem “The Path of the Soul” he indulges in reflection on the suffering of the soul in this world and the joys in the other world) the “anatomy of the world”, which interpreted the frailty of everything earthly, was very famous. At the heart of Donne’s poetry, he most fully embodied the principle of the “metaphysics of the school”; the concept is based on extensive and bizarre metaphors, which often grow into a whole metaphorical system, which gave the poem an intricate character. As a thinker, Donne is inferior to the Renaissance poets. He is deprived of that bright outlook on life inherent in humanist poets. His worldview is disharmonious and decadent, which indicates the inferiority of the poetry of the “metaphysics school”, which grows on the basis of public reaction. And only occasionally does simplicity and spontaneity slip into D.’s poetry.
Donne was only eight years younger than Shakespeare, but he already belonged to
to another generation.
About himself in one of the sonnets, Donne said:
I am all struggle: to my misfortune,
Impermanence has become permanent...
The reader who first turns to “Songs and Sonnets” is immediately struck by
an extraordinary variety of moods and situations recreated by imagination
poet. "The Flea", the first poem in the cycle of publications of 1635, is witty
rethinks a common motif in erotic poetry of the 16th century: the poet
envies a flea touching the body of his beloved. Donne makes the flea
bite not only the girl, but also the hero, making the annoying insect a symbol
their carnal union:
Look and judge: here is a flea
She bit and shed a little blood,
First - mine, then - yours,
And our blood mixed in it.
Already the poem "Good Morning" is much more serious in tone. Poet
it talks about how lovers, waking up at dawn, realize
the strength of the feeling that creates for them special world, opposed to all
universe:
Our souls have only now awakened,
We woke up and froze in anticipation;
Love has locked our door,
Turning a closet into a universe.
Donne's poetic style was so original that the reader
turning to his poetry after reading the elder Elizabethans, maybe
it seemed like he was in another world. Smooth, melodiously flowing verse
Donne contrasted the Elizabethans with the nervous-dramatic beginning of his lyrics.
Donne consciously made metaphors an important part of his poetic technique.
Amazing readers with the surprise of associations, they helped the poet express
a movement of thought that played with various kinds of paradoxes and
oppositions.
Like the legs of a compass, doubly so
We are inseparable and united:
Wherever I wander, come to me
You reach out from the middle.
Analysis of the play:
1. “Rationale for choice.”
Why is the play interesting? literary work:
For the reader, Jean-Baptiste Moliere's play should be interesting not only for its exciting plot, but also for the story of its birth. Getting to know this comedy allows you to learn the history of France in the second half of the 17th century. Moliere wrote satirical play, in which he exposes the “Society of the Holy Gifts” - a secret religious institution that tried to subordinate all spheres of life in the country to its power. People who are not interested in history will also be interested in reading this comedy. Vivid images, comic situations, easy and understandable language - all this captivates the reader, immersing him in amazing world French classics.
What is interesting about the play as a possible production:
“Tartuffe” by Moliere is an amazing comedy! Even during the author’s lifetime, it brought him more grief than glory, and then - for three and a half centuries - success in the hall accompanied persecution in life. What's surprising about this play? It seems that with Moliere everything is clear: the villain is angry, the stingy is stingy, the cunning is cunning. In terms of spiritual simplicity, it may seem that watching such a play from the audience is of little interest: everything is immediately clear, and playing, perhaps, is simple and boring... But why then does this performance appear in the theater repertoire from year to year? It is worth understanding this play so that you can see behind it something more than a simple comedy, and even then the play becomes truly loved.
I took this play for the director’s analysis, because I am sure that it is very relevant for our time. Let's throw away the era of action and see people first of all. The passion and experiences that overwhelm them are completely independent of the era. Now we live in a place where there are Tartuffes at every turn: “The era of Moliere has passed, but the scoundrels are eternal.” But this applies not only to one character in the play. In each of the characters modern viewer can recognize himself or the person sitting next to him. Undoubtedly, such a play will enrich the playbill of any theater. It is important that productions such as the French “Tartuffe” coexist alongside productions by native authors: theater should not have state borders.
This play is an example of the kind of material that can take forever to work on. The author does not give us a complete description of the characters; their images can be conjectured, and the methods for bringing the production to life on stage will depend on the director’s imagination. The play "Tartuffe, or the Deceiver" - a work classical literature, in which the rule of three unities is observed, which makes it possible to focus all attention not on changing pictures, not on how the character of the hero will change, but on the action itself and the search for new directorial solutions.
2. “Author.” Epoch. History of the play."
Jean-Baptiste Moliere:
Jean Baptiste Moliere (1622-1673) was one of the greatest classicist playwrights of the 17th century who lived in France during the Enlightenment. His work was concentrated within the comedy genre. His works were written in the literary direction - classicism. Jean-Baptiste's life was dedicated to the theater. At the age of 21, he opened the “Brilliant Theater” in Paris, which lasted two years. Later, Moliere organized a traveling troupe, with which he traveled from one city to another.
The production of the comedy Tartuffe at court became Moliere's most controversial production, as it dealt a serious blow to the Catholic Church. The play revealed the criminality of the church and the falsity of its morality. It is worth noting that in the original version Tartuffe had the clergy, but in order to avoid the banning of the play, Jean-Baptiste “removed” the rank from the hero, making him an ordinary saint.
Until his death, Moliere did not leave the theater. He died in it, a few hours later, after playing the main role in the play “The Imaginary Invalid.”
Era:
17th century France is a classic example of autocracy. Already under Henry IV, the will of the king became the supreme criterion of state order.
At the same time, there is a rethinking of old philosophical categories, associated with the development of science and causing a new interpretation of social problems. Already at the end of the 15th century, a new realistic policy with a purely secular character was born.
New theories of the state exclude the divine origin of royal power.
History of the play:
Play by J.B. Moliere was written in France (1664. “Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite”). Work by J.B. Moliere has several translations into Russian (I. Kropotov “Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite”, N. I. Khmelnitsky, “Tartuffe”, M. L. Lozinsky, “Tartuffe, or the Deceiver”). The comedy is built according to the basic rules of classicism and is divided into 5 acts. It scrupulously adheres to the principle of three unities: the action takes place in one place - in Paris, in the house of the wealthy merchant Organ, events develop over the course of 24 hours. The “Tartuffe, or the Deceiver” that has come down to us is not at all what it was before. The history of the creation of this work is unique and interesting in its own way. Mariana, Valere, and the bailiff appeared in the comedy later than the other heroes of the play, when, under the influence of religious organizations, Moliere was forced to take off Tartuffe’s cassock. In the second edition, the hero’s name was Panyulf, and the play itself was called “The Deceiver.” It is worth noting that the artistic image was based on real actions performed by members of the Society of the Holy Gifts. They were, in essence, secret police, infiltrating houses,
collected information about the living and handed them over for both committed and fictitious crimes. In 1667, Moliere showed the second version of Tartuffe on stage. The hero was renamed Panyulf, the comedy was titled “The Deceiver,” especially sharp satirical passages were removed or softened. The success of the play was wild, but it was banned again after the first performance. Finally, in 1669, he staged the third version of Tartuffe. This time Moliere strengthened the satirical sound of the play...
The first performance on the Russian stage was November 22, 1757 in St. Petersburg, April 21, 1761 in Moscow.
3. “Theme and idea of the play”
Topic: Contrasting healthy faith with fanaticism. The contradiction between the obvious and the apparent, the mask and the face.
Idea - People are trying to find something or someone who would be worthy of love and worship, in whom they could believe. In this faith there is their safety, the hope that there is someone or something worth living for, but in the end it turns out that this “someone” turns out to be our loved ones.
4. “Proposed circumstances.”
The action takes place in the second half of the 17th century, in France, Paris, the home of the venerable Orgon, who meets Tartuffe and brings him to his place. The wedding of Valera and Mariana is due to take place soon. The whole family, except Orgon and his mother, have a negative attitude towards the “holy saint,” but the head of the family is zealously determined to protect the interests of Mr. Tartuffe.
5. “A summary of the play “Tartuffe, or the Deceiver.”
At the invitation of the owner, a certain Mr. Tartuffe settled in the house of the venerable Orgon. Orgon doted on him, considering him an incomparable example of righteousness and wisdom. Of all the household members, Orgon’s admiration for the righteous man was shared only by his mother, Madame Pernel. Elmira, Orgon's wife, her brother Cleanthes, Orgon's children Damis and Mariana, and even the servants saw in Tartuffe a hypocritical saint who cleverly takes advantage of Orgon's delusion in his simple earthly interests: eating deliciously and sleeping softly, having a reliable roof over his head and some other things. benefits.
Orgon's family was disgusted with Tartuffe's moral teachings; with his worries about decency, he drove almost all his friends away from home. But as soon as someone spoke badly about this zealot of piety, Madame Pernelle created stormy scenes, and Orgon simply remained deaf to any speeches.
Orgon's daughter, Mariana, was in love with a noble young man named Valer, and her brother Damis was in love with Valer's sister. Orgon seemed to have already given his consent to the marriage of Mariana and Valera, but for some reason he kept postponing the wedding. Damis, concerned about his own fate, - his marriage to his sister Valera was supposed to follow Mariana's wedding. Orgon answered questions so evasively and incomprehensibly that Cleanthes suspected that he had decided to somehow dispose of his daughter’s future.
