While reading all I could think about is, why is tartuffe's method so effective? The best way to answer this question is by figuring out the politics behind the characters. As remembered from class, it was well-known back then that the father of a house was meant to model after a king, and the king to model after God. So during this time period, it would have been easy for people to relate Orgon to king Louis XIV. The play was also originally meant for him as a way of telling him that he is not doing a good job as a king. That's good but what does this have to do with tartuffe's method and its effectiveness? To answer that question I had to do some research. It was always common for kings to have advisors, and for some of those advisors to want more power than just advising.
"In the case of France that dangerous interest is likely to be not the sinful desires (concupiscence) of the individual who happens to be the confessor, but the interests “fanatically” served by that confessor — those of Rome. The danger is especially not to be dismissed if the confessor happens to be a Jesuit, since a requirement to being accepted as a Jesuit is that one take an oath of personal allegiance to the pope."
So then, relating this scenario back to Tartuffe, the character of Tartuffe may well be a Jesuit being told what tot whisper into the king's ear so that he (the Jesuit) can be in better standing with the king in order to trick the king into helping the pope. the answer to this question would be that first of all this technique has been practiced and refined and that it's more than just one person but instead a whole "political party" whispering into the king's ear.
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"In the case of France that dangerous interest is likely to be not the sinful desires (concupiscence) of the individual who happens to be the confessor, but the interests “fanatically” served by that confessor — those of Rome. The danger is especially not to be dismissed if the confessor happens to be a Jesuit, since a requirement to being accepted as a Jesuit is that one take an oath of personal allegiance to the pope."
So then, relating this scenario back to Tartuffe, the character of Tartuffe may well be a Jesuit being told what tot whisper into the king's ear so that he (the Jesuit) can be in better standing with the king in order to trick the king into helping the pope. the answer to this question would be that first of all this technique has been practiced and refined and that it's more than just one person but instead a whole "political party" whispering into the king's ear.
I commented on Rachael & Jamie
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