I received 15 responses on Tartuffe via Turn It In. Congratulations for those of you who successfully figured out how to submit a response. If you still need assistance, please see me during my office hours. I had several students try to submit their responses as a comment on this web site or try to hand me dead trees; that is incorrect. You must use Turn It In to get your responses to me.
Some of you will no doubt be disappointed in your grades. Let me reemphasize that you need to submit four responses during the course of the semester; I will take the highest grades of those you do submit. This means that if you do not like the grade you earned on your Tartuffe response, you have plenty of time to submit more. For those who have not yet given me a response, you should not procrastinate.
I have a couple of general comments about the submissions.
First, I would like to encourage you, again, to read or listen to Writing About Literature: A Primer. There are certain rules and conventions that must be observed when you write about literature. For example, you’ll notice that when I wrote the name of the play above, I used italics, Tartuffe; I did not put it in quotations marks: “Tartuffe.” The latter would be incorrect, since Tartuffe is a play, not a short work, like a poem, the convention is to italicize. Another common error is tense. Be sure you always write about literature in the present tense.
Putting your reader in your essay is another common error that is easily avoided. For example, consider:
In Acts 1-3 we discover how obsessed Orgon is over the hypocrite Tartuffe. We see his passion for Christianity and his subtle position of patriarchy.
Who is “we”? If you mean the reader, I would ask what he or she is doing in your essay. Your concern is with the play, not with trying to control your reader. If you mean “I,” then write “I.” Otherwise, remove the reader from your essay:
In Acts 1-3, Orgon is obsessed with Tartuffe, his passion for Christianity, and his subtle position of patriarchy.
Notice that the prose improves dramatically by getting rid of the “we.” You might also consider whether you need “you” or even “I” in your responses. I bet you don’t.
When citing passages, use MLA citation style. Essentially, this style allows you to use parenthetical citations at the end of your sentences, rather than including this bulky information within your sentence. Compare:
Orgon states to her that Tartuffe wants to commit adultery with Elmire and she still wants to give him “the benefit of the doubt” as stated in Act V, scene four, line 46.
with a correct MLA citation:
Orgon states to her that Tartuffe wants to commit adultery with Elmire and she still wants to give him “the benefit of the doubt” (4.4.46).
You could also correctly state the page number the quotation appears on, particularly if the text is prose, rather than a play in verse form.
Finally, I want to share an example of a pretty solid first response:
In Moliere’s Tartuffe, Dorine portrays the most sensible character in the play. Dorine in a sense is ahead of her time because as a female in the seventeenth century, she encourages Mariane to exercise her human rights which was unheard of in that era. Dorine is the most sensible character because she has good judgement, is unselfish and also is a positive influence.
Dorine has good judgement because she makes wise decisions and has common sense. She gives her opinion about Tartuffe and how he is intolerant and makes sinful choices. She mentions how he is in terms of wealth and rank and is ungrateful. For a maid, she speaks of things that maids or wives would not care to ponder about. She makes enough evidence against Tartuffe so that Orgon can stop the marriage from being prevented. For example she shows good judgement by observing that Tartuffe is taking advantage of Orgon and tries to see what assets he can receive from Orgon after the marriage. Dorine trys to explain the situation to Orgon but he does not care to listen. Another example is when the situation happened between Elmire and Tartuffe. Dorine sets her plan and has noticed how Tartuffe is impressed by Elmire and persuades him to deny the marriage. Dorine is very convincing and can strategize people. She starts her plan, and did not think about how Tartuffe will later trick himself by his infatuation with Elmire.
Dorine is unselfish because in act two, scene three, verse eight through thirteen, she gives advice and shows Mariane to be independent. Dorine encourages Mariane to approach her father about her decision not to be forced to marry a person she does not love. Mariane should marry a person she loves which will promote happiness for the long run. Dorine is not just thinking about herself but a young lady who has an entire life ahead of her. She wants to see Mariane to be satisfied. Dorine feels that possibly the marriage should not be of social status but have financial gain and to rely on each other to build a healthy relationship.
Dorine is a positive influence because she wants the best for the family and especially Mariane. Dorine and other characters, such as Madame Pernelle notice that Tartuffe is dishonest to them and wants control. He wants control of the house to make his own kingdom and wants Elmire for lust not love. In my opinion, without Dorine the family might not be as strong and stable because she is their backbone. She is their backbone because she takes care of the house, voices her opinion in their personal issues, part servant and companion to Mariane. She does not want anything terrible to happen to the family. In her eyes, she sees that Tartuffe will destroy the household with his actions.
Dorine is the most sensible character in the play because she is unselfish, has good judgement and also is a positive influence. She is an important role in the play because she is not afraid to voice her opinion. In many ways, a person does not have to be in upper class in order to be high-minded and Dorine shows that in the play. In real life, there are people just like several of the characters in this comedy. A person can learn lessons like honesty, trust, and commitment.
Why is this response strong? What could be improved? I invite you to answer these questions as comments below. Yes, comments might earn you points for daily work.