Exactly how Orgon sees Mariana’s future became clear when he told his daughter that Tartuffe’s perfections needed reward, and that reward would be his marriage to her, Mariana. The girl was stunned, but did not dare contradict her father. Dorina had to stand up for her: the maid tried to explain to Orgon that marrying Mariana to Tartuffe would mean becoming the subject of ridicule of the entire city, but despite this, Orgon remained adamant in his determination to become related to Tartuffe.
Mariana was ready to submit to her father's will - this is what her daughter's duty told her to do; in a fit of despair, Valer advised her to do as her father ordered, while he himself would find himself a bride who would not betray his word; Dorina convinced young people of the need to fight for their happiness. Damis, even too determined, was going to properly rein in Tartuffe so that he would forget about marrying Mariana. Dorina tried to cool his ardor, but she failed.
It soon became clear that Tartuffe was not indifferent to Orgon’s wife and he invited Elmira to indulge in the delights of love. In response, Elmira asked how, in Tartuffe’s opinion, her husband would behave when he heard about his vile harassment. The frightened gentleman begged Elmira not to ruin him, and she agreed, but on the condition that he abandon the idea of a wedding. Damis, overhearing the conversation and, indignant, rushed to his father. But, as one would expect, Orgon believed not his son, but Tartuffe, and in anger he ordered Damis to get out of sight and announced that today Tartuffe would marry Mariana. As a dowry, Orgon gave his entire fortune to his future son-in-law.
Elmira could not stand it - since her husband does not believe the words of his loved ones, he should see with his own eyes the baseness of Tartuffe. Convinced that he had to make sure of just the opposite - of the highly morality of the righteous man - Orgon agreed to crawl under the table and from there eavesdrop on the conversation that Elmira and Tartuffe would have in private.
Tartuffe immediately fell for the feigned speeches and asked to receive from her a tangible guarantee of tender feelings. What Orgon heard from under the table was enough for his blind faith in the holiness of Tartuffe to finally collapse. He ordered the scoundrel to leave immediately. Then Tartuffe changed his tone and, before proudly leaving, promised to brutally get even with Orgon.
Tartuffe’s threat was not unfounded: firstly, Orgon had already managed to issue a deed of gift for his house, which from today belonged to Tartuffe; secondly, he entrusted a casket with papers incriminating his brother, who was forced to leave the country for political reasons.
Orgon's family had not yet come up with anything when the bailiff, Mr. Loyal, showed up on the doorstep of the house. He brought an order to vacate M. Tartuffe's house by tomorrow morning. As it turned out, Tartuffe did not fail to use the second opportunity he had to ruin the life of his recent benefactor: Valère brought the news that the scoundrel had handed over a chest of papers to the king, and now Orgon faces arrest for aiding his rebel brother. Orgon decided to escape before it was too late, but the guards got ahead of him: the officer who entered announced that he was under arrest.
Tartuffe also came to Orgon's house with the royal officer. To his great - and everyone's - amazement, he heard that he was arrested. As the officer explained, in fact he did not come for Orgon, but in order to see how Tartuffe reaches the end in his shamelessness. The wise king, from the very beginning, had suspicions about the identity of the informer and turned out to be right, as always. With his authority, the sovereign canceled the deed of gift for the house and forgave Orgon for indirectly aiding his rebellious brother.
Tartuffe was escorted to prison in disgrace, but Orgon had no choice but to praise the wisdom and generosity of the monarch, and then bless the union of Valera and Mariana.
6. "Fabula".
The residents of Orgon's house are zealously arguing about the guest of their house, Mr. Tartuffe. A wedding would soon be held in the house, but Orgon, the owner of the house, falls more and more under the influence of the swindler, and agrees to revoke his word to his daughter and is going to marry Mariana to Tartuffe. Mariana's brother tries to figure everything out, but finds out that Mr. Tartuffe is in love with his stepmother and tells everything to his father. Orgon remains blind, comes into conflict with his son and signs the house over to Tartuffe and gives him a valuable casket. Wanting to show her husband the true face of a liar, Elmira makes an appointment with Tartuffe, which opens the eyes of the owner of the house to everything that is happening. Mr. Tartuffe kicked out of the house, but not for long. The liar returns with the royal officer, but he finds him guilty. The house again becomes Orgon's property, and Valere and Mariana again receive blessings.
7. “Event series”
Exposition: The first act of the comedy.
Here we meet the main characters: the head of the house Orgon, his mother Madame Pernel, his second wife Elmira and children - son Damis and Marianne. We also meet Orgon's brother-in-law Cleanthe and the quick-tongued maid Dorina. Tartuffe, around whom the intrigue flares up, does not appear on stage, but all the characters characterize him in one way or another.
Plot - Second, act of comedy.
Orgon wants to force his daughter to marry Tartuffe, breaking the word given by his friend to the groom (Valera).
Development of the action: The third act of the comedy.
In the third act Tartuffe himself appears. The action becomes more complicated, the tension increases. Orgon persists in his delusions and only with great difficulty do the household manage to open his eyes. Counting on marriage with his daughter, Tartuffe is not at all averse to hitting on the mistress of the house.
Climax: The fourth act of the comedy.
In the fourth act, his hypocrisy is finally exposed when Orgon is convinced with his own eyes of the deceit of his “holy” friend.
Denouement: The fifth act of the play.
The fifth act shows the results of Orgon's stupid gullibility. Taking advantage of his carelessness, Tartuffe tries to take possession of Orgon’s property, and also accuses him of having connections with the rebels. The end of the comedy, depicting how justice is restored by the will of the king, looks somewhat artificial
8. “Super task.”
It is necessary to show the difference between faith and fanaticism, and to convey to the audience of the future performance the idea that one cannot give in to unquestioning faith in someone or something, it is necessary to listen to the voice of our loved ones and evaluate events objectively and impartially.
9. “The conflict of the play.”
Main conflict:
– The struggle between common sense and illusion.
Side conflicts:
-The clash of hypocrisy and piety.
- The clash of the interests of the majority with a single opinion.
- Clash of moral principles and sense of duty.
- Conflict between the older and younger generations.
10. “Characteristics of heroes.”
Madame Pernel is Orgon's mother. An older woman, she is used to leading and keeping the situation under control. She is self-confident, behaves rudely with household members, is very pious, and is afraid of rumors and bad rumors.
Orgon is Elmira's husband. At the service he showed himself as brave man, but with the advent of Tartuffe, “he is ready to forget what is in the world,” he is kind to the guest, inattentive to his household, absent-minded, but generous and kind, he can be quick-tempered and unfair in his ardor.
Elmira is Orgon's wife. He likes to dress beautifully, wears velvet and lace. She is the keeper of the home. A kind woman, a faithful wife, she sincerely worries about the fate of her family.
Damis is the son of Orgon. He has a quick temper, says everything openly, right to his face, his grandmother calls him a tomboy. Zealously defends the truth.
Mariana is Orgon's daughter, in love with Valera. Quiet, shy. She listens to her father in everything, because she believes that it is her duty. Shy, she treats feelings with excitement and trepidation. Proud, for the sake of love she is ready to give up everything she has.
Valer is a young man in love with Mariana. He is a freethinker, they say he is a player. Jealous, a little timid, afraid of losing Mariana.
Cleanthes is Elmira's brother, Orgon's brother-in-law. Confident and own strength, fair, appeals to nobility, treats all residents of the house with respect. He is characterized by worldly wisdom and high integrity.
Tartuffe is a saint. A liar disguised as a righteous man. The speech is well delivered, he speaks in large beautiful sentences, a secret libertine. Ruddy, portly, eats and sleeps a lot, a hypocrite, a two-faced person. The interesting thing is that he himself does not realize that he is a hypocrite. For him, this is not a vice at all, but a condition of survival, moreover, a basic life principle.
Dorina is Mariana's maid. He is not afraid to express his opinion, knows his family well, stands for justice and honesty, believes in true love, curious, expresses the idea that you need to fight for happiness.
Mr. Loyal is a bailiff (French loyal, legal). Moliere deliberately gives this name to a man bribed by Tartuffe.
Implementation of the play:
11. “Features of the future production.”
Genre: Comedy.
Consists of 2 acts.
The core of the plot of the future production is not the exposure of the intrigues of the rogue saint, much less the exposure of the generally accepted falsehood in the world of the rich and powerful. This is an attempt to understand at a new level the fatal question - “to be and to appear.” The source of hypocrisy is in every person, and, as it turns out, this is connected with our need to embody the ideal, with the desire to see the world as we picture it in our deepest dreams
It is a production with plastic inserts that begin it.
It is not the deceiver Tartuffe who comes into the main picture of the play, but the inhabitants of the house. Each of them is shown in its own colors. The presence of Tartuffe allows them to reveal their true experiences, their true face. We are all not perfect, but in this performance, our absurdity and angularity, hidden hypocrisy is taken to a new level. Who are we really? What motivates us?
