Tartuffe And Huck Finn Confli Essay Research

Tartuffe And Huck Finn: Confli Essay, Research Paper Tartuff and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Conflicts with Society Society has caused some books to be banned and others to be praised. Society as a theme has always been controversial because it usually portrays people of high rank in society as either evil or heroic. In Virgil s The Aneid, the Roman society is portrayed as heroic and the book was put on a pedestal for it. In other stories such as Tartuffe and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the view of society has not been so kind. In both of these stories the characters struggle against society. In Tartuffe the main characters fight against Tartuffe, the man that represents all that is wrong with society. Huckleberry Finn, on the other hand, is constantly running

away from society, which constrains him and forces him to actually believe that he is evil because he chooses to go against it. In the two controversial stories, Tartuffe and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the characters are caught in a struggle with society and are forced to follow their instincts that defy what society tells them to do. In Moliere s play Tartuffe, Orgon, the head of the household, is infatuated with a man named Tartuffe. Tartuffe is a man who claims to be deeply religious, but only does this to take advantage of people like Orgon. Orgon believes that Tartuffe is his guide to salvation. He does not see through Tartuffe s mask but buys into it and bequeaths all he owns to him. Orgon s family is the group of characters caught in the struggle with Tartuffe and

hence society. Orgon s family includes his wife Elmire, his son Damis, his Smith 2 daughter Maryine, his mother Madam Parnel, Dorine, the lady s maid, and Cleante his wife s brother. This group sees through Tartuffe and constantly fights against him. In response to their struggles Orgon s blindness to Tartuffe only increases. To flatter Tartuffe Orgon tries to promise his daughter, Mariane, to marry Tartuffe, even though he has already promised her to Valere. This, of course, causes much consternation in the family. All of them come together to figure out a way to convince Orgon that Tartuffe is a bad man. They cannot come up with a good plan and therefore do not succeed in avoiding the marriage at first. In another scene Tartuffe shows his true colors when he makes advances

toward Orgon s wife Elmire. When his son Damis tells him of this occurrence he is banished from the house. Orgon is so upset that his son, and the rest of his family, will not believe him when he tells them that Tartuffe is a good man and would never do such a thing that he actually thinks he is doing the right thing by signing all of his earthly possessions over to Tartuffe. Orgon does this to prove to his family how much faith he has in Tartuffe. There are many other examples of Orgon s blindness throughout the play, which force his family to fight against Tartuffe and society. This book was banned early on because it points out a major flaw in society, which Tartuffe is the epitome of. This flaw is religious hypocrisy. Moliere saw that people in high places in society who

claimed to be religious were actually just using religion to get what the wanted and this was a reflection of society. More religious hypocrisy and other evils of society can be seen in Mark Twain s Timeless novel. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is the story of a young boy who runs away from society and everything it stands for. Huck Finn is a boy that from the beginning is not in sync with society. He never realizes that the choices he makes are morally right ones because his choices are the opposite of what society would choose. Huck clearly states early on that he does not want to be like society saying, The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me I got into my old rags and my sugar hogshead again, and was free and satisfied