Tartuffe: Comedy in Five Acts ANNOTATION
Translation into English verse of a classic French drama.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
One of Moliere's most frequently performed plays, Tartuffe has been skillfully rendered into English in brilliant rhymed couplets by Richard Wilbur, who won a share of the Bollingen Translation Prize for his much-acclaimed translation of this satiric turn on religious hypocrisy.
The central character of the play is a rich bourgeois named Orgon, who in middle age has become a bigot and prude. The title character, a wily opportunist and swindler, affects sanctity and gains complete ascendancy over Orgon, who not only attempts to turn over his fortune but offers his daughter in marriage to his "spiritual" guide. It is only when Orgon witnesses Tartuffe's attempt to seduce his wife that he comes to his senses.
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