Orgon wanted to have a perfect person at his disposal; he wanted to be given his friendship by an ideal righteous man. Why? Why is Tartuffe more valuable to him than his wife and children? - Yes, because the wife and children are the way God created them - different, independent, with their own human activity, contrary to Orgon’s ideal ideas. Tartuffe is entirely the creation of its owner. He becomes what Orgon wants him to be: a perfect, pious man, generous, leading pious conversations, delving into the situation of other people, protecting the honor of Orgon’s wife, while being quiet and modest. This is the condition. If Tartuffe had not “become” like this, he simply would not have ended up in Orgon’s house.
Tartuffe is by his very nature a hanger-on. Did the owner want the illusion to come true? - He received it. Why was it necessary to expose the desired illusion with the help of cunning tricks? From Tartuffe’s point of view, one person cannot do anything at all for another except to perform a hypocritical performance to order, to become what is required of you. And if the rich and those in power can, in relation to their subordinates, act as “customers” of such legalized hypocrisy, then the “performers” are free to demand “compensation” for taking on the role of someone who, in essence, they are not. This is how the whole society is organized from top to bottom according to Tartuffe. Therefore, a person faces only one question: how to achieve power that guarantees you a place as a “customer” in this system of universal hypocrisy.
Elmira. Pious and modest with Orgon, Tartuffe is passionate and eloquent with his wife, so eloquent and ardent that Elmira cannot help but notice the advantageous difference between her suitor and her husband. Threatening Tartuffe that she will convey his passionate confessions to Orgon, the hostess does not at all seek to get rid of the hanger-on. She needs a “neutralized” Tartuffe, who could now become “a man for her.”
Damis. But this is absolutely not necessary for Damis, who set up the trap. After all, with the arrival of Tartuffe in the house, he now only gets “second roles.” Both Damis and Marianne are annoyed by Tartuffe, first of all, because he is the embodiment of the aspirations of their father and grandmother (religious-Puritan aspirations, when guests stopped coming to the house and there was no fun).
By the way, they all continuously demonstrate to Tartuffe that he is right: one person always strives to turn another into a doll, to force him to “play for himself.” However, success can only be achieved here if someone takes on the labor of voluntary hypocrisy. Moreover, Tartuffe is sure: any lie here is justified by the fact that they expect lies from you. Only others want this lie subconsciously, but he quite consciously uses the universal mechanism of human relations that he has discovered. Tartuffe is so confident in the reliability of the operating principle that he offers this “game” even to the maid Dorina, even Marianne. He understands, of course, that they cannot stand him, but he is playing a tender friend in front of Orgon, let others play well-wishers in front of him, especially since his position in the house (continuously strengthening) obliges them to do so. Subconsciously, Tartuffe is constantly trying to put others in his place, to drive them into the position of forced hypocrites. By the way, he almost succeeds when, after the story of the dangerous papers given to him for safekeeping by Orgon, Cleanthe advises everyone to be more kind to Tartuffe. Tartuffe has no premeditated plan to destroy Orgon. He doesn’t even ask the owner for anything directly for himself. Both property and Marianne’s hand are imposed on him by Orgon (in order to bind him more strongly, to make him completely “for himself”). He, perhaps, would be happy to hypocritically play “his own” in front of everyone in this house. But the trouble is that he is, in fact, not able to be both this, and this, and this at the same time. Of course, he is prudent and seeks to protect himself, advising Orgon to give him a chest with dangerous documents for safekeeping. But he understands what a hostile atmosphere he has to live in. After all, he is being hunted in the full sense of the word; Damis, Dorina, and Elmira are setting trap after trap. When Tartuffe's claims to Orgon's wife are exposed and he is expelled, he considers himself deceived, and therefore has the right to take revenge. Of course! He honestly played his role, and Orgon is dissatisfied, although he destroyed the illusion with his own hands. Moliere's criticism in this comedy is very deep. This is not an exposure of the vicious nature of some swindler who knows how to ingratiate himself with the rich and noble. This is an attempt to understand at a new level the same fatal thing for the 17th century. question - “to be and to seem.” The source of hypocrisy is in every person, and, as it turns out, this is connected with our need to embody the ideal, with the desire to see the world as we picture it in our deepest dreams.
12. “The theme and idea of the future production.”
Topic: Who we are and who we want to appear to be.
Idea - To see a person in the present, it is necessary either to leave him alone with himself, or to bring him face to face with a new, frightening, unknown phenomenon.
13. “The ultimate task of setting.”
It is necessary to convey to the viewer the idea that any subject in our life needs to be looked at from a different angle of perception. Real reality is the product of our actions and emotions.
“Tartuffe, or the Deceiver” is a comedy play by Moliere, 1664. In it, Moliere mercilessly criticized the most disgusting human vices: hypocrisy, thirst for profit, meanness, stupidity, voluptuousness, selfishness, timidity.
Plot
The action takes place in Paris, in Orgon's house. A young man named Tartuffe gains the trust of the owner of the house. Mister Orgon looks at the guest as a miracle: young, learned, modest, noble, pious, selfless. Orgon considers the household members who are trying to prove to him that Tartuffe is not as holy as he tries to show himself to be ungrateful people mired in sins. The true essence of Tartuffe is revealed only when Orgon imprudently entrusts him with the custody of the rebel treasury and transfers the house and his capital to him. Only the miraculous intervention of the king, who brings justice five minutes before the end (Tartuffe is punished, Orgon is forgiven, his house and property are returned to his family), allows the play to remain a comedy.
Main characters
- Madame Pernelle - Orgon's mother
- Orgon - Elmira's husband
- Elmira - Orgon's wife
- Damis - son of Orgon
- Mariana - daughter of Orgon, in love with Valera
- Valer - a young man in love with Mariana
- Cleont - Elmira's brother, Orgon's brother-in-law
- Tartuffe is a saint
- Dorina - Mariana's maid
- Flipota - Madame Pernelle's maid
- Mr. Loyal - bailiff (fr. loyal, legal). Moliere deliberately gives this name to a man bribed by Tartuffe.
- Officer
Each of the comedy heroes is the bearer of one dominant character trait. In this division of characters into positive and negative, the main features of classicism reveal themselves - literary direction, which does not involve psychological development of characters. Central hero– Tartuffe – appears before the reader as a creature devoid of any human dignity. The imaginary saint is the repository of a whole host of vices: he burns with passion for the wife of his benefactor, he does not hesitate to rob the one who gave him table and shelter, and finally, he is not afraid of either earthly power or heavenly court, sinning both before people and before God . Tartuffe’s life motto: “Sin quietly, and you’ll get away with everything!” The vile deceiver in the comedy is contrasted with Mariana's maid, Dorina, a smart girl with a quick tongue. She alone, throughout all five acts, manages to at least verbally resist Tartuffe. The rest of the characters cannot cope with him as a whole family: the head of the noble family, Orgon, is too gullible and stupid to discern the meanness of others; his son Damis is excessively impetuous and hot-tempered; his daughter Mariana, on the contrary, is timid and bashful; his wife Elmira prefers to occupy a distant position life position and not worry about such trifles as someone else's love and meanness. Elmira's brother, Cleant, like most nobles, is honest and smart, but lacks the inner gift of persuasion. Mariana's fiancé Valer, as a noble man, does not even think about bringing Tartuffe to light, because he will thereby interfere in the affairs of someone else's family. Each of the heroes of the comedy behaves to the very end as if he does not dare to believe in the incredible hypocrisy of the imaginary saint and the impenetrable stupidity of his patron Orgon. When in the finale the family finds itself on the verge of ruin and arrest, only the king’s intervention cuts through Tartuffe’s network of malicious intrigues. In this denouement, Moliere reveals himself as a true classicist: he endows the monarch with a number of virtues - love of truth, insight, a heightened sense of justice, love of goodness. In a sense, the king becomes God in Molière’s comedy, whose name Tartuffe covers himself with in order to achieve the desired wealth and woman.
The comedy genre does not prevent “Tartuffe, or the Deceiver” from organically entering the classicist system of works. On the contrary, appeal to the “low” layers literary creativity allowed Moliere to present a sample to the viewer social comedy, in which both the internal failure of the upper social class and the inexhaustible thirst for life of the lower class (in the person of Dorina and the ruined Tartuffe) are equally well shown. The heroes of Tartuffe are not sublime heroes of high classic genres, they are the most ordinary people, living their own small, private life, but this does not make them any less interesting.
Among the classicistic features in Tartuffe is the principle of three unities - time, place and action. Artistic time comedy does not exceed a day. Art space limited to Orgon's house, where, if necessary, all the other characters come - Madame Pernel, Valere, the bailiff - Mr. Loyal, an officer sent by the king. The plot of “Tartuffe” develops in a “single breath”: events follow each other as naturally as possible. At the same time, the composition of the work is particularly original: in the first act, the viewer gets acquainted with a problem called “Tartuffe” from the words of Orgon’s family, in the second he witnesses how detrimental the influence of the imaginary saint is on the life of a noble family, in the third - finally, Tartuffe himself reveals his true essence in front of Damis; in the fourth, Orgon is convinced of Tartuffe’s meanness; in the fifth, the long-awaited denouement begins, starting with a tragedy and ending with a finale standard for classicism - the triumph of good over evil.
