Entry by Melanie Friedmann: Tartuffe of de schijnheilige bedrieger, Jacob Houbraken, after Cornelis Troost, 1760 - 1780

The digital photo of the print I provided is another depiction that we have not seen in class so far, of one of the most critical scenes in Tartuffe. This scene occurs in Act IV, Scene 5. As the audience, we see the characters Tartuffe, Elmire, and Orgon. Elmire is wearing a very beautiful dress and Tartuffe is wearing a standard pantsuit and long coat. Tartuffe and Elmire are discussing something while Orgon is under the table listening in secret. It was harder to spot Orgon in this picture than in some of the others we have seen so I believe this is the most accurate interpretation of this scene that I have seen thus far. Elmire is Orgon’s wife but Tartuffe previously shared his feelings for her while her husband was not present. Elmire was very shocked and informed Tartuffe that she did not feel the same. In this scene, she is pretending to share Tartuffe’s feelings in order to get her husband to see the truth about Tartuffe because her husband did not believe her when she first told him of Tartuffe’s behavior towards her. It is very noticeable how uncomfortable Elmire is when Tartuffe is making advances toward her which consisted of trying to touch her, and asking her to share her feelings in a more physical way. She clearly wishes Orgon would come out from hiding sooner but when he does he states that he needed to see how far Tartuffe would really go with this and he finally no longer trusts Tartuffe after seeing these actions.

Author: Melanie Friedmann