Moliere and Fitzgerald

Though separated by centuries and dramatically different cultures, MoliFre's comic play Tartuffe and Fitzgerald's short story "Winter Dreams" share a narrative context of a society conceptualized in terms of social class and characters who engage in poses and behavior suited to that class that, however, mask their inmost feelings. Inevitably, at the top of society, there are characters who are in and of it and other characters who are on its periphery, aware of its attractions and yet for a variety of reasons fated to watch it operate instead of engage with it fully. In Tartuffe the action surrounding that situation is archly comic, with the outsider, eventually unmasked, turning out to be very much a figure of fun. In "Winter Dreams" the consequences of encounter on the boundary between classes and of wearing social masks to conceal emotional authenticity have a more serious resonance for the outsider. That is the subject of this research.

The social-climbing theme of Tartuffe is identified with the objectives and behavior of the character, who expends much of his energy attempting to conceal his naked social ambition with a mask of religious piety. That means Tartuffe is a personification of religious hypocrisy. Of humble origin, Tartuffe has duped his patron Orgon into believing that he (Tartuffe) has the admirable quality of religious piety. Under the mask of righteousness he worms his way into Orgon's household so that he may gain access to Orgon's fortune--and the bed

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Category: Literature - M