Actually, “Tartuffe, or the Deceiver” is a comedy in the first four acts. The fifth act is more like a tragedy. There is nothing funny in it, and even Dorina’s constantly sounding, mocking voice is not heard so clearly in the fifth act. Mariana's maid is a real mouthpiece of reason in the comedy, not afraid to speak the truth to the face of everyone who needs it. Most of the comedic situations in Tartuffe are associated with the artistic image of Dorina and her caustic comments, revealing the true essence of what is happening.
Anti-clerical ideas occupy a special place in Tartuffe. Under the guise of the main villain of the comedy lies the well-known image of a cunning and greedy monk who only hides behind faith to commit his villainy. Initially, Tartuffe was a priest, but under the influence of dissatisfied religious people, Moliere changed his image to a secular one, making the hero simply a “pious man.” As Dorina aptly notes, Tartuffe is not the only such deceitful public character: an acquaintance of Madame Pernelle, a certain old woman Oranta, does not sin simply because she is already past the age when she could do it. Orgon's brother-in-law, Cleanthe, behaves in the comedy like a true believer: he periodically tries to operate with basic Christian principles, allowing him to expose the hypocrisy of Tartuffe and the stupidity of Orgon. But the latter is too blinded by the imaginary holiness of his idol, and the former is too cunning to fall for the bait of an honest man.
The importance of Jean-Baptiste Moliere in world literature is very difficult to exaggerate. He combined in his work the best traditions of French folk theater and advanced ideas of humanism and created a new type of drama - high comedy, thereby opening new page in the history of not only French, but also world theater. Moliere outlined the paths for all subsequent development of drama. His work served as a kind of bridge between two great cultural eras - the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Pre-Moliere comedies of the first half XVII centuries were of a very superficial, entertaining nature, devoid of any socio-moral issues. Moliere brings to the fore not entertaining, but educational and satirical goals. His comedies are characterized by sharp, flagellating satire, irreconcilability with social evil and, at the same time, sparkling healthy humor and cheerfulness.
The significance of “Tartuffe” for the playwright himself can be judged by how long and stubbornly he defended the play, how much mental and physical strength he spent confronting those who took up arms against it. More than once he became the object of slander and dirty gossip from enemies who were affected by his work. In the preface to the comedy, Moliere emotionally exclaims: “...Isn’t...the perversion of morality stuck in our teeth?” “We see villains who, everyday hiding behind piety, blasphemously force him to be an accomplice to terrible crimes.” “Tartuffe” served Moliere as a literary weapon, the target of which was the vice he hated, which became a real social disaster in the conditions of absolutism and counter-reformation.
The relevance of this work is due to the fact that interest in the work of Moliere and in particular his comedy “Tartuffe” has not waned to this day, as evidenced by the variety of books and monographs by theater and literary scholars, as well as scientific articles and publications dedicated to Moliere that I found on the Internet .
The purpose of the work is to select the materials necessary to analyze the problems and issues raised by the comedy “Tartuffe”, and present the results obtained in course work.
The topic I chose to write my work had not been developed by anyone in the literature before me, despite the numerous works of Molière authors. The novelty of the work is expressed in an attempt to rethink the most core ideas of these authors and, based on them, express their understanding of the images and problems raised in the comedy.
I used the critical literature of various French and Soviet researchers. Among them are such authors as I. Glikman, G. Boyadzhiev, V. Multatuli, S. Artamonov, S. Mokulsky, M. Bulgakov. Since Mikhail Bulgakov in his monograph most of dedicated to a detailed description of the playwright’s biography and did not analyze his work; I used it when writing the first chapter.. The remaining authors were engaged in a thorough study of Moliere’s works, and in particular the comedy “Tartuffe,” and were widely used by me in the second part of the work.
The first author to whom I turned, G. Boyadzhiev, referring in his statement to A.S. Pushkin, points out the colossal convicting power and social significance of the play: “Characterizing the greatest creations of poetry and drama, Pushkin wrote: “There is the highest courage: courage inventions, creations where a vast plan is embraced by creative thought - such is the courage... of Moliere in Tartuffe.” This “highest courage” of genius was in the discovery of Moliere in modern society evil power of religious and moral hypocrisy, the “broad plan” of the comedy was the playwright’s understanding of the enormous social significance of the topic, and its encompassing “creative thought” was the pathos of satirical denunciation, which remains to this day in the image of Molière’s hypocrite.”
The famous literary critic S. D. Artamonov agrees with his thought: “The fundamental meaning of the comedy “Tartuffe” was so deep, the strength and breadth of the generalization were so significant that Moliere’s comedy turned into a powerful statement against the feudal-Catholic reaction as a whole.” The same author, but in a different book, speaks about the value of comedy for society: “The name “Tartuffe” entered the world’s speech as a general denunciation of hypocrisy in all its manifestations, meanness and depravity under the guise of decency, ostentatious, deceitful piety, all insincerity, falsehood "
A similar thought is expressed by the next researcher V.M. Multatuli: “With his comedy, Moliere nailed pillory any hypocrisy and, in particular, that which uses religious dogmas and insists on the sinfulness of man.”
Another Moliere researcher, I. Glikman, speaking about comedy, emphasizes the following: “Tartuffe” is a play of great satirical capacity and relevance... It was about the main vice of an absolutist society - hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is not just one of the human vices, but a vice that in the 17th century became the sign of the era, the essence of the absolutist monarchy."
Russian theater critic S. S. Mokulsky also draws attention to the close connection of the play’s problematics with religion: “The fact that Tartuffe is directed against a certain group of reactionary clerics does not in any way remove the question of the deeper, philosophical meaning of the comedy. By denouncing the vile methods of the Society of the Blessed Sacrament, Moliere also denounced the reactionary role of religion in French private and public life. Without abandoning his favorite theme - the image of the bourgeois family and the exposure of all prejudices that hinder its development, Moliere connected this topic with the new task posed in Tartuffe: the exposure of religious hypocrisy and bigotry.
The practical significance of the course work is that it can serve as a basis, a fulcrum for further research in this area of literature, in the main issues relating to Moliere’s comedy “Tartuffe”.
The course work includes an introduction, two chapters, which in turn consist of: chapter 1 - of two subchapters, chapter 2 - of three; conclusion and list of references.
Moliere did not fight for any of his plays as much as he did for Tartuffe. Molière began to formulate its idea in 1663, “when the writer had many occasions to experience various manifestations of the wildest hypocrisy.”
On May 12, 1664, during a court celebration (“Entertainment magical forest") Moliere staged his new three-act play "Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite". With this comedy he wanted to respond to the machinations and malicious attacks of the members of the so-called. “The Society of the Holy Gifts” is a secret powerful organization created for the purpose of persecuting heretics and freethinkers, under the guise of charity and religious propaganda, regardless of their social status and position. Sectarians penetrated rich houses, monitored their inhabitants, subjugated their will, thus keeping public consciousness within the strict framework of religious dogma. The play deeply offended clerics and churchmen, who saw in it a caricature of the entire clergy. The king himself approved of Tartuffe, but under pressure from the church elite he still banned it. The “Society” was not satisfied with one ban; it longed for the physical destruction of the writer, calling him “a demon in a bodily shell,” “an out-and-out atheist,” who conceived and staged the play “to disgrace the church,<...>show it in a funny, despicable and disgusting form,” for which he deserved to be burned at the stake.” But Moliere was not the kind of person who could be intimidated by such threats - he decided to fight to the end and achieve permission for the production. At the end of August of the same year, he wrote his first petition to the king, in which he defended the right to “entertain people by correcting them,” which corresponded to the true purpose of comedy. Alas, the request remained unsuccessful - the king did not want to spoil relations with clerical circles.
After the death of Queen Anne of Austria, who patronized the Society of the Holy Sacrament, Moliere decided to try his luck and again took up Tartuffe. But, sensibly assessing the strength of his opponents, he was forced to slightly correct the play. “First of all, he renamed Tartuffe Panyulf, then stripped Panyulf of his spiritual attire and turned him into a secular man. Then he threw out many quotes from the Holy Scriptures, softened the sharp parts in every possible way and worked hard on the ending.” In the finale, the deceiver was punished (unlike the first version, where he remained unpunished) thanks to the intervention of the king. Louis XIV, leaving for the war in Flanders, gave verbal permission to publicly show the play. On August 5, 1667, the premiere of “The Deceiver” took place to a full house. “...It was a huge success. But the next day, a bailiff of the Parisian parliament appeared at the Palais Royal and handed Mr. Moliere an official order from Guillaume de Lamoignon, the first president of parliament, to immediately stop the performances of “The Deceiver.” Not intending to come to terms with this state of affairs, the playwright and his actor friends sent a second petition to the king, in which he asked for protection from “the authorities and might oppressing him.” This request also remained without consequences (although the monarch promised to consider the issue of production after his return to Paris).
