While reading Tartuffe, I was constantly dumbfounded by the prevalence in the world today of Moliere’s, comedically portrayed, accusations regarding ignorance in arranged marriage, social class dynamics and religious hypocrisy. Moliere created the characters to the complete contrast to what society saw them as, which was intriguing and comedic. He also displayed the average practices, such as planned marriage, to be disgraceful and shameful. Lastly, but most prevalently, Moliere saturated the hypocrisy of religion by later in the story revealing the religious character’s deceitful and malign nature. In this essay, I will be using historic and literary theory to examine Moliere’s interesting views of such practices and the satire involved. Moliere …show more content…
Many fathers in that day in age, especially those belonging to the upper-class, had arranged marriages for their daughters and Moliere’s blow to planned marriages most likely greatly upset them. For a man to come and tell the public what they are doing or what they have done is seen as a comedy, is rather upsetting and degrading to say the least. During the time period of when Tartuffe was written, planned marriages were prevalent, but mostly only in the upper-class. Women who descended from a wealthy family, was most commonly arranged a marriage in order to sustain wealth and land. When individualism and free thinking came about, women began to urn for true love in a husband. Many parents in the world today still plan marriages for their children. For example, the members of Indian culture still practices arranged …show more content…
The topics discussed in Tartuffe would follow literature all the way to today. All literature today was rooted from the philosophies and works published during the Enlightenment, especially the works of Pluto. Robert Browning’s, My Last Duchess, was written two centuries after Tartuffe, discusses the issue of marriage, and also the superiority of men to women, a topic subtly mentioned in Tartuffe. Perhaps had Moliere never republished Tartuffe the world of literature would still lack satire and courage to test the common held beliefs of
Seventeenth-century France’s justice system takes into account both financial and religious influences. The rules of the Catholic Church affect the character of the people, imploring them to tell the truth. This directly impacts Bertrande and her marriage. The action of forging one’s identity also causes legal ramifications. Society charges that Bertrande actually has a realization that Arnaud were, in fact, an impostor from the very beginning.
Cyrano’s and Christian’s Silly Plan In Cyrano de Bergerac written by Edmond Rostand two men are in love with the beautiful precieuse, Roxane. One of the men, Cyrano, finds himself unattractive but what he lacks in looks, he makes up for in his astounding poetry and intellect. The other, Christian, whose defining features are his good looks, lacks wit and isn’t a good writer. An impractical plan is formulated between the men so Christian can gain the love of Roxane, despite all the problems that can be foreseen.
As well as, this recognition of Tartuffe's false nature reveals the severity of Orgon’s arrogance. Moliere highlights within the second half of the play, the extremes of pride and how mankind struggles to face it. The theme of pride is accentuated by Orgon’s nature, especially, during
The Misanthrope is a seventeenth century comedy of manners written by Jean-Baptiste Moliere. This play ridicules and criticizes the French aristocratic rule while revealing the foibles of man. His primary intention is not to tell his audience what is right but to teach the society a definite lesson. The Misanthropist remains relevant through the years because every generation since 1666 has managed to find something that reminds them of their own society.
Throughout Molière’s ‘Tartuffe” the true intentions of multiple characters are consistently questioned. Different characters involve themselves in self-made delusions for specific reasons, causing the label of ‘hypocrite’ to become a significantly used word. This use of the word ‘hypocrite’ throws everything off balance, forcing the audience to question every statement/event deciding whether or not they are truly sincere. Moliere’s use of hypocrisy when describing Tartuffe brings immediate awareness to the text involving central theme of reason verses emotion, deciding whether or not a characters actions were based on their pure heart or their greed.
Although she was madly in love with Abelard, Heloise would much rather be considered his friend, or even his prostitute, than any title even resembling that of a wife. She writes, “the name of wife may seem more sacred or binding, but sweeter for me will be always be the word friend, or… that of concubine or whore,” (Heloise 51). When Abelard proposes marriage, Heloise does all in her power to dissuade him from this notion. She tells him of “the loss to the Church and grief of philosophers which would greet such a which would greet such a marriage,” (Abelard 13). When these points do not dissuade Abelard, Heloise tells him of the “annoyances of marriage and its endless anxieties,” (Abelard 14), and that their marriage would ultimately be a form of Abelard’s servitude to her.
A significant theme that Lynn Hunt explores is representational culture. Specifically, how the family and individual members of the family are depicted through the arts and literature in the advent of the printing revolution. This is a broader theme explored throughout the monograph. Representations of the fallen King, the Band of Brothers, and the Bad Mother through the despised Marie Antoinette. While this is not the main theme of the book, it gives the reader a good idea about the pervading political climate of 18th century France.
Also, arranged marriages from the parents decrease the chance of any physical or mental abuse. The author states, “The global divorce rate for arranged marriages was six percent compared to the fifty-five percent of normal marriages” (page2). This statement from the author proves that arranged marriages can and will last longer than a normal relationship. The claims that I have stated are a lot stronger than this one because the statistics here are not always proven every year throughout the world.
Orgon is blinded by his admiration of Tartuffe. Without Orgon seeing for himself, he would never believe that Tartuffe could have deceived him. Moliere makes Tartuffe betrays others by his remarkable gestures of humiliation and aid. Moliere uses satire to emphasize the truth about Tartuffe’s lust for Elmire.
It can be quite easy to make assumptions about one’s character upon first glance or first encounter, but often these first assumptions are not a direct representation of a person’s true disposition. In the short story, “The Diary of a Madman” by Guy de Maupassant, an esteemed magistrate is being remembered for the model citizen he was, having lived a life that no one could subject to criticism. However, a notary uncovered his diary in a drawer in his home, in which he entailed his tendencies and cravings for murder that no one had expected of him. Within this text, the author uses the character of the magistrate to convey the theme that one’s true character cannot be decided from external appearance or actions. From the beginning of the text, it is made evident that this man was revered as the most well-respected judge in all of France.
It is the first goal of our essay to understand how marriage and courtship in Shakespeare´s plays are an important exciting theme because it was something real during XVI century. The objective of the essay is to examine how courtship and marriage affects the issues and formation of the play named A Midsummer Night´s Dream (The Malone Society, 1996) focusing on the social and emotional relationships between men and women. Consequently, the aims are: first, to show the importance of the female character in the play according to virginity, chastity and sexuality; second, to explain how love is treated in the play; and lastly, to illustrate how courtship and marriage are depicted through the characters. It is crucial to understand that all of
This can lead to extremism, which some might label as false piety or religious fanaticism. Looking at how these ideas might come into play can help us to better understand where Tartuffe and Orgon stood throughout the story, and to decipher what Molière was truly trying to project in this story of hypocrisy. Piety is defined as “devotion to God; fidelity to natural obligations; dutifulness
The Feud in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet The aim of this essay is to define the nature of the feud in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and to discuss its function in the dramatic development of the play. The conflict between the families of Montagues and Capuletes is presented as the outcome of an ultimate expression of patriarchal society in Verona which promotes virility at any cost and obscene sexual innuendo targeting women. However, the love of Romeo and Juliet comes to prove the young people’s indifference towards the feud but at the same time the patriarchy’s tremendous power over them. Finally, the family’s feud combined with the contribution of fate makes the timing of events such, that a tragic resolution cannot be prevented.
The Scarlet Letter, a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850, functions as an evaluation of Puritan ideas, customs, and culture during the 17th century. Through this evaluation, we can get a good idea of what core values and beliefs the Puritans possessed, as well as the actions they take in cases of adversity brought about by “sinners”. Some Puritan virtues created stark divisions between groups of people, some of which led to discrimination under certain circumstances. One of the most prominent of these is the treatment and standards of men and women, a concept that surfaced during some of the major points in The Scarlet Letter. The divisions that were created by Puritan standards of men and women played a great role in shaping the plot of The Scarlet Letter, determining the fate of many of the characters.
Final Assignment of English Literature Reading BY YANG ZONGYOU, D01 “The False Gems”by the great writer Guy de Maupassant is a miracle that draws a delicate and precise image of France in the late 19th century. Written in an objective view, woven with sarcasm, this little piece of art reflects the truth of the society and humanity in its era without any obvious rhetoric, like a real old gem that shimmers constantly and gorgeously, leaving an ample space of ambiguity for readers to ponder over and over again. “The False Gems” seems to be objective, however, on the contrary, the plot of the story itself is a barrel of irony, in which the author 's opinion and emotion lies deeply — the genuine ones are found fake, while the false ones turn out to be real; knowing everything is not always good. Mrs. Lantin 's before-and-after contrary is ironic. At the very beginning of the story, everyone is convinced that Mrs. Lantin was a virtuous woman.