Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- How do the characters reflect Tartuffe's major themes?
- Cléante seems to be the resident wise man in Orgon's house, but too what extent can we trust the things he says?
- At the end of the play, Cléante tells Orgon to leave Tartuffe alone and hope that the trickster mends his wicked ways. Does it seem like Tartuffe will actually change?
- Is the King's intervention really necessary? Why couldn't we let the other characters try to figure out a solution, or at least give them more time to think?
- If you're reading a verse translation of Tartuffe find yourself a prose one, or vice versa – you can find a bunch online, or even just take a look at an excerpt on Amazon.com. Now, pick a passage to compare. Do you think the two versions are fundamentally different? Is one definitely better than the other? If so, why?
- Tartuffe caused quite a scandal back in the day? Does it still retain any shock value?
- What do you make of Orgon? Is he ultimately a sympathetic character?