The fury of the writer's enemies increased. The Archbishop of Paris, in his message to parishioners, forbade the performance, reading or listening of comedy, both publicly and privately, under threat of excommunication. Louis XIV, as the first parishioner of the Paris diocese, did not dare to contradict the archbishop, and “Tartuffe” was again buried for a whole year and a half. Only at the end of 1668, when a temporary peace was established between Catholics and Protestants, the king banned the activities of the Society of the Holy Sacrament. On February 6, 1669, the long-suffering “Tartuffe” was resurrected, and this time finally. Moliere finalized the comedy and on February 9, the performance that the Parisian public had so eagerly awaited took place in the crowded Palais Royal theater. From a long, grueling five-year struggle, Moliere emerged victorious. “Tartuffe ran thirty-seven times during the season, and when the report was compiled at the end of the season, it turned out that the Miser gave ten and a half thousand livres, Georges Dandin - six thousand, Amphitryon - two thousand one hundred and thirty livres , "The Misanthrope" - two thousand, "Rodogun" by Pierre Corneille - a strange figure of eighty-eight livres, and "Tartuffe" - forty-five thousand.
For 5 years, Moliere corrected, edited, and amended the play, three times - in 1664, 1667 and 1669. - it was presented to the audience. In the first edition, the comedy had three acts; it apparently ended with the way the third act of the last version of Tartuffe that has come down to us ends. In any case, it is not justice that triumphs in it, but hypocrisy; the bigot does not bear any punishment. Moliere made Tartuffe a clergyman and forced him to accompany “his dirty actions” with quotations from the Holy Scriptures. It is not surprising that the comedy has so excited religious circles.
In the second edition, preparing the play for production in 1667, Moliere expanded it to five acts, dressed Tartuffe in secular clothes, changed his name, as well as the title of the play itself - everything should have indicated that this was a completely different comedy. An important strategic step was to change the ending. Now the deceiver received what he deserved: “When the fraudster Tartuffe, aka Panyulf, was already triumphant and ruined honest people, and when it seemed that there was no longer any salvation from him, salvation nevertheless appeared, and it came from the king.” Thus, the naive playwright hoped to provide the comedy with the protection and patronage of Louis XIV. However, as we already know, these measures did not help bring her to the stage. In the third - the only edition that has come down to us - Moliere returns the main character to a religious appearance and calls his creation “Tartuffe, or the Deceiver.”
"Tartuffe" is Moliere's first comedy in which certain features of realism are revealed. In general, like his early plays, it follows key rules and compositional techniques classical work; however, Moliere often departs from them (for example, in “Tartuffe” the rule of unity of time is not fully observed - the plot includes a backstory about the acquaintance of Orgon and the saint). In the comedy, there is an organic interweaving of various artistic and comedic means: it combines elements of farce (for example, in those scenes where Orgon hides under the table, kneels with Tartuffe, or is about to slap Dorina in the face), comedy of intrigue (the story of the casket with important papers), comedies of manners, comedies of characters (Orgon, Tartuffe). This is precisely where the genre innovation of the work lies.
In creating the play, Moliere first of all sought to show hypocrisy, dressed in religious garb and masking its base and vile activities with the principles of Christian morality. According to the playwright, this is one of the most tenacious and dangerous vices of his time, and since “the theater has enormous potential for correcting morals,” Moliere decided to use sharp satire and ridicule the vice, thereby dealing a crushing blow to it. He highly valued truthfulness in relationships between people and hated hypocrisy. “He considered it his artistic and civic duty to crush the vermin of hypocrisy and hypocrisy. This idea inspired him when he created Tartuffe and when he courageously defended it.” Moliere based the plot on his observations of the above-described sect of religious people, nicknamed the “cabal of saints” (“Society of the Holy Gifts”), and the image central character was made up of typical features inherent in sectarians.
And yet the artistic power of comedy lies not so much in the life-like authenticity of the plot; What is much more important is that Moliere was able to raise the image of Tartuffe to the level of such broad and voluminous typicality that the latter went beyond the boundaries of its historical time and acquired an enduring global household name.
In Tartuffe, Moliere castigates deception, personified by the main character, as well as stupidity and moral ignorance, represented by Orgon and Madame Pernelle. By deception, Tartuffe cheats Orgon, and the latter falls for the bait due to his stupidity and naive nature. It is the contradiction between the obvious and the apparent, between the mask and the face, precisely this opposition, which Moliere so insisted on, that is the main source of comedy in the play, since thanks to it the deceiver and the simpleton make the viewer laugh heartily. The first - because he made unsuccessful attempts to pass himself off as a completely different, diametrically opposed person, and even chose a completely specific, alien quality - which may be more difficult for a zhuir and a libertine to play the role of an ascetic, a zealous and chaste pilgrim. The second is ridiculous because he absolutely does not see those things that would catch the eye of any normal person; he is delighted and brought into extreme delight by what should cause, if not Homeric laughter, then, in any case, indignation.
In Orgon, Moliere highlighted, before other aspects of character, the poverty, narrow-mindedness, and limitations of a person seduced by the brilliance of rigoristic mysticism, intoxicated by extremist morality and philosophy, the main idea of which is complete detachment from the world and contempt for all earthly pleasures.
Wearing a mask is a property of Tartuffe's soul. Hypocrisy is not his only vice, but it is brought to the fore, and other negative traits strengthen and emphasize this property. Moliere managed to synthesize a very real concentrate of hypocrisy, highly condensed almost to the absolute. In reality this would be impossible.
"Tartuffe" exposes not only, or rather, not just stupidity and deceit - for all of Moliere's main comedies expose these moral categories as a whole. But in each play they take different forms, vary in detail and appear in various fields public life. Tartuffe's lies, which took the form of feigned righteousness, and the stupidity of Orgon, unable to unravel the rough game of the rogue, manifested themselves in the religious field, which was especially vulnerable in the 17th century. One can argue for a long time about whether the play is indirectly directed against religion itself (Moliere himself categorically denied this); however, the only thing that cannot be denied and on which the opinions of all sides agree is that the play is directly directed against rigorism and against what is today called integratism.
The action of the comedy takes place in the house of the wealthy bourgeois Orgon, an honest Christian who fell under the influence of a mysterious (until the third act) character he met one day in church, and was blinded by the latter’s extraordinary piety and piety. Orgon settles this man, the saintly Tartuffe, in his place and allows him to dispose of everything and everyone. Moliere builds an intrigue around the stubborn egoism of the father-owner and tyrant, which Tartuffe unceremoniously and skillfully twists to suit his whims. What's going on? Orgon is a middle-aged and clearly not stupid person, with a strong will and a cool disposition. Why did he allow himself to be fooled like that? This question runs like a red thread throughout almost the entire play. A curious answer to this is given by the German literary researcher Erich Auerbach: “... The grossest deception... also happens to be crowned with success, and this happens when deceptions and temptations... satisfy their [the deceived] secret desires.<…>If Tartuffe gives Orgon the opportunity to satisfy his instinctive need - to sadistically torture and terrorize his family, then Orgon loves Tartuffe for this and is ready to go into his network for this.”
Isaac Glickman sees the reason for the manic attachment of the head of the family to the saint in the possessive nature of character and egoism: “As a typical owner, Orgon cherished his “property”, increased its value, raised its prestige, dealt with those who encroached in one form or another at her."
On the other hand, Orgon was brought up by Madame Pernel in the harsh rules of fear of God and submission to authorities, one of which he saw for himself in the person of Tartuffe. Conservatism and rigidity of views and thinking hinder his ability to judge things sensibly and give them a more or less objective assessment. Orgon’s blindness is so strong that even gross blunders in Tartuffe’s words and behavior, which clearly contradict the very concept of righteousness (gluttony, sybaritism, boasting, greed), are not capable of tarnishing him at all; Orgon finds an explanation for everything and in every possible way whitewashes his “saint.”
For the scales to fall from his eyes, Orgon needed to see with his own eyes that everyone at home was right. He “received his sight” as quickly as he had previously fallen into the nets laid by Tartuffe. The illusion dissipated - Orgon could not help but believe his own ears and eyes. And if after this he gains a sober view of the world, then his mother needed an even greater shock to see the true face of the vile swindler.
Moliere does not explain the reason for Orgon's fanatical devotion to Tartuffe, probably because it is unimportant. Comedy needs orgone so that against its background the image of the main character, or rather, his leading character trait, becomes even clearer and sharper.
The democracy and nationality of comedy are especially clearly expressed in the beautiful image of the maid Dorina. We can say that she is the main character of the first two acts. Dorina is not just cheerful and witty, she is insightful - she will not be deceived by ostentatious righteousness. She has an excellent understanding of human nature, and immediately saw the true face of the saint. Sharp-tongued, the girl is accustomed to freely, without choosing too many expressions, to speak out about what interests her. Dorina is the first to reveal to the audience the repulsive character of the main character, and she does it so vividly and vividly that no one else has any doubts about him, despite Madame Pernelle’s fiery speech.
Dorina is Tartuffe's most implacable enemy; she boldly, in a mockingly sarcastic tone, attacks both the saint himself and everyone who indulges him. Her speeches sound like sound human reason, mixed with rich life experience. But Dorina not only talks, she actively helps to counteract the tricks of the scoundrel, intervenes in inappropriate conflicts that are brewing and directs them in the right direction. According to some hints in the play, it can be assumed that it is she who is the author of the idea that Elmira soon implements.
