Literary Analysis Essay on Moliere and Alexander Pope Works

Introduction

Marianne is the archetype of the dutiful child, following the orders of her father. While she wants to marry Valere as had been arranged and agreed to by her father, she stands ready to marry Tartuffe because she is an obedient daughter. Marianne represents the person who knows the truth but cannot act upon it due to conventional boundaries. In the neoclassical sense, she represents the problems implicit in society, which is confined by absurd norms that lead to irrational situations.

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Orgon represents the fool achetype in the play. He is the gullible person who fails to look upon the clear evidence and discern that Tartuffe is a hypocrite. He readily believes the faux piety of Tartuffe, without taking any note of the facts surrounding the counterfeit's actions. Even when told by his son, Damis, and his brother-in-law, Cleante, that Tartuffe is no more pious than a thief, Orgon refuses to believe the facts.

Like Cleante, Dorine represents wisdom. Although she is just Marianne's maid, she far exceeds Marianne in wit. While others are charmed by Tartuffe or are duty bound to follow the head of the household's wishes, Dorine consistently speaks out against Tartuffe's hypocrisy and easily perceives his malfeasance. It is Dorine who devises plans to help Elmire expose the fallacy in trusting Tartuffe. Dorine also serves to voice the frustration of the audience, who can recognize the hypocritical behavior of Tartuffe, even though major characters cannot.

In Tartuffe, Moliere exposes two different flaws inherent in man's reliance on religion and reason. The first is the limits of religious devotion. Moliere attempts to expose the boundaries of man's reliance on emotion and passion, quite frequently found in religious fervor. Tartuffe, the character, feigns religious piety, while in fact he is a scoundrel. Moliere celebrates the infallibility of reason and rational thinking, to which man should employ his best senses. Like similar Enlightenment artists and philosophers, Moliere believes that reasoned analysis can lead man to the truth. However, Orgon and Madame Pernelle celebrate the blind acceptance of any religious pretenses, while ignoring empirical evidence to the contrary. Religion, then, can blind a person to the truth.

Additionally, Moliere more closely examines the ultimate goal of rational thought. Tartuffe, the character, does use reason and analysis but towards a nefarious purpose. While employing rational speech to deceitfully feign religious devotion, Tartuffe appeals to the spiritual emotions of Orgon and Madame Pernelle. Tartuffe makes very well-reasoned speeches rationalizing his actions. Although most Enlightenment characters utilize reason to make themselves better, Tartuffe uses it for greed, accolades, and lust. Moliere uses Tartuffe to illustrate human flaws wherein augmented knowledge is used for unethical purposes, such as rationalizing adultery and property conversion. Moliere cautions the audience that rational thinking can be employed to degenerate ends.

In "The Rape of the Lock," Alexander Pope satirizes the epic works like the Iliad and the Odyssey. In epic poetry, there are certain well-recognized conventions such as the intervention of gods in human dramas, an armed hero, the use of weapons and their histories, armed combat, and an invocation to the muses. Usually, then, the epic is used for serious subjects, such as the Trojan War or the voyages of Aeneas. Additionally, the language in an epic poem is grandiose.

Pope turns the epic on its head, using muses and gnomes as the supernatural to aid or hinder the alleged combatants. Unlike an epic where the hero is striving for a great purpose, "The Rape of the Lock" is about a trivial matter of protecting a woman's lock of hair and seeking vengeance for its cutting. The supernatural beings are masterminds in the protection and the revenge. Just as Athena and Aphrodite would contrive to help or hinder the characters in the Greek epics, Pope uses sylphs, tiny bodies with wings, to protect and assist the heroine Belinda. Instead of being utilized to further a grandiose purpose, the sylphs are protectors of the sacred duty of safeguarding Belinda's hair and her petticoats (chastity).

Like an epic poem, "The Rape of the Lock" begins with an invocation to the supernatural beings, the muses: "Say what strange motive Goodness! could compel/ a well-bred lord to assault a gentle belle"(1.7-8). The first canto thus begins with the typical epic question to the muses, which sets the tone for the purpose behind the poem. Thereafter, Pope elaborates on the use of the sylphs to care for Belinda, "Fairest of mortals, thou distinguished care/ Of thousand bright inhabitants of air" (1.27-28). After setting the scene where the sylphs are commissioned to protect Belinda, the first act of the sylph, Airel, is to warn Belinda in a dream that she will face some awful fate that day.

Furthering the use of the supernatural, Pope uses the sylphs to tell Belinda that beautiful women return after their death. Violent women, though, turn into salamanders. Pleasant women turn into water nymphs. However, proud women turn into gnomes (1.59-66). Like the gods of ancient times, the heroine is warned about how her actions affect her fate.

The gnomes play the adversarial supernatural part, attempting to malign Belinda and her admirers. The gnomes are earth spirits. They fill the heads of women with foolish ideas. In this way, the gnomes serve as the gods who would lead a hero astray, such as Poseidon blowing Odysseus off course on his return from Troy. The gnome would instruct Belinda to fight the Baron for his impudence, while the sylphs would caution against such rash actions. By using these supernatural forces, Pope turns the trivial matter of a hair-cutting into a mock epic.

Pope's use of the word "stratagem" further enhances the militaristic facade of this mock epic. More specifically, in Canto 3, the plan to rape the lock coalesces, "Sent up in Vapours to the Baron's Brain/ New Stratagems, the radiant Lock to gain" (3.119-120). According to the OED, "stratagem" is a noun, meaning "a skillful military plan, scheme, or approach, esp. a trick, manoeuvre, or ploy designed to deceive or surprise an enemy" (OED "Stratagem"). The word emanates originally from the Latin "strategema," which means "a piece of generalship, ruse, or trick" (OED "Stratagem"). Likewise, the word can be traced to the Greek word "stratighima," which also meant trick or devise. In early fifteenth century France, the word was used to mean "a skillful military act or ploy" (OED "Stratagem").

Not coincidentally, the word had been used in Hellenistic Greek and ancient Roman military endeavors. Connop Thirwell, in History of Greece, wrote that "Antigonus . . .surprised the victors by a stratagem something like Lysander's at AEgos-potami" (OED "Stratagem"). Shakespeare also utilized the word in describing the pursuits of the Roman General Titus Andronicus, in his military campaigns (OED "Stratagem").

Thus, Alexander Pope's use of the word "stratagem" is significant, as he intimates that the Baron's cunning plan to cut the lock is tantamount to a militaristic campaign of conquest. Additionally, like many well-laid military plans, such as the Trojan horse, the Baron must use a trick or artifice to accomplish his goals. The meaning of "stratagem" as a ruse is an integral part of using the word to describe the Baron's crusade. Pope could have chosen a word such as "tactic" to describe the Baron's scheme. However, using the word "stratagem" not only implied that the plan was somewhat deceitful (as used in ancient times), but also was a heroic, grandiose campaign, much like the military conquests in epic poetry.