Tartuffe

"Let's not descend to such indignities. / Leave the poor wretch to his unhappy fate, / And don't say anything to aggravate / His present woes; but rather hope that he / Will soon embrace an honest piety, / And mend his ways, and by a true repentance," states Cleante at the final scene of Moliere's Tartuffe. The fact that Cleante offers forgiveness in a most noble manner reveals that Moliere is doing more than merely satirizing French society. The playwright offers distinct pathways to psychological and social growth. Satire is the catalyst by which an individual can see through the problems in the society, motivating a person to change. The primary problem in French society according to Moliere is hypocrisy. Moliere pokes fun of the fact that many French people continued to be wooed by the promises of religion, when religion brings nothing but empty promises and platitudes....
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