Tartuffe and Other Plays

by Molière, Donald M. Frame (Introduction)

This work includes seven of the plays that accredited Molière as the greatest and best-loved French playwright of all times: "The Pretentious Young Ladies," "The School for Husbands," "The School for Wives," a comedy of infidelity and his first great success, "The Critique of the School for Wives," "The Impromptu of Versailles," "Tartuffe," a highly controversial play in its time, and "Don Juan." Although "Tartuffe" was immediately censured and banned for several years after its appearance on the stage because of its strong focus on religious hypocrisy, it is considered today to be one of Molière's masterworks. These plays are highly revered for their humor, imagination, and their keen observations of humanity. The actor and playwright realized early on that in order for comedy to be successful, it must have a basis in truth; in this way his plays emanate a sense of reality and universality that withstand the tests of time.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Drama, Literature, France, Fiction, Comedy

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Sophisticated comedies of French playwright Molière, pen name of Jean Baptiste Poquelin, include Tartuffe (1664), The Misanthrope (1666), and The Bourgeois Gentleman (1670).

French literary figures, including Molière and Jean de la Fontaine, gathered at Auteuil, a favorite place.

People know and consider Molière, stage of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, also an actor of the greatest masters in western literature. People best know l'Ecole des femmes (The School for Wives), l'Avare ou l'École du mensonge (The Miser), and le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid) among dramas of Molière.

From a prosperous family, Molière studied at the Jesuit Clermont college (now lycée Louis-le-Grand) and well suited to begin a life in the theater. While 13 years as an itinerant actor helped to polish his abilities, he also began to combine the more refined elements with ccommedia dell'arte.

Through the patronage of the brother of Louis XIV and a few aristocrats, Molière procured a command performance before the king at the Louvre. Molière performed a classic of [authore:Pierre Corneille] and le Docteur amoureux (The Doctor in Love), a farce of his own; people granted him the use of Salle du Petit-Bourbon, a spacious room, appointed for theater at the Louvre. Later, people granted the use of the Palais-Royal to Molière. In both locations, he found success among the Parisians with les Précieuses ridicules (The Affected Ladies), l'École des maris</i> (<i>The School for Husbands</i>), and <i>[book:l'École des femmes (The School for Wives). This royal favor brought a pension and the title "Troupe du Roi" (the troupe of the king). Molière continued as the official author of court entertainments.

Molière received the adulation of the court and Parisians, but from moralists and the Church, his satires attracted criticisms. From the Church, his attack on religious hypocrisy roundly received condemnations, while people banned performance of Don Juan . From the stage, hard work of Molière in so many theatrical capacities began to take its toll on his health and forced him to take a break before 1667.

From pulmonary tuberculosis, Molière suffered. In 1673 during his final production of le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid), a coughing fit and a haemorrhage seized him as Argan, the hypochondriac. He finished the performance but collapsed again quickly and died a few hours later. In time in Paris, Molière completely reformed.

Reviews

[MihaElla · Rating 5 out of 5]

BE firm, my heart! NO human weakness now!