Why does comedy need Dorina? Natural restraint and upbringing do not allow the other characters to express certain things out loud as freely and directly as the maid does. Meanwhile, these things must be said, because they contain truth, and simply because they are funny.
Together with Dorina, Tartuffe is also exposed by Cleante. It is called the “mouthpiece of the author’s ideas”: it is believed that through it Moliere resorts to the author’s assessment of the problem being covered. However, not all critics share this opinion. Isaac Glickman condemns Cleanthes for the fact that in the fifth act he “out of a sense of fear seeks ways of reconciliation with the informer in Christ, and in the finale expresses the wish “that he would correct himself, realizing his great sin.” Cleante is more tolerant than Dorina or Damis. He is ready to compromise with the saint in order to avert the danger hanging over Orgon, like the sword of Damocles, because of the ill-fated box. In activity, he is undoubtedly inferior to Dorina - he mainly appeals to Orgon’s reason and Tartuffe’s conscience, eloquently denouncing everyone who “adapted the sword of faith for robbery, carrying out criminal deeds with prayer.” Here we can rather agree that Moliere himself really speaks through the mouth of Cleanthe. In the comedy, Cleant acts as an inactive reasoner, lover of truth and defender of humanistic ideas. His monologues addressed to Orgon and Tartuffe are full of such indignation and protest, such irony and philosophical depth that Cleanthe turns out to be the most thoughtful and enlightened character in the comedy. He takes a broad view of life and values, first of all, the actions of people, and not hypocritical words.
The image of Elmira is more complex than the image of Orgon or Tartuffe, if only because she is a woman. In his plays, Moliere especially emphasizes the inexplicable, mysterious side of the female image, and in this regard, Elmira is undoubtedly the pinnacle of the playwright's creation. We hear the first assessment of her character from the lips of the indignant Madame Pernelle: “You are wasteful. Dressed like a princess." She is not happy that the young housewife, using her influence on her husband, has changed absolutely everything in the house - from the furnishings to the old, familiar way of life. Now there is an atmosphere of celebration and fun here, the house is buzzing with incessant balls and an influx of guests. Maybe Elmira is a little frivolous and partial to beautiful outfits and such joys of life as balls and noisy society, but this does not prevent her family from loving her, respecting her and sharing her attitude towards life. In her frivolity, she does not exceed the limit and always behaves with intelligence and calm dignity. When the peace and happiness of her family is threatened by Tartuffe, it is Elmira who will undertake to take her away, using all her ability to charm.
Her image comes to the fore in the third act. Without consulting anyone or warning anyone, Elmira makes an appointment with Tartuffe. She knows perfectly well that the vile rogue is in love with her, she is also fully aware of the power that this love gives her. Elmira is going to play on it - that is, use his own weapon against the deceiver. A masterful coquette, she brilliantly plays her role, and Tartuffe, not sensing a catch, falls for her bait. Words full of passion fall from his lips. Another married lady would be offended, outraged to the core, even frightened by them. But Elmira is cut from a different cloth. In a calm, slightly mocking tone, she answers him:
“The confession is ardent... But, no matter how flattering it is,
I'm afraid your speech is a little... inappropriate.
And I thought until today,
That your piety is strong armor
From worldly temptations, a reliable dam...
No matter how pious I am, I am still a man."
Tartuffe exclaims... and takes off his mask. Elmira achieved her goal. Without a mask he is insignificant, he is completely in its power. And who knows? Maybe she would have been able to bring her plan to a logical and victorious end if Damis, burning with indignation, had not inappropriately intervened.
Fast forward to the fourth act. Here the situation is critically aggravated: Orgon is even more blind than before, Tartuffe is even more powerful, and Mariana, Valere, Dorina, Damis and Cleanthe are in even greater despair. To save her family, Elmira decides to resume the farce, but this time unprecedented in its audacity and risk. She sets up a second date for the scoundrel and pretends to return his feelings - making considerable efforts to overcome her disgust and not arouse suspicion. Her main task- to extract a confession from Tartuffe, which Orgon, sitting under the table, should hear. Elmira is confident in herself, in her strength, she plays again, uses the entire arsenal of feminine tricks, and, finally, she herself confesses non-existent feelings to the person she despises. If Elmira throws at him the words “So that you don’t have to divide your heart’s flame in two - between me and the other,” then only in full confidence that they will force the scoundrel to rip off the mask again.
However, she forgot about Tartuffe's suspicion and lust. Words alone are not enough for him; he needs more “material” evidence. Elmira has fallen into her own trap! She vainly calls her husband for help, coughs, knocks on the table - he seems to hear nothing. But Tartuffe begins to act more and more persistently and impudently. Elmira is at a loss; having found herself in such a delicate situation, she feverishly searches for a way to protect herself from his harassment, tries new and new tricks and pretexts, and already verbally hints to her husband that it is time to stop this dangerous performance. And, as often happens, she arrives at the very last moment: she sends Tartuffe away from the room, supposedly to check if anyone is behind the door. As soon as he came out, Elmira exploded with mocking sarcasm addressed to Orgon: “Are you out? Already? Isn't it early? etc.
This magnificent comic mise-en-scène exhausts the role of one of the most original images created by Moliere.
Tartuffe, the main thing character comedy, is a collective image that personifies the entire “Society of the Holy Gifts”. This is clearly evidenced by certain details: this is the mask of holiness with which he hides behind himself, posing as an impoverished nobleman, and his secret connections with the court and the police, and the presence of his patrons among high-ranking courtiers. Therefore, the appearance of the saint in Orgon’s house is not accidental. As mentioned above, the young housewife Elmira brought into the family a mood of freethinking, incompatible with official piety, and Orgon himself is associated with former member parliamentary Fronde, political emigrant, enemy of the king. It was these families that the Society agents took control of.
The name "Tartuffe" supposedly comes from the old French word "truffer" - "to deceive". Contrary to the rules of classical dramaturgy, he appears in the play only in the third act. In the first two he appears as an off-stage character; he is not there, but we are talking only about him. Moliere explains this by saying that first he wanted to prepare the viewer for a correct perception of the hero. “The viewer is not deluded about him for a minute: he is recognized immediately by the signs with which I endowed him.” There is indeed no doubt about the saint from the very beginning: a hypocrite, a scoundrel and a complete scoundrel appears before the public. His base, repulsive nature emerges from the family conflict that opens the play. The appearance of Tartuffe in Orgon's house disrupts the harmony in the family and breaks it into two warring parties: those for whom the deceit and duplicity of the “righteous man” are obvious, and those who sincerely believe in his holiness. Despite the fact that there are only two of the latter, Tartuffe is not particularly worried about the serious hostility of the household towards him. Orgone is important to him. He befuddles him, gaining his attention and then his admiration with an ostentatious performance in the church. Tartuffe is a subtle psychologist; Having once lured the victim into the trap set for him, he uses all the techniques known to him to keep him in a kind of hypnotic state. These techniques allow the scoundrel to cleverly manipulate Orgon, giving him the appearance of free will in making decisions. In fact, Tartuffe only carefully pushes his benefactor to such decisions that are fully consistent with his, Tartuffe’s, insidious plans: he sets him up against his son Damis, whom Orgon kicks out of the house and deprives of his inheritance; upsets the engagement of Mariana and Valera in order to marry her himself and take possession of her dowry; finally, playing on Orgon’s gullibility and fear, Tartuffe receives a deed of gift for his entire fortune, as well as a casket with important political papers. He should be given his due - he knows how to understand someone else's soul, feels the weaknesses of those he deceives, and due to this achieves considerable results.
However, one should not be mistaken about him. Tartuffe may be a skilled manipulator, but he plays his role of the righteous (or even, in La Bruyère’s opinion, the role of the hypocrite) very poorly. He makes gross mistakes through which his essence shines through; he loses control of himself whenever it is difficult for him to cope with the natural inclinations and instincts that overcome him. He loudly declares all-night self-torture and mortification of his flesh, and at the same time he cannot and does not even try to resist the temptation to eat deliciously and sleep softly. “So, apart from Orgon and his mother, no one will fall for his bait, neither the other characters in the play, nor the audience. The whole point is that Tartuffe is by no means the embodiment of a reasonable and cold-blooded hypocrite, but simply an uncouth lout whose feelings are rude and whose desires are indomitable.” But this is precisely what the comic effect, which Moliere sought. He did not set himself the task of portraying an ideal hypocrite - the comedy of this image is based on the contrast between the role of the saint and his nature.
Each character gives Tartuffe some characteristic. Damis calls him a trickster, an all-powerful tyrant, an intolerable bigot; Cleanthes - a slippery snake; Dorina is an empty saint and a deceitful scoundrel. The maid tells Cleanthe about the power of Tartuffe's influence on the owner of the house. This weasel has taken over the management of economic affairs, sticks his nose everywhere and freely interferes in everything that does not concern him at all. Damis and Dorina are sincerely outraged that he, barefoot and beggar, has appeared from nowhere and behaves in such an unceremonious manner. Tartuffe rants about the decline of morals in the family that sheltered him and vigilantly monitors the behavior of his family; Apparently, not a single action of theirs and not a single word of theirs can be accomplished without his teachings and nagging. He carefully kept all the guests away from the house in order to avoid unnecessary rumors about his “good deeds” - after all, it could reach the ears of the king or people close to him. Or perhaps the reason lies in what Dorina pointed out to us: “He is simply jealous of his mistress” (i.e. Elmira).
