Sunday, November 29, 2009

French Scenes & Moliere's Tartuffe

Rather than the lights going up or down and the playwright numbering scenes where action comes to a pinnacle of tension or resolves itself, a french scene is marked by the entrance of a new character on stage. It is quite helpful to actors and directors who need to keep track of which characters are on stage and when.

Moliere being French himself, used French scenes in his plays. Here's the script to Tartuffe, a very funny satirical farce. Those of you who like to read and enjoy reading plays (and want to enrich your lives with classical literature...there may be a few of you in the class) you are welcome to read this play. If you do (and write a short summary and criticism of the play) you will garner extra credit for this marking period. You can read the script from google books above. I've also added it to the link page for the time being.

1 comment:

Nautica (NaLa) said...

The play Tartuffe was a really good play, though the ending was cut out because pages were omitted. As in many of the plays we have read lately it displays a theme of religion. Tartuffe is the antagonists of the play he is a hypocrite who judges the whole family and tries to control the family despite the fact that he is not related to them. for that reason he is disliked by everyone except for Madame Pernelle and Orgon. These to characters trust him and believe is an honorable man. He manipulates Orgon for money and allowing him to marry his daughter Mariane.This is Marianes dark moment because she wanted to marry Valere. Madam Pernelle only respects Tartuffe and her son Orgon and dislikes everyone. They all share the concern of how t5he family conducts themselves and what5 ppl think and say about them as a result. Early in the play Madam Pernelle leaves the house because no one listens or respects her as they should. The majority of the play rhymes which i found fairly interesting and i wondered what the purpose was.

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