DQ 11

Tartuffe only attacks the corruptions of religion not religion itself. This is clear due to the direct statement of the author himself in the last paragraph of his preface where he discusses the interaction of the king and the prince. Where they discuss another play Scaramouche that did not follow the propriety concerning religion at the time where the religious leaders did not appear to care about that play. The interaction ended with the statement “It is because the comedy of Scaramouche makes fun of heaven and religion, which these gentlemen do not care about at all, but that of Molière makes fun of them, and that is what they cannot bear’ which points out who Tartuffe was directed at.

Hugo’s account differs from Dante’s in how he describes Satan and hell itself. In Hugo’s hell consists of a large amount of falling and a loss of light that goes with that falling. It also features loneliness shown through disappearing stars as one of its main forms of punishments that define what Satan is going through. Then when Satan reaches the ground he is surrounded by muck and mountains a very desolate landscape. While Dante’s hell on the other hand is surrounded by people who suffer together depending upon their crimes. With that suffering being of a more physical nature not the mental one that Hugo describes. As for Satan himself I would not describe him as heroic but as pitiable. For he seems like someone who knows that he has been abandon and yet tries so hard to have some form of companionship. That type of action is not heroic its desperation and a desperation that deserves pity.

Giacomo Leopardi’s The Infinite is a poem that talks about solitude in a positive format. He says that on the lonely hills that he currently sits on he imagines even more endless spaces and how the human silence is the deepest peace. Heinrich Heine’s A Pine Is Standing lonely also talks about solitude but instead of welcoming it the pine dreams of a warm land far to the east that also has a palm tree standing lonely in the sunburnt rock strand. Heine approach is that loneliness also means separation from those that you care about and that this can become all that you think about. While Leopardi says that sometimes solitude is that best thing that you can ever ask for.

3 thoughts on “DQ 11

  1. sxkristoffersen

    Good point about Hugo’s hell as depicted as lonely. The loss of stars would be a depressing thing, and I think that because hell is suppose to represent darkness it was an interesting way for the author to use imagery to show loneliness.

  2. Jared

    Do you think it is possible that Moliere was only covering for himself when he writes letters to the King and tries to explain the intent of his play? I took the side that he was making a satire of hypocrites, but it is possible that he used religion purposefully.

    I enjoyed your point about how Dante’s Hell was a physical punishment and Hugo’s was a mental one. The question is, what would be worse?

    Very good comparison and identifying that relation of solitude in both poems. I like how you took away the difference in perspective and how this would ultimately be determined by the personality of the writer and not based upon any fact, but pure emotion.

  3. sbutler12

    I like your response to the to second question. I didn’t write it in my response but now that I read yours, I like your view that he is not really heroic but more pitiful. I also enjoy your response the the third one and compared the same two poems since I thought they compared well.

Comments are closed.