‘33‘ is one of my magic numbers (beside 7 and any multiple of 3 – no wonder why my apartment number is also 33) but is also the grand total (& I do hope the counting is officially correct) of the Farces, Comedies, Satires, and court entertainments that Monsieur de Moliere delivered to his own times. These include plays that are not only fresh and funny, but also vividly marked by trenchant and still relevant observations about human nature, human foibles and weaknesses. The main subjects are the gender and marital wars, middle-class alienation, the gullibility of man faced with disease and death, and – often seen by theater producers as most applicable to us today – the malignancy of religious and society hypocrisy.
Desperately wanting to be a tragic actor on stage but lacking “those external gifts”, and encountering a mega success as a comic, Monsieur de Moliere – the man, the playwright - did have a lifetime representation as a tragic actor–he even found himself in debtor’s prison, on a long exile outside Paris joining a provincial troupe–by choosing a profession that meant exclusion from society and excommunication from the Church (considering that he did receive an education of a young gentleman, having attended the most prestigious school in Paris, the College de Clermont, a Jesuit institution, where noble and even royal children were sent to learn classical languages and the arts of speaking and writing. Then he went to Orleans to study law, as per his father’s wish who wanted him to become a “noble of the robe”. Destiny hands however changed the plans as tailored by his father and de Moliere fell in love, or was caught by passion with the red-haired actress Madeleine Bejart (4 yrs his senior), described as “one of the best of the century (XVII) who had the power to inspire in reality all the feigned passions that are seen on the stage”.)
To enjoy Monsieur de Moliere's plays a single and simple (but maybe not so simple & easy to get eventually, or not for/by many) thing is required, by its nature self-sufficient - to be ready to laugh. His farces – short and in prose, with middle-class provincials and servants as its characters, mocking language and manners of certain pretentious upper-class members establishment – have the intention not just to amuse but to condemn and correct, as well as were his successful romantic intrigues/comedies- dealing with marriage and jealousy.

As a kind and gentle reminder: The school of the world teaches better than any book … to be continued, if/when applicable ;-)

[Roy Lotz · Rating 5 out of 5]

In short, when all around lies comedy,
May I not laugh at all these things I see?

Like I am of so many things, I am shamefully ignorant of the great playwrights. The world may or may not be a stage; but the stage is surely a world, one in which I am still a hapless tourist. Lucky for me, I can’t imagine a better introduction into this strange land than through the good Moliére.

Moliére was the stage personified. He directed, wrote, and acted; he had his own troupe. His infatuation with the theater is palpable in every play; indeed, it was more than infatuation; it was his whole identity. Shakespeare remains a kind of shadowy presence, an eternal enigma; read Shakespeare’s plays, and you still have no idea what sort of man he was; he remains perpetually backstage. Moliére, by contrast, couldn’t be more present in his plays. The effect is startlingly direct, as if he’s talking right to you, having a conversation by means of his characters.

He must have been something of an exhibitionist; it is as if he wanted to turn his whole life into a play. He married a much younger wife, and then wrote The School for Wives about a man nervous that his young wife-to-be would cheat on him. He got himself into controversy with that play, and then wrote a play about being criticized. And, as his master stroke, when Moliére was aging and getting sick, he wrote a play about a hypochondriac, and died on stage in the middle of a performance. Could you imagine a more complete triumph of art over life?

In short, I felt as though I met a friend in these plays; and consequently, the plays were a delight. Another comparison with Shakespeare will prove felicitous here. The bard wrote stories about real people; the characters who populate the Elizabethan’s stage are flesh and blood individuals, surpassing even Dickens in their vitality and veracity. Moliére’s characters couldn’t be more different. They are hardly characters at all, but rather devices—tools for getting Moliére’s point across. For, unlike Shakespeare, Moliére wrote his plays as arguments; and, like any good argument, the plays are carefully balanced, finely crafted, sedulously constructed. Shakespeare’s mind was like a fisherman’s net, thrown over the world, dragging in whatever creature, flotsam, or jetsam it caught; Moliére’s mind was rather like an expert carpenter’s, sanding, filing, sawing, fitting, building.

To move from appreciation to review, I found this edition, translated by Donald Frame, to be excellent. For the most part, he has managed an idiomatic and graceful rendering of the Frenchman (only seriously fumbling in the dialogue of a peasant in the final play). The selection itself I also found to be excellent: The Ridiculous Précieuses, The School for Husbands, The School for Wives, The Critique of the School for Wives, The Versailles Impromptu, Tartuffe, and Don Juan. Of course, Tartuffe was the strongest of the bunch, followed closely by The School for Wives and Don Juan.

