Tartuffe

Without trust, every human relationship becomes impossible. Orgon’s family mistrusts Tartuffe, and increasingly so, the more the patriarch places his trust in him. Their suspicions are proven right. Tartuffe is a sanctimonious hypocrite who preys upon people’s gullibility for his own profit. Molière’s adversaries were the hypocritical clerics of his day who fought tooth and nail to prevent »Tartuffe« from being performed. Eventually, the king sanctioned the performance, in a similar way to the regal turn for the best he displays in the actual play. The gullible Orgon is saved, the family remains intact and the daughter can marry her lover. Molière presents the hypocrite and his victim to an audience who at no point are left in any doubt of the evil intentions being pursued and the extent of Orgon’s naivety which prevents him from figuring them out. Evil draws its power not from its concealment: on the contrary, it is very easily spotted. But Orgon, like all of us, is compelled more often than not to trust people and the world if he wants to live.

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