AP Lit and Senior Composition
Dr. East
Literature: Enlightenment
Composition Due: Please compose a 3-4 composition that demonstrates how one of the central Enlightenment concerns (the
discharge of extremes) is addressed and discharged in the drama through the use of characterization in the interests of promoting
a life of restraint and religious virtue.
1. FAIR WARNING: papers are due the moment class begins.
75 is the highest a late paper will receive.
2. FAIR WARNING: papers that do not exhibit attempts at CONCISENESS will not earn a mark over 80.
3. FAIR WARNING: papers that do not quote directly from the play (PROOF) can not earn above 70.
4. FAIR WARNING: papers are DUE at the beginning of class.
TITLE [clever title that includes a phrase from play and essay’s theme]
[INTRODUCTION]
Sentences before the Thesis ought to include something along the lines of one of the major projects of the Enlightenment detailed
in Molière’s play.
THESIS: remember, an argumentative form and remember to announce and limit your theme here.
First Graph: Might take up the topic of the extreme passion in terms of excessive credulity (belief) and excessive hatred. The
best models for this might be Orgon, the patriarch of the family, and Damis, his son.
[sub topic] Orgon’s excessive credulity
--First evidence (show evidence that he IS excessively credulous)
Proof: the moment he gets home, he ignores reports about his wife’s sickness
--Effects of his excessive belief
Proof: intends to give Marianne up to him as a bride (find the passage, my lazy ones)
Proof: refuses to believe the word of his own son, Damis, with regard to Tartuffe’s misbehavior with
Elmire, his wife.
B. [sub topic] Damis’ excessive hatred
--First evidence (in virtually every speech, he speaks violently, emotionally)
Proof: talks with Cléante, Dorine, and Elmire
--Effects of his excessive anger
Proof: he spoils all of Elmire’s attempts to lure Tartuffe to a compromising situation.
Then he burst in.
Second Graph: Ought, then, to hold up the other target of Molière’s play: passivity and appeasement. The best model for this
may be found in Marianne.
A.
[May be best to develop on one sub topic here? Marianne?]
Proof: go to the episode where Dorine and Marianne are discussing the problem and find the passage where
Marianne seems to give in. And, heavens, don’t skip the part about her wanting to commit suicide.
Third Graph: Perhaps your longest graph. After a nifty transition about the forces that aim to mitigate the extremes above,
introduce Elmire, Dorine, and Cléante. [You might get away only with Elmire and Cléante here]
Elmire: [Proof 1] any proofs you offer about her reasoned approach to things ought to include the comments she made
with regard to gently rebuffing unsavory approaches (men hitting on wives) rather than blowing up.
[Proof 2] how could you leave out her use of seductive powers to lure Tartuffe to make an indecent approach
so that she might use her sway over him (NOT the passage where Orgon is under the table)
Cléante: here you have the key voice (clé in French, by the way, means key) of the Enlightenment
Two are three very important talks can be had here:
One with Orgon
One with Tartuffe
One with Damis
[look through each interview and find a passage that discloses the Cléante’s orientation]
[CONCLUSION]:
Commonly begins with a summation of your basic topics, roughly a restatement of your thesis in other words. Then move on to
some judgment of the use of this characterization, or some judgment of the message that Molière has set down here.