To the modern reader, however, The Critique of the School for Wives and The Versailles Impromptu cannot fail to attract attention, for their strong use of meta-fiction. In the first, Moliére has a bunch of people discuss his earlier play, some bashing, some defending it; in the second, Moliére portrays himself as one of the main characters, as he frantically tries to prepare his troupe for a performance. I would call it ‘postmodern’, but that would seem to imply that postmodernism has a monopoly on cleverness and metafiction, which of course it hasn't. It is not postmodern; it is simply brilliant.

To wrap up this no doubt fawning review, I will only say that I look forward to more Moliére in the years ahead; for Moliére, like his literary cousin, Montaigne, is wonderful companion.

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is very hard for me to even four-star Tartuffe and Other Plays (Signet Classics) Kindle Edition. Likely this is my fault, but please allow me to make my case. Some plays read well some do not. For me the selection here, including the great Tartuffe, and the famous School for Scandal seem limp on the page. The dialogue was too much of a type and neither sparkled nor engendered much in the way of laughter. Have seen enough of these plays to know that they live well on the stage, I plead an imagination too weak to read while seeing, in the mind’s eye, the staging, costumes and acting carry their share of the experience.

Most all of the plots, excepting Tartuffe and Don Juan are variations on one another. Keeping women uneducated and locked away. Can women be corrupted by too much exposure to the world outside of enforced seclusion or by the susceptibilities that go with unnatural innocence? To his credit, Molière, shows that women are capable of finding love in either case and further suggesting the “lock them up school” is cover for weak men.

Tartuffe, and Don Juan stand above the other variations on “School for” Husbands, Wives Scandal. These two introduce deliberately villainous characters. This Don Juan is the great tragic villain of the Opera, Don Giovanni. If only because it Is not intended as a comedy and has its own themes it may be my favorite read. Still not great literature, but a fair night’s entertainment as live theater.

Some would argue that with Tartuffe, Molière guaranteed his immortality. The character is the classic con man and Orgon his wealthy mark could serve for any number of more money than brains slaves of fashion. From strange Maharishis, money grubbing televangelists, to the latest fad super food, we see that “plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose".

Taken together my recommendations is see the plays. Maybe follow the dialogue on your kindle, but as standalone reads, not so much.

[Muaz Jalil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moliere is genius and a master craftsman. I read him 15 years ago. Rereading them now made me realize how avantgarde and modern he his. The selection includes Don Juan , Tartuffe, school of husband/wife and others. Brilliant, perceptive, and one of my favorite french author. Tres bien!!!

[Kevin McDonagh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tartuffe. Nope, never heard of him. A Christmas party game question intrigued me to learn of Molière's very strong signature style, which holds well to this day. So much so that the name of his character 'Tartuffe' has became synonymous with 'deceptive piety'. Molière was so lauded that France's King had to be the first to see any new plays even when he ended up censoring them, so ballsy that even considering his employment eventually as a Royal troupe, he would continually poke at both the laws of the land; Monarchy and the Catholic church.

Critics of 'woke' society, complaining of the difficulty in voicing critical opinions, will find a wealth of inspiration within Tartuffe. Imagine in 1650's France, trying to make a living touring on the road, being controversial enough to sell out space in small towns. All while rhyming every... single... line. This is proper genius Shakespeare-level stuff. Incredible also on the translator's part to match its rhyming couplets in translation.

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moliere has long been on my to-read list because his comedies were on a list of "100 Significant Books" I was determined to read through. The introduction in one of the books of his plays says that of his "thirty-two comedies... a good third are among the comic masterpieces of world literature." The plays are surprisingly accessible and amusing, even if by and large they strike me as frothy and light compared to comedies by Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Wilde, Shaw and Rostand. But I may be at a disadvantage. I'm a native New Yorker, and looking back it's amazing how many classic plays I've seen on stage, plenty I've seen in filmed adaptation and many I've studied in school. Yet I've never encountered Moliere before this. Several productions of Shakespeare live and filmed are definitely responsible for me love of his plays. Reading a play is really no substitute for seeing it--the text is only scaffolding. So that might be why I don't rate these plays higher. I admit I also found Wilbur's much recommended translation off-putting at first. The format of rhyming couplets seemed sing-song and trite, as if I was reading the lyrics to a musical rather than a play. As I read more I did get used to that form, but I do suspect these are the kinds of works that play much better on stage than on the page.

