Tartuffes Genius By Stephen Davis

Tartuffe is especially interesting to me because of Tartuffe himself.Tartuffe is interesting because his manipulative nature towards orson and the rest of the family. This nature is seen the clearest during two specific instances. The first instance is shown by the initial cunning of Tartuffe to gain entry into the household by taking advantage of Orson's religious fanaticism. Tartuffe may not be how a genius is typically defined but through this manipulation we see Tartuffes hidden talent at twisting and disrupting the family dynamic between Orson and the rest of his family (besides his mother) shows just how clever and industrious he really is. Moving on from this initial deception of Tartuffe, we see the way that Tartuffes manipulation of Orgon has steadily grown as well as his own influence inside the household as seen when he has convinced Orgon to accept him into the family by marrying his daughter. This masterful maneuvering on Tartuffes part is only more impressive when you realize that the daughter that he would be marrying is already betrothed to another. This is, in my opinion, Tartuffe at his best as he essentially has everyone in the household tied around his finger. This deceptiveness of his is what makes him by far my favorite character in the entire story. Unfortunately, characters such as Tartuffe always meet a sad end and his comes about due to his innate lustfulness. I will not get into it in details as we are not to summarize the story but I will admit that I was awfully disappointed that he did not achieve his goals because you can see all the hard work he put into this endeavor only to be ousted ultimately due to his own lustfulness for Orgon's wife is simply heartbreaking.

P.s. I commented on Maddison Flowers and Eliza Colbert

Comments

Eliza Colbert said…
You're perspective of Tartuffe as a victim is not one I have ever heard before. I can see why you say that, especially when you take into account all the work Tartuffe put into this family. I am pretty sure that Moliere did not intend for Tartuffe to be the victim of the story, but who's to say
Kayla Gill said…
I am surprised at your take on Tartuffe. The way you almost view him as the hero in the story rather than the villain is interesting. However, I am not disappointed. Personally, more than I see Tartuffe as a conman like most do, I see him as insane. I think Tartuffe is a pathological liar and has begun to believe his own lies. This is how I see him able to keep up his act the entire time. Great post, though!
Wow! I did not at all perceive Tartuffe as you did, but I find your outlook very interesting. I really enjoyed the way you saw this character, even though it is not at all what I saw him as. I see him as insane, where as you see him as the hero of the play. This is one reason I love these blog post is because I get to read from a perspective which I would not have gathered myself.