Tartuffe, an odious hypocrite posing as a member of the clergy has ingratiated himself with the credulous Orgon and his mother Mme. Pernelle. He is taken into Orgon's home. Both Orgon and his mother believe that Tartuffe's pious example will be good for the other members of the family. But everyone else in the family, including even the outspoken servant Dorine, is perceptive enough to see through the impostor. Despite the protestations of his sensible …showed first 75 words of 2792 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2792 total…work, and to find it funny. Now this is a notion that upsets many purists, who argue that a given standard is the ultimate expression of the play, and that departing from that for the simple criteria of audience enjoyment is a violation of the play. Purists may be found everywhere, just like those doctors who fought so vehemently against the notion of the circulation of the blood. Moliere was not a purist. In h