The Pretentious Young Ladies (Les Précieuses ridicules) - is a one-act satire about two girls who are taken in by their own social pretensions and made ridiculous. This is an early work, and especially having read before this such works by Moliere as The Misanthrope and Tartuffe this comes across as rather slight.

The School for Husbands - has a similar plot to The School for Wives but isn't nearly as good, although still amusing. It has many of the stock elements of Moliere's comedies. In this case, Sganarelle, a foolish and tyrannical man of middle age, is determined to keep his ward Isabelle isolated and restricted and force her to marry him. I thought a particularly nice touch was the device the young lovers used to fool Sganarelle and make him their inadvertent go-between.

The School for Wives - The introduction calls it a "burlesque tragedy" for how the hopes and pretensions of the prospective husband Arnolphe are smashed. He's groomed his foster daughter Agnes to be his wife from age four, sending her to a convent to be kept docile and ignorant. He says that "to say her prayers, love me, spin and sew" is all she needs to learn, and he's disappointed that she learned to read and write. The way Agnes grows out of her simplicity and outwits Arnolphe made me think of this as a kind of anti-Taming of the Shrew. In this one the woman becomes very much un-tamed.

The Critique of the School for Wives and The Versailles Impromptu - Apparently The School for Wives attracted quite a few detractors. Another man faced with such a response might publish essays defending himself--Moliere instead wrote and produced two One-Act plays on the subject. In The Critique Moliere has characters representing his critics argue with a character that defends his play and in the course of which defends the ordinary theater-goer and the genre of comedy--it's an "accomplishment to make people laugh" and his purpose is "to please." The Versailles Impromptu features Moliere and his company playing themselves and showing them rehearsing, and features a "play-within-a-play."

Tartuffe - of the five Moliere plays I now have read, this one, about over-religiosity and hypocrisy is my favorite. The title character Tartuffe is a conman who prays on the religious sensibility and man-crush of his patron Orgon. The scene in particular where Orgon responds to reports of his wife's illness by repeatedly asking, "But what about Tartuffe" nearly had me laughing out loud. The character of the pert and shrewd lady's maid Dorine is particularly delightful.

Don Juan or The Stone Guest, although it has comic elements doesn't strike me as a comedy. The whole plot reminded me very strongly of Mozart's Don Giovanni on the subject with very similar characters. There's a Donna Elvire, a Commandant Don Juan kills whose statue he invites to supper, and Charlotte reminds me quite a bit of Zerlina. It did think funny this bit of business where Don Juan plays off two lovers against the other. What I didn't particularly care for in Donald Frame's translation was his attempt to suggest different dialects by making Spanish peasants sound like characters out of Mark Twain with Pierrot using phrases such as "Doggone it!"

[Leah Gritter · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a romp of a read! A small cast of characters takes us through the issues of false piety, and free thinking, and hypocrisy, and believing with certainty what our minds have made up to be true. All with comedic relief. Themes relevant to contemporary culture, despite having been written in the mid 1600's. Unsure of what it looked like to be a spectator of theater in France in 1664, but if taunting and throwing of goods were of the norm, I would have gladly tossed rotten vegetables when Tartuffe and, at first Orgon, were on stage. But would have ended with cheers for the downfall of Tartuffe and the tossing roses for Orgon's about-face. Hurrah, Moliere!

[Stella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the actual paperback, which has been sitting on my shelf for years. An exceptional translation, and I loved learning about each play and its historical/social setting from the forewords. Moliere is a true artist - I was blown away by how amazing his writing is!

