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Close Reading – Moliere’s Tartuffe
ENGL 1205.E: Introduction to Literature (Fall 2021)
Dr. Adrian Knapp
This assignment assesses your ability to close read a selected passage from Moliere’s Tartuffe.
Choose one of the three passage below and conduct a close reading as discussed in class (see
5 levels of literary analysis and how to conduct a close reading). In your analysis, pay close
attention to the relationship between context (where in the play does this passage appear?),
content (what is happening in this passage?) and form (how is language used in this passage to
create a specific effect?). How do these elements interact in the passage you have selected?
What do you make of that? Make sure you focus in detail on the formal aspects of the passage
(i.e. dialogic format, audience involvement, figures of speech, imagery, symbolism, irony etc.)
as well as performance-related elements (i.e. what does the passage indicate about how the
dialogue may be enacted on stage) to illuminate a central point you would like to make
egarding the passage you have selected. In other words, you need to give your close reading
an argumentative/interpretative focus (i.e. your own interpretation of what this passage means
and why it is important in the context of the play).
Do not use any material other than the passage you have selected and the Richard Wilbur
translation of Moliere’s play (from the Week 6 folder on Brightspace). You may use weblinks
suggested in class with definitions of literary devices and figures of speech. Before submitting
your work, please review the University’s guidelines on Academic Integrity (see course syllabus
or Academic Calendar).
Your critical examination of the selected passage should be around 400 words long. Make
sure to upload your close reading as a MS Word doc or PDF to the respective Assignments
folder on Brightspace (under Assessments) by the end of Monday 18 October XXXXXXXXXX:59pm,
ADT). There are no extensions for this assignment. The Assignments folder will be locked
when the deadline has passed.
PASSAGE 1
ORGON: At length, Heaven prompted me to take him in
To dwell with us, and free our souls from sin.
He guides our lives, and to protect me honor
Stays by my wife, and keeps an eye upon her;
He tells me whom she sees, and all she does,
And seems more jealous than I ever was!
CLEANTE: Good God, man! Have you lost your common sense—
Or is this all some joke at my expense?
How can you stand there and in all so
iety…
ORGON: Brother, your language savors of impiety.
Too much free-thinking’s made your faith unsteady,
And as I’ve warned you many times already,
’Twill get you into trouble before you’re through. (1.5)
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PASSAGE 2
ORGON: Be firm, my soul. No human weakness, now.
MARIANE: I don’t resent your love for him. Allow
Your heart free reign, Sir; give him your property,
And if that’s not enough, take mine from me;
He’s welcome to my money; take it, do,
But don’t, I pray, include my person too.
Spare me, I beg you; and let me end the tale
Of my sad days behind a convent veil.
ORGON: A convent! Hah! When crossed in their amours,
All lovesick girls have the same thought as yours.
Get up! The more you loathe the man, and dread him,
The more ennobling it will be to wed him.
Ma
y Tartuffe, and mortify your flesh!
Enough; don’t start that whimpering afresh. (4.3)
PASSAGE 3
ELMIRE: But how can I consent without offense
To Heaven, toward which you feel such reverence?
TARTUFFE: If Heaven is all that holds you back, don’t wo
y.
I can remove that hindrance in a hu
y.
Nothing of that sort need obstruct our path.
ELMIRE: Must one not be afraid of Heaven’s wrath?
TARTUFFE: Madam, forget such fear, and be my pupil,
And I shall teach you how to conquer scruple.
Some joys, it’s true, are wrong in Heaven’s eyes;
Yet Heaven is not averse to compromise;
There is a science, lately formulated,
Whereby one’s conscience may be liberated,
And any wrongful act you care to mention
May be redeemed by purity of intention.
I’ll teach you, Madam, the secrets of that science;
Meanwhile, just place on me your full reliance.
Assuage my keen desires, and feel no dread:
The sin, if any, shall be on my head. (4.5)