Tartuffe Play Analysis

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During the the enlightenment, The literary tradition said that plays should follow what we now call conventions of a well made play and comedies followed the conventions of a comedy of manners. During the enlightenment, literature was used to emphasize a topic but yet it was also meant to delight the audience. Tartuffe by Jean Baptiste Poquelin Moliere, is not just a well made play or a comedy of manners but, rather is both. Moliere’s Tartuffe follows both the conventions of a well made play and a comedy of manners. A well made play during the enlightenment followed several rules. I well made play must have five acts, the plot must not span more than twenty-four hours, all the action must take place in the same location, good must be restored…show more content…
The elements of a comedy of manners are, a plot based on a secret known to the audience but not to certain characters, the secret is revealed at the climax and the fraudulent character is revealed, good fortune is restored to the hero, increasingly intense action and suspense occurs with the help of contrived entrances, exits and letters. There are also a series of ups and downs in the hero’s fortunes, there are scenes marking the lowest and highest points in the hero’s fortune, and the central misunderstanding is obvious to the audience but is withheld from some of the characters. Tartuffe has all of these elements within the play. The secret that is know to some of the characters but not to all can be seen when Madame Pernelle denies Tartuffe’s dishonest nature while all the other characters in the scene tell her that she is wrong, “Oh, now you start. Grandson, it’s ‘Monsieur Tartuffe’ to you. And he’s a man who should be listened to” (p145 ll. 44-46). The secret can be seen being reveled in the climax, when Elmire exposes Tartuffe for the dishonest man that he really is, “You want to spend this passion instantly? I’ve been opening my heart consistently, but for you, it’s not enough, this sharing. Yet for a women, it is very daring. So why can’t you be happy with a taste, instead of the whole meal consumed in haste” (p184 ll. 63-68). Finally an outside force restores Orgon’s fortune, the Exempt says, “I will
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