Further - more: Orgon is going to marry his daughter Mariana to Tartuffe. The saint's calculation is simple - the girl has a rich inheritance and for him she is of exclusively business interest. Where did Orgon get this idea from? Many are inclined to believe that Tartuffe was its initiator. It doesn’t take much effort for him to approach the subject that interests him so subtly in conversation that Orgon, having forestalled his wishes, will make a decision in favor of his favorite or give him what he needs. It is possible that the issue is in Orgon himself, in his psychology of the owner. Here is how I. Glikman develops this idea: “Since the fashion for praying mantises and “saints” appeared in Paris, Orgon wanted to have “his own” saint at his side, who would protect the house... from all sorts of misfortunes.<…>The thought of Tartuffe marrying Mariana seemed tempting to Orgon because in this way he acquired “his” saint forever.”
Tartuffe demonstrates duplicity from the first seconds of his appearance in the play. Seeing Dorina nearby, he deliberately loudly pronounces a prepared speech about the whip and hair shirt with which he allegedly killed his flesh at night:
“Laurent! Take away both the whip and the hair shirt.
Whoever asks, answer that I went to prison
To the unfortunate prisoners, in order to console them
And give them a contribution from my meager means.”
He does not take off his mask even when he knows that his hypocrisy is obvious: appearance holy man, ruddy and portly, does not fit in with what he says. But Tartuffe is not embarrassed by such a contradiction, and even by the fact that this scene will not make the right impression either on Dorina or on other household members. The deception is intended for Orgon, but as for the others, it is enough for him that they create the appearance that they believe.
To the lush bouquet of the predominant character traits of the saint, another one is added: Tartuffe, among other things, turns out to be a sensualist and a secret libertine. Feeling his strength and complete impunity, he does not restrain his vicious attraction to the mistress of the house. However, even now he continues to be a hypocrite. The conversation begins in the traditional “Tartuffe” style. Left alone with Elmira, Tartuffe begins to “test the waters,” to check whether a response to his feelings is possible. He talks about love, and the pathetic timbres of a church sermon sound in his voice. Moreover, he skillfully weaves heaven and providence into his speech - one gets the impression that this is not a love confession, but a reading of psalms. But, having followed Elmira’s reaction, inspired by her goodwill, Tartuffe slightly lifts his mask. If at the beginning we observed a radical discrepancy between his judgments and behavior, now it begins to be smoothed out by the established temporal correspondence. Tartuffe sits down next to Elmira, puts his hand on her knee (“I wanted to feel the fabric”), touches the scarf on her neck, the words remain the same prayerfully pompous. But the further he goes, the more difficult it is for him to cope with his emotions. Elmira’s irony over his imaginary righteousness stung Tartuffe to such an extent that he forgets himself and finally throws off his mask, admitting that, after all, he is still a man, and not a “disembodied angel.” Continuing to be a hypocrite out of inertia, the scoundrel almost openly persuades Elmira to cheat, assuring her that he will keep the secret of their relationship, and, accordingly, the purity of her honor. Tartuffe reveals here his deeply vicious essence.
The scene ends abruptly with the intrusion of the enraged Damis, who was standing outside the door in the next room and heard everything. The young man rejoices: the scoundrel is caught at the crime scene, and, without hesitation, denounces him to his father. However, he does not know Tartuffe well. The saint has something to lose, and therefore he uses a subtle trick based on the morality of Christian self-abasement. He does not deny his guilt, because denial can give rise to the idea of the likelihood of a crime. Tartuffe, on the contrary, begins to repent and mercilessly flagellate himself. The trick works perfectly - the more he indulges in self-reproach, the more Orgon believes in his purity. And the trickster gets away with it again! Moreover, without losing anything that was at his disposal (namely, a well-fed and carefree life), he acquires what he could only dream of a day ago: Orgon transfers all the property into his name and makes him his only heir.
This event is turning point in comedy. Orgon is no longer the master of the house. Feeling his strength and superiority over his enemies, Tartuffe becomes impudent, he behaves almost arrogantly. When, during the second, staged date with Elmira, he is exposed, it would seem that a scene of terrible shock should occur. However, Tartuffe, without blinking an eye, moves from meek, sublime words to direct threats. Now there is no need to be cunning and pretend to be righteous. Tartuffe is now terrible, because Orgon can suddenly lose not only his home, but also his freedom. The reason for this is a casket with the papers of a rebel friend, which Orgon personally handed over to the hands of the wicked man.
Tartuffe does not stop there. He returns to the house, bringing with him an officer to arrest his former benefactor. The saint behaves not just impudently, he is arrogant, boorish and cynical - the whole range of his inherent qualities flows out of him like a fountain. He is in a hurry to put an end to this family, but then the well-oiled mechanism malfunctions. Tartuffe himself is arrested. The failed apotheosis of hypocrisy and deception is replaced by the apotheosis of royal mercy and justice.
This was Moliere's idea: evil should be punished, and comedy should have a happy ending.
In this course work, an attempt was made, based on selected materials, to reveal the theme included in the title, to analyze the main images of the comedy “Tartuffe”, to take a new approach to highlighting some aspects of their characters, to reflect in the work one’s view of the problems of the play, to show the meaning , which she had for Moliere, and also provide answers to a number of questions that arise in the process of studying this work.
The comedy “Tartuffe” occupied a very special place in the writer’s work. Moliere's satire was directed against the mannered and pretentious aristocracy, various retrograde oppressors, charlatan doctors, miserliness, stupidity, boasting and arrogance. The turn of hypocrisy has come; and not the one that is found everywhere in secular society- Moliere had already “executed him with laughter” in his plays - and religious hypocrisy, according to the writer, is one of the most common, dangerous vices.
Unlike his literary contemporaries, Moliere is universal in his depiction human types, he tried to cover all classes of the society around him. They are presented in extremely concise, clear images, each of which is a kind of ancestor of all subsequent similar images in literature.
In Tartuffe, Moliere, in the image of a saint, depicted the hypocrisy, hypocrisy, trickery and depravity of the contemporary clergy and clerics. The intrigue of the work unfolds against the background of the life and morals of the French bourgeois family. Tartuffe is a type that is both individual and socially generalized, embodying a characteristic phenomenon of social life in France in the 17th century. The leading feature of his character is deliberately exaggerated, extremely pointed; Tartuffe is absolute both in his imaginary piety and in his sinfulness. This trait of his is not given in its entirety right away; it reveals itself gradually and the more so the closer to the end. There is no evolution in it, the trait changes, but not qualitatively, but quantitatively - in the finale it is maximally condensed and expanded to a size that embraces almost the entire living space depicted in the play.
There are images in Tartuffe that do not directly participate in the central events. These are Cleanthe, who plays the role of a reasoner and observer of the development of events, Mariana Valer’s fiancé, and the silent Flipota. However, each of them has its own purpose in comedy. For Flipota, it is to contrast with Madame Pernelle, for Cleante, it is to express the author’s attitude to the problem (it is not for nothing that he speaks mainly in long monologues), for Valera and Mariana, it is more likely to introduce a grain of romance into the comedy. There are also off-stage characters, but necessary for the writer to create balance in the balance of power around the main character and for the most complete depiction of the conflict. Thus, Tartuffe is not the only hypocrite in the play, and this gives it greater realism and social urgency.
Hypocrisy is the main, but also far from the only character trait of Tartuffe. The rest seem to be layered on top of each other and serve as a background for it, making it sharper, clearer, and easier for correct perception.
Moliere does not combine the bad with the good in the hero. Tartuffe is devoid of internal contradictions, internal development and internal struggle. Everything is clear in it at once and to the end; the character turned out to be somewhat flat and shallow. But it is no coincidence that the author conceived it this way, otherwise the goal would not have been achieved, it would have been impossible to identify the commonality that the playwright sought to display in the main character.
The comedy “Tartuffe” not only has not lost its relevance, today it is perhaps even more topical than ever: you just have to pay attention to the high degree of gullibility of people, which is shamelessly abused by various swindlers and charlatans for the purpose of material gain. Various sects are multiplying and flourishing, poisoning the common sense of citizens with their insane teachings, subjugating their will and consciousness, again with the goal of taking away their well-being. This problem existed during Moliere's time, and it still exists today. On this occasion, S. Artamonov expressed an interesting thought: “He [Moliere] concentrated in his stage hero everything distinctive features hypocrite, showed them in close-up, threw a spotlight on them and made the audience remember them forever and then unmistakably recognize their speeches and actions public figures in life, in the behavior of people around him, sometimes in his acquaintances, maybe even in his friends.”
The value of the play lies in the fact that it boldly and vividly exposed the reactionary role of the clergy and created a generalized image of Tartuffe, which became a household name for hypocrisy and hypocrisy.
1. Bernard Delphine. Auteurs XVII siècle. - Paris: Belin, 1996. - 157p.
2. Castex P.-G., Surer P., Becker G. Manuel des etudes litteraires francaises. XVII sciecle. - Paris: Hachette, 1993. - 262 p.: ill.
3. Darcos Xavier, Tartayre Bernard. Le XVII siècle en litterature. - Hachette, 1987. - (Collection Perspectives et confrontation)
4. Artamonov S. D. History of foreign literature XVII– XVIII centuries - M.: Education, 1978. - 608 p.
5. Artamonov S.D., Grazhdanskaya Z.T., Samarin R.M. History of foreign literature of the 17th – 18th centuries. - ed. 3. - M: Education, 1967.
6. Auerbach Erich. Mimesis. Depiction of reality in Western European literature. - M: PER SE; St. Petersburg: University Book, 2000. - 511 p. - (book of light)
7. Boyadzhiev G. N. Moliere J.-B.: http://www.lib.ru/MOLIER/molier0-1.txt
8. Bulgakov M. A. The Life of Mister de Moliere. Theatrical novel: Novels. - Ufa: Bashk. book publishing house, 1991. - 320 p.
9. Glikman I. D. Moliere: a critical and biographical essay. - M: Hood. literature, 1966. - 280 p.
10. History of foreign literature of the 17th century. / Zhirmunskaya N. A., Plavskin Z. I., Razumovskaya M. V.; edited by Razumovskaya M.V. 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: graduate School, 2001. - 254 p.
11. Mokulsky S. S. Moliere (1622-1673). - M: Magazine and newspaper association, 1936. - ZhZL series. - 367 p.
12. Moliere J.-B. Plays: Tartuffe; A tradesman among the nobility. - K.: Mystetstvo, 1989. - 202 p.: ill.
13. Multatuli V. M. Moliere. - 2nd ed., add. - M.: Education, 1988
14. http://af.spb.ru/bull7/moliere.htm
16. http://perso.wanadoo.fr/mairie-seine-port/06_Village/HistoireSeinePort/Livres/Legouve/3-/Ch07.htm
17. http://proza.ru/texts/2003/10/30-97.html
18. http://rene.pommier.free.fr/Tartuffe04.html
19. http://www.alalettre.com/Moliere-tartuffe.htm
20. http://www.comedie-francaise.fr/biographies/moliere.htm
21. http://www.serieslitteraires.org/publication/
22. http://www.toutmoliere.net/oeuvres/index.html
"The Trilogy of Hypocrisy." Analysis of Moliere's comedy "Tartuffe".
An example of “high comedy” can be “Tartuffe”. The struggle for the production of Tartuffe went on from 1664 to 1669; counting on resolving the comedy, Moliere remade it three times, but was unable to soften his opponents. The opponents of “Tartuffe” were powerful people - members of the Society of the Holy Sacrament, a kind of secular branch of the Jesuit Order, which served as the secret moral police, instilled church morality and the spirit of asceticism, hypocritically proclaiming that it was fighting heretics, enemies of the church and the monarchy. The denunciations of secret agents of this society caused a lot of evil, so that contemporaries called it a “conspiracy of saints.” But the Jesuits during this period reigned supreme in religious life France, from among them the confessors of the royal family were appointed, and the Queen Mother, Anne of Austria, personally patronized the Society of the Blessed Sacrament. Therefore, although the king liked the play, first presented at a court festival in 1664, Louis for the time being could not go against the clergy, who convinced him that the play attacked not bigotry, but religiosity in general. Only when the king temporarily fell out with the Jesuits and a period of relative tolerance began in his religious policy, “Tartuffe” was finally staged in its current, third edition. This comedy was the hardest for Moliere and brought him the greatest success in his lifetime.
"Tartuffe" in one of the dialects southern France means "swindler", "deceiver". Thus, already by the title of the play, Moliere defines the character of the main character, who walks in secular dress and represents a very recognizable portrait of a member of the “cabal of saints.” Tartuffe, pretending to be a righteous man, enters the house of the wealthy bourgeois Orgon and completely subjugates the owner, who transfers his property to Tartuffe. Tartuffe's nature is obvious to all Orgon's household - the hypocrite only manages to deceive the owner and his mother, Madame Pernelle. Orgon breaks with everyone who dares to tell him the truth about Tartuffe, and even expels his son from the house. To prove his devotion to Tartuffe, he decides to become related to him and give him his daughter Mariana as his wife. To prevent this marriage, Mariana's stepmother, Orgon's second wife, Elmira, whom Tartuffe has been quietly courting for a long time, undertakes to expose him to her husband, and in a farcical scene, when Orgon is hiding under the table, Elmira provokes Tartuffe to make immodest proposals, forcing him to ascertain his shamelessness. and betrayal. But by expelling him from the house, Orgon puts him at risk own well-being- Tartuffe claims rights to his property, a bailiff comes to Orgon with an eviction order, in addition, Tartuffe blackmails Orgon with someone else’s secret inadvertently entrusted to him, and only the intervention of a wise king gives the order to arrest the famous rogue, who has a whole list of “unscrupulous acts” ", saves Orgon's house from collapse and provides the comedy with a happy ending.
Characters in classic comedy usually express one characteristic trait. Moliere's Tartuffe embodies the universal human vice of hypocrisy, hiding behind religious hypocrisy, and in this sense, his character is clearly indicated from the very beginning, does not develop throughout the action, but only reveals itself more deeply with each scene in which Tartuffe participates. Topical features in the image associated with exposing the activities of the Society of the Holy Sacrament have long faded into the background, but they are important to note from the point of view of the poetics of classicism. Many other characters in the comedy are also one-line: the usual roles of young lovers are represented by the images of Mariana and her fiancé Valera, the lively maid - the image of Dorina; the reasoner, that is, the character who “pronounces” for the viewer the moral lesson of what is happening, is Elmira’s brother, Cleanthes.
However, in every play by Moliere there is a role that he played himself, and the character of this character is always the most vital, dramatic, and most ambiguous in the play. In Tartuffe, Moliere played Orgon.
Orgone - in in practical terms an adult, successful in business, the father of a family - at the same time embodies the spiritual lack of self-sufficiency, as a rule, characteristic of children. This is a personality type that needs a leader. No matter who this leader turns out to be, people like Orgon are imbued with boundless gratitude to him and trust their idol more than those closest to them. Orgon lacks his own inner content, which he tries to compensate for with faith in the goodness and infallibility of Tartuffe. Orgone is spiritually dependent, he does not know himself, is easily suggestible and becomes a victim of self-blinding. Without gullible orgones there are no deceiving Tartuffes. In Orgone, Moliere creates a special type of comic character, which is characterized by the truth of his personal feelings despite their objective falsity, and his torment is perceived by the viewer as an expression of moral retribution, the triumph of a positive principle. In this regard, A. S. Pushkin’s remark is very true: “ High comedy is not based solely on laughter, but on the development of characters - and, quite often, it comes close to tragedy."
In form, "Tartuffe" strictly adheres to the classicist rule of three unities: the action takes one day and takes place entirely in Orgon's house, the only deviation from the unity of action is the line of love misunderstandings between Valere and Mariana. The comedy is written, as always with Moliere, in simple, clear and natural language.
The clergy never forgave Moliere for Tartuffe
Tartuffe. Hypocrite. And here it doesn’t matter to Moliere whether he is a nobleman or a bourgeois. We do not know the environment in which he acquired this trait. His passion itself is significant - hypocrisy, a psychological trait, and not a social background. This is a crystal clear image, taken from the historical environment. Moliere strives to create pure abstract stage space and time. This desire for abstraction is characteristic of classicists, and this desire is reflected even more strongly in the characters. Moliere, typifying the image, cannot help but give the hero individual traits. Individual feature Tartuffe is that he is a bearer of hypocrisy. He is arrogant and stubborn. It's like a person. And as a type, he embodies what Moliere wants to express in him - condensed hypocrisy. One way to depict such an image is the hero’s surroundings. It emerges from this environment. Tartuffe is generally outlined by those around him. Orgon admires him. Dorina talks about him. This environment of Tartuffe is artificial. With the hand of Moliere, all obstacles were removed from the path of the protagonist. The reverse side of Tartuffe’s boundless arrogance and hypocrisy is Orgon’s boundless gullibility, his devotion to Tartuffe. Moliere's second way of achieving abstraction is hyperbole. He introduces this hyperbole with strokes. It is necessary that the exaggerated trait be truthful, real, fixed in gestures, intonation, phraseology, and behavior that are truly characteristic of a person obsessed with this passion. Tartuffe is absolute in his imaginary piety: he covers Dorina's neckline with a scarf. Classical principle Moliere brings characteristics to the last degree of completeness, surpassing in this sense the most orthodox classicists. In general, the principles of classicism are very important to him. For example, what is important to him is his attraction to symmetry, to the balance of all parts. Moliere always has two heroes who complement each other using the method of contrast. In "Tartuffe" it is the arrogant Tartuffe and the gullible Orgon
