“The Truffle or the Impostor” is one of Moliere's most famous works, first performed in 1664, but remains popular to this day. The name Tartuffe became a household name, denoting a deceiver, a puritan, a hypocrite. Moliere is an outstanding satirist, a talented poet, but he is also a brilliant propagandist. In the finale of the play, the king punishes the injustice and the expected happy ending arrives. The show combines classic and innovative features, the genre of comedy and the skill of political propaganda. This comedy was a phenomenon of the historical era in which it was created. The premiere of this work, the historical context and the reaction of French society at the time demonstrate that it is not only a work of art but also a product of the propaganda of the absolutist monarchy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Jean-Baptiste Poquelin is a 17th-century French playwright, creator of classical comedy, gaining popularity under the pseudonym Molière. Jean-Baptiste was born in 1622 in Paris. Considering the fact that the writer's father acquired the position of a royal clerk and valet of the king, they had no problems with finances. Jean-Baptiste received a good education but soon realized that he was not at all interested in the family trade. He decided to become an actor. Precisely in that period in France, theatrical art was undergoing a change. Theater moved from street stages to magnificent halls, transforming from entertainment for the public to exquisite entertainment for aristocrats. Together with several actors, Jean-Baptiste created his own theater, which, however, did not last long, unable to resist the competition from professional Parisian companies. And he left the capital, deciding to try to succeed in the provinces. During his long wanderings in France, Moliere retrained himself from a tragic actor to a comedian, since it was the farcical performances that provincial audiences liked most. In addition, the need to constantly update the repertoire made Moliere begin to compose plays himself. Jean-Baptiste, who dreamed of playing the main characters in plays, involuntarily became a playwright. Therefore, Moliere traveled a lot around the country, got to know different audiences and, therefore, thoroughly studied human and social vices. After all, it is impossible to become a playwright without such special knowledge. Moliere's first original work was presented to the Parisian public in 1659. The success was overwhelming and even scandalous. The main characters of Moliere's works express, as a rule, three main human vices: the hypocritical Truffle, who believes that he can find an excuse for every sin; the atheist Don Juan, who challenges all that is holy and dies as a result; and Alceste, who does not recognize his vices and weaknesses. It is important to note that all the plays that gave the author literary immortality caused him many problems in life. After “Tartuffe” Moliere became the object of increasing attention from the Jesuits. Initially "Tartufo" was banned because the priests saw in a mockery the religious hypocrisy of Tartufo's attacks on the church. If it were not for the support of the king and historical circumstances (the formation of absolutism, the weakening of the role of the church and the strengthening of the power of the monarch), who knows, maybe Moliere would have been burned at the stake as an evil heretic who undermined the foundations of faith. To save Molière's theater from attacks by the church and the Jesuits, the king raised it in rank, giving it the name “King's Actors”, and the troupe began to receive a salary from the treasury.As a result, Moliere aroused the wrath of the church, which, however, was no longer as omnipotent as in the Middle Ages, but was “approved” by the king. The play “Tartuffe” is based on a family conflict between Orgon and his mother against Tartuffe. There is still a love conflict. Moliere does not refuse a comic story and weaves it into a play. Tartuffe combines both conflicts, although he does not participate in the conflicts themselves, everything happens as if around him. The truffle is an ideological image. This image is created until Tartuffe appears (before the second act), only to destroy it at the end, obviously. Before appearing he must seem like a thin and nice boy, while in reality he is a well-fed hypocrite. Since 1530 France has been waging a revolutionary religious war. In the context of this religious comparison, the monk Truffle should be considered good, but in reality he is not at all. The character promotes asceticism, although he does the opposite. Molière plays on this contrast, on the discrepancy between words and deeds. Tartuffe believes that one can only adapt to life through hypocrisy and betrayal. Moliere is not opposed to religious ideals, but he is opposed to “bad priests” and the fact that values become an object that can be manipulated. The show was quite innovative for its time. He violated some norms of classical theater. The first violation of these norms was the choice of the upper class as characters in the play. The king also appears in the finale. The second violation of the dramatic classics of those times was the presence of two plots. The third violation was that the genre of comedy, considered “inferior,” was written in poetry and not prose. Overall, Molière created high comedy for high audiences. The result was a new kind of comedy. However, innovative features and comedy genre do not prevent “Tartuffe” from entering the classics. On the contrary, the use of “low” genres of literary creativity allowed Moliere to present the viewer with a model of social comedy, in which the vices of the upper social class and the inexhaustible thirst for life of the lower class are equally well represented. shown. The characters of “Tartuffe” are not the exalted ones of the “high” classical genres, they are the most ordinary people who live their small and private lives, but nevertheless do not become less interesting. The central character, Tartuffe, appears before the reader as a creature devoid of human dignity. He is a sort of receptacle for a multitude of vices: he has a passion for his benefactor's wife, he wants to rob those who believe and help him, and finally he is not afraid of the law and the "heavenly judgment", sinning in front of people and in front of God . “Plan my keen desires and feel no fear: sin, if any, will fall on my head.” As we have already mentioned, a special place in “Tartuffe” is occupied by anticlerical ideas. Under the image of the main villain of the comedy hides the well-known image of the monk, cunning and greedy for the pleasures of life, who hides only behind faith to commit his evil deeds. Let us remember the following words of Tartuffe: "Yes, brother, I fear that I am an evil man: a miserable sinner, all depraved and perverse, the greatest villain that ever lived." Initially, Tartuffe was a priest, but due to church attacks, Moliere changed his image to secular, making Ham simply a "pious man". Therefore, Truffle was created at a time when the king significantly strengthened his authority. Louis XIV believed in the motto “one king, one law, one faith”. The king supported Moliere, and Moliere, considering gratitude and loyalty to the regime, praised the king in his plays. He played an extremely important role in art for his time, strengthening respect for royal power through the theatre, 2019.
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