“A Reflection of Psychology in Tartuffe” In Moliere’s play, Tartuffe, the audience is exposed to a rich variety of characters that cause them to ask many questions throughout the play. However, there is one character that seems to stick out the most. In Tartuffe, the audience cannot help but focus on Orgon’s actions and dialogue. For some, he could be seen as being manipulative. For others, he appears senseless and absurd, or even obsessive. It is not unusual for audience members to have different perspectives about him among themselves.
However, most of the time the audience doesn’t notice the abundance of psychological themes that revolve around Orgon in the play but instead just ask questions to themselves about him. One of the more common initial views of Orgon is that he is idiotic. But, many ask themselves, why would Moliere make a character that is ridiculously oblivious to what’s going on under his nose? According to Kenneth Hada, in his critical essay, “Tartuffe”, Moliere had actually intended for Orgon to represent a lesson to the audience about the psychological state of France during the time it was published.
Robert Cardullo’s essay, “Moliere’s Tartuffe”, explains that the mentality of the people of France was strongly influenced by a new group, called the Brotherhood of Holy Sacraments, which was created in response, as an advocate for Catholic morality, to the fear that was prevalent in French society in regards of Protestants influencing Catholicism. Cardullo reminds his readers that the Brotherhood of Holy Sacraments had actually been banned by the Paris Parliament. However, this didn’t stop the group from existing but had merely changed it to “a “secret” benevolent society” (Cardullo, pg. 74). In fact the group had actually sent priests to “… French families as lay “directors of conscience” (Cardullo, pg. 173) to make sure that the family was living life as sinless as possible. As a response to this trend, Moliere had intended “… to instruct audiences, through use of humor, on the importance of moderation, common sense, and clear thinking in all areas of life. ” (Hada, pg. 2) Moliere was trying to use Orgon as his base of humor in an attempt to build off of that to explain his psychological thoughts to his audience.
Unlike what the secret group had thought, Moliere was not bashing religion, but was, instead, attacking those who were using “… religion for personal gain at the expense of innocent, unsuspecting people. “(Hada, pg. 2), which was an issue during this point in history. Thus, Orgon was created to set an example of what could happen if someone was to completely trust another person without using their common sense to realize the danger-signs when they saw them arise. Another view of Orgon that some critics and readers see is that this ridiculous behavior is actually hiding that fact that he is trying to control every aspect of his life.
Lionel Gossman suggests in his book, “Men and Masks: A Study of Moliere”, that Orgon uses Tartuffe like a pawn in a game of chess and that with each move there is an ulterior motive. He does this so that way he can control everything and not receive backlash from his family. Granted they get irritated with him, but they blame Tartuffe instead and just assume Orgon is being dim-witted. Gossman states that the reason Orgon gets so furious whenever his family members talk negatively about Tartuffe is because “Orgon’s real desire is,… to have himself recognized by all around him as divinely absolute and self-sufficent” and that “claiming absolute being for himself- absolute in relation to the contingency of all others except as a threat to and a denial of his own. ” (Gossman, 102). Basically, this is why Orgon’s relationships with his family are crumbling. He is so afraid of losing control, that it is his own personality that keeps him from getting along with them and prevents him from treating them as traditional family members. An obvious example of this is found Act II, Scene I, where Orgon tells his daughter Mariane that he wants her to marry Tartuffe.
To sum up, Mariane tells her father that she is grateful that he father loves her, which in response Orgon replies by saying in lines 5-8, “Well said. And so to prove that you’re sincere, and worthy of my love, you have the task of doing for me anything I ask. ” Orgon basically used guilt to force Mariane into submission and then is able to force her into saying, basically word for word, that she will marry him. He knew she wouldn’t disobey so he used his words to control the outcome. This is theory is supported by the humorous exchange between Dorine and Orgon after he had spoken with Mariane.
Dorine basically keeps interrupting Orgon and interjects with reasons why to have Mariane marry Tartuffe is a bad idea. As the exchange goes on, Orgon starts to become infuriated with her. The fact that he had even got mad shows that he was trying to control the situation. Like any controlling person, when he began to feel like he was losing authority over the matter, he began to lash out. Thus, even though Moliere never said for certain that Orgon was being manipulative, based on his actions, the audience can verify that he had a controlling personality.
Another example would be the fact that Orgon appears to refuse to hear anything negative about Tartuffe. Why is that? Wouldn’t he want to know if something wrong was going on in his household? One answer lies in the fact that Orgon wants to control every aspect of his life. This can be construed as Orgon trying to block out the fact that he didn’t have complete control over his household or what all happened within it. An alternative viewpoint of Orgon is that he has an obsessive personality. From this stance, he is not being obsessive in the sense of wanting to control his family but with religion itself.
In fact, Orgon was greatly influenced by religion through Tartuffe and had sought to change his ways. It is admiring that Orgon wanted to commit, but why did he go as far as to push to the point of obsession? Why would he would bring in a stranger to his home to watch everyone’s move? An even more peculiar of a question is, why was the only ones who approved of Tartuffe was Orgon and his mother? One possible explanation, given by James F. Gaines, is that Orgon and his mother”… live in a fear of a celestial anger that could strike at any moment a household unjustly happy. ” (pg. 23) In the back of their minds, they are afraid that if they don’t live a completely moral life, to the utmost pristine, that they will be punished by God. A possible justification for this type of thought prod ess can be explained by the fact that they have had a blessed life. They are a part of the upper class and, as far as the audience knows, they haven’t had to experience the struggles that might be found in the lower classes, such as hunger and poverty. rty. Since they have been grateful enough to have a fortunate life, it is understandable why Orgon and his mother feel almost guilty.
But why did they have this notion of punishment in the first place? Again, this has to do with the push for impeccable Catholic morality. Support for Gaines’ explanation can be found, as many critics have pointed out, inside the play itself in the discussion between Cleante and Orgon in Act I, Scene 5. Basically, Cleante calls Orgon out for letting Tartuffe have so much say over the management of his house and everyone who lives there. Orgon, defending Tartuffe, argues back by saying, “Now you listen to me!… You don’t know this man. And don’t deny it. (pg. 22) Cleante doesn’t try to retort back, but instead listens to why Orgon supports Tartuffe so much. Orgon recalls the time how he had first met Tartuffe during congregation and how Tartuffe’s prayer had touched him. He said, “And from his groans, I knew just what he felt. Those sounds he made from deep inside his soul, were fed by piety he could not control. ” (pg. 22) This proves that on some level, perhaps even subconsciously, Orgon felt obligated to connect with Tartuffe based on this “pain” he experienced because he felt guilty.
To conclude, Orgon may not have been the most loved character, but there is no doubt that he is one of the most complex. Just simply because of the countless psychological standpoints the audience could have about him and the relationships he partakes with the rest of the characters, has caused people from all over to try and shed some light into how human nature and psychology had molded Orgon. Up until even more recent times, the workings of Orgon’s thought processes have perplexed so many people. It is his complexity that adds color and vibrancy to the play and overall makes it more enjoyable to the audience.
