By: Moliere
Presented By: Jaimie Goss
Kaitlyn McClung
James Rasalam
Shardaya Weems
 Orgon’s mother
 Believed Tartuffe to be godly and
should be respected as a saint
 Didn’t want Orgon to let Tartuffe go
because she saw Tartuffe as a saint
 Elmire’s husband
 Blinded by Tartuffe’s “loyalty”
 Believed Tartuffe over his own
family and would do what Tartuffe
said was the smart idea
 Orgon’s wife
 Sees through Tartuffe’s lies
 Later deceives Tartuffe in order to
make Orgon see the real criminal that
he is
 Orgon’s son
 Elmire’s stepson
 Never thinks before he acts. He
always rushes into things which later
create problems within him and his
family
 Orgon’s daughter
 Elmire’s stepdaughter
 In love with Valere
 Almost married Tartuffe under
father’s command
 Lets her father control her life
Childish and naive
 In love with Marianne
 He is charming like Prince
Charming from Sleeping Beauty
 Respects Marianne and wants her
to make her own decisions
 He also respects Orgon and his
choices
 Orgon’s brother- in- law
 tries to help the family with
Tartuffe because he also believes that
Tartuffe is a fraud
 A hypocrite, False prophet
 Cunning
 Reminds people of Honest John
from Pinocchio
Tries to steal everything from the
family
 Betrothed to Marianne but
infatuated with Elmire
 Marianne’s lady’s- maid
 Not afraid to speak her mind and
opinions
 Does not follow rules and she acts
as part of the family instead of a
maid
 She is kind of like Danielle from
Ever After
 Monsieur Loyal- a bailiff; told the
family that they had to leave under
Tartuffe’s orders; seduced by Tartuffe
 Police Officer- loyal to the Prince
(King Louis XIV) instead of Tartuffe
 Flipote- Madame Pernelle’s manservant, does not get treated well
 Focuses on Orgon’s desire to preserve
control in his family. Using his authority as her
father, Orgon plans to force Marianne to marry
Tartuffe. Tartuffe attempts to seduce Elmire.
Elmire tries to reveal Tartuffe’s true nature to
Orgon by getting Tartuffe to repeat his
passionate revelations while Orgon is hiding in
the room. Elmire’s plot succeeds, but it is too
late because Orgon has already signed the
house and properties over to Tartuffe. Although
the ending is contrived, all does end happily
and poetic justice is accomplished.
 In a Parisian luxurious home of
Orgon
 mid 1600s
Act 1, Scene 1
All said by Madame Pernelle
 “Than dear Orante…”- Madame
Pernelle believes Orante will condemn
Damis and Dorine
 “Parties are Towers of Babylon”
 “Are nothing but inventions of the
Devil”- Damis’ and Dorine’s thoughts of
Tartuffe
Act 4, Scene 1
 “sacrifices your wrath to God above”
 “God knows what people would think”
 “leave vengeance to the Lord”
 “but I am not commanded by the
Bible”
 “and thus obeyed the laws of Heaven
 “Parties are Towers of Babylon,
because
The guests all babble on without a
pause.”
Act 1, Scene 1 by Madame Pernelle
Compares parties to Towers of Babylon
because of how the people react at a
party
 “And thus high Heaven’s justice was
displayed: Betraying you, the rogue
stood self- betrayed.”
 Act 5, Scene 7
Act 1, Scene 1
 “Seems so pure, so shy, so innocent and so
demure.”
 “ Their dear, dead mother did far better…”
 “And practices precisely what he preaches”
 “I’ll slap some sense into that stupid face.”
Act 4, Scene 5
 “I fear my words are all too frank and fare”
 “In him and him alone will he confide;
/ He’s made him his confessor and his
guide.”
 line 17-18…. Act 1, Scene 1
 Orgon tells Tartuffe about his secrets
Act 1, Scene 1
 “And you, his sister, seem so pure,/
So shy, so innocent and so demure.”
 “I tell you that you’re blest to have
Tartuffe Dwelling, as my son’s guest,
beneath his roof…”
 The beginning of the play- Damis and
Dorine call Tartuffe a hypocrite while
Madame Pernelle says that he is a fine
man and would save their souls.
 Orgon throws Damis out of the house
and Tartuffe tells him that it was wrong
in God’s eyes to throw someone out of
the house and than Tartuffe later tries to
throw the family out of their house.
 The central theme is the exploration
of religious hypocrisy in contrast to true
Christian value
 the theme leads to the satire
 satirizes religion and being pious
 parody of St. Augustine’s
Authoritarian and misanthropic version
of Christianity
 Orgon is eager to believe in Tartuffe
for a variety of reasons, but one of these
is because the religion that Tartuffe is
peddling is a version of Christianity that
Moliere regards as insane
 Orgon’s dependents are connected
with his relish over original sin of human
nature- He’s a “by the book” Christian
 The target of the play’s satire is
Tartuffe himself and that Tartuffe is
obviously not an example of a religious
hypocrite.
 Orgon eagerly buys into Tartuffe’s
mindlessly disciplinary rigor( based on
the “extremist theory of Original Sin”)
 The play pokes fun at the obsessive
fanaticism and the blind gullibility of
those who allow themselves to be
victimized by the greedy and selfserving.
 Tartuffe is considered a comedy and a
satire work
 comedy- contains basic and accepted
patterns of comedic development
 satire- takes a very specific human
vice( religious hypocrisy) and censures it
with the intent of improving humanity
 the characters in the play always hide
in order to obtain secretive information
 Tartuffe first appears in Act 3, Scene 1, but
the reader and audience have already been
well- introduced to his character before his
appearance
 characters of Tartuffe are intended as types,
rather than realistically drawn literary figures
-Tartuffe: archetypal hypocrite
-Orgon: archetypal gullible fool
- may not always be “realistic”, but
represents typical behavior of personality
type that the character embodies