Conclusion

In the course of this study, I have argued that the extraordinary controversy provoked