Tartuffe
The hypocrite whose appetite wears a hair shirt.
Baroque & Neoclassical · Play · 1664
Tartuffe
Molière
A wealthy household is captured by a professional holy man. The comedy is a machine for unmasking piety that feeds on other people’s goods.
Comedy of manners
Characters
Orgon
The credulous patron who prefers a saint to his own family.
Dorine
The servant whose common sense is the play’s true ethic.
Themes
Hypocrisy
Religion as costume, and the social damage of believing the costume.
Authority in the house
A father’s will becomes a political problem.
Motifs
Eating well while preaching abstinence.
Truth requires an eavesdropper and a well-timed reveal.