[Gastjäle · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 / 5.0

This set of Molière's plays was more of a fascinating literary document rather than a rollicking festival of laughs. This edition featured the early plays The Ridiculous Précieuses and The School for Husbands, the classics Tartuffe and The School for Wives and some less remarkable but fitting plays, to wit, The Critique for the School for Wives, The Versailles Impromptu and the prose play Don Juan.

The first plays were delightful albeit short romps, the classics were great to a certain extent and the "less-remarkables" were clever enough to keep one interested. The language was rather down-to-earth with nothing showy going on (galaxies away from Shakespeare, in other words), and the translation was very clean and easy-to-follow—yet sometimes it succumbed to less graceful turns of phrase, especially when it came to the conversational cues. It's very difficult to find any faults with the whole collection—the main problem was simply that I did not find it as funny as I thought it should/could have been.

I found that the most risible plays were the first three that were presented: TRP and the Schools. TRP seemed to be just a draft, but it was full of such ridiculous airs that I couldn't help belting out a couple of guffaws. TSfH continued much in the same vein, with some delightful added malice in the character of Sganarelle. The whole approach came nearest to perfection with the excellent TSfW, where our cuckoldphobe protagonist is repeatedly being force-fed the failures of his own machinations.

After TSfW we get the curiosity plays: the Critique and TVI. The Critique is actually a very clever piece of writing which is a subtle rebuff at the less admiring reception of TSfW. This one has its own share of précieuses, which still do not fail to amuse me, and some of the arguments flung at the play (either devised by M. himself or by his actual detractors) were, if not really clever, at the very least entertaining in their sophistry. My main gripe with this play is that it leans way too much towards the common sense approach any popular artist can have recourse to: "Doesn't matter, people come to see my stuff." For my idealistic self, this is the approach of a dull businessman, not an artist, and even though Molière is no hack, he certainly did not have many interesting ideas considering his craft, if this play is anything to go by. However dull his ideas, though, he certainly had the wit to make his enemies splendidly laughable.

TVI was a play commissioned by the King under a very short notice, which also happens to be the subject of the work. Perhaps a bit forced in some ways, but the idea of someone pulling a meta in the 17th century is certainly worth a grin.

The classic Tartuffe is certainly a fine portrait of a ridiculously hypocritical man, who only believes in egotistic advantage, and is not afraid to sacrifice honour, epistemology and morals for his goals. Strangely enough, though, it wasn’t particularly funny to read: the title character was hilarious in his own right, but the effect he had on the people around him was far from it. Most of them simply hated him and their (middle-class) lives were almost ruined by his humbug, and Molière was not deft enough to mitigate the effect in comic fashion. (It can be that the stage performances were more hilarious.) The same disadvantages can also be glimpsed in Don Juan: we have a similarly unscrupulous title character, who causes pain in a way that humour quite does not manage to alleviate.

What kind of drags most of Molière’s plays down is that he relied way too much on dei ex machina. And this is probably the only thing I would state as a proper weakness in his playwriting (for even if I wasn’t particularly impressed by his language, I’m also willing to distance mine inner critic by virtue of language barriers). Whether it’s the King in Tartuffe or the sudden wraith/statue combo in Don Juan, it just screams of lazy planning. It’s even doubly annoying, when both of those plays seemed to be building up for something far more complex and rewarding.

I think the approach worked well only in TSfW: you have a protagonist who has spent all his life cataloguing cuckoldries and meticulously learning to avoid them, and then, after all the stratagems and counter-stratagems, something utterly unexpected happens and ruins his plans. It works as a silly but artistically justified act of vengeance against the foolish Arnolphe.

Overall, as I said, it was a fascinating literary document. It made me chuckle and showed me some delightfully absurd manners of the 17th-century France. It was also not without psychological complexity, a hallmark of all good writers! It just left me with more to be desired.

[DoRena]

My first experience with Moliere. I just read "Tartuffe" for now, but I enjoyed it so much I hope to return to the others eventually. I'd love to see a live performance - it was hilarious to read, but I'm sure it would be better on stage.

[Bethany Kellam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, Shakespeare it is not. But Tartuffe is hysterical and warns us of the dangers of flattery and hypocrisy.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have not ever read Moliere before. The rhyming scheme makes it so much fun.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining plays with a deeper social message; this edition also had a good introduction and notes on the English translation.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Molière is a genius

[Sorana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tartuffe 9/10

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Is it really for you, little earthworm, little ant”

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually read only Tartuffe, but from this volume. It was quite humorous. Rather abrupt surprise ending. Elmire is the wisest one of the bunch.

[Joanna Penfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read Tartuffe. A great play! Funny and the rhyming was delightful! Read Donald Frame's translation.

[SusanReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

For now I only read Tartuffe, but I found it to be delightful. I may pick this up again to read more Moliere.

[georgia]

I watched Cassie play Tartuffe tonight and it was so awesome. SO COOL!!!!

[casually_20th_century · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 / 5

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Moliere's name on a list of greatest playwrights at #10 and just decided to plunge in. I was immediately hooked on his style. Perhaps my favorite still is the The School for Wives, Criticized. I just loved the cheek of him writing a play in which several ordinary people discuss the pros and cons of his greatest play to that point as a way of answering the bonehead critics who completely missed the point of it entirely. A very modern and inventive approach in my opinion, and deliciously funny. Tartuffe, of course, is brilliant as is the Misanthrope and The Clever Women. This led me another book of his lesser known prose plays which I also thoroughly enjoyed. I wish his plays were performed more because I would jump at the chance to see one.

[Brittany M]

I absolutely hate this book. The way it is so over dramatic, and yes I understand it is suppose to be but like come on it's just ridiculous. This book took drama queen to a whole new level. Not only is it overly dramatic but its literally reminds me of an old person show my grandma watches. I'm just not okay with it. Plus its supper unrealistic like, "Hey daughter marry this old guy he's a priest so its okay" There is no way that would ever happen!

[Maggie W · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was hilarious and highly enjoyable to read, especially out loud with several people. While not up to Shakespeare's level by any means, Molière is a good playwright in his own right.
Tartuffe was probably my favorite of this bunch. Dorine is simply hilarious and my absolute favorite character. Tartuffe made me mad and I wanted to shake some sense into Orgon.
Overall, good selection of plays. Entertaining to read.

[Carrie Honaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, I chose this play because my AP Lit kids needed a comedy and they had read my fave, Candide, already. I actually was happily surprised. This translation was excellent and stayed true to Moilere's wit and satiric tone. My students and I enjoyed the "unmasking" of the hypocrite and the unabashed brazen nature of Dorine, the maid. It made for interesting conversation and thoughtful laughter!

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

So apparently the books in this collection are included because of their historical significance, not because they're mindblowingly hilarious today. I could tell. I suppose it's good for me to have read them, but I didn't find them terribly entertaining.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

A broad selection of Moliere's works. Though he's regarded as high literature, and rightly so, his works are far more accessible than I had anticipated. He seeks to entertain but also adds his philosophies and personal style to what remains very human dramas.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly enjoyable! I generally find it hard to read plays and thought in addition this would be heavy and plodding, but it was easy to read and very funny. I'm looking forward to seeing them on stage if possible.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only read Tartuffe here. It was not compelling enough to overcome my distaste for plays in rhyming verse.

I loved Moliere waywayway back in the day. Perhaps I read an unrhymed translation? Whatever. School for Wives pwns Tartuffe.

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggle to enjoy Moliere, as all his work feels so samey to me, and I don't think this translation helped the matter with some very forced rhymed translations. There are moments of brilliance, like The School for Wives, but so often these translations come off as awkwardly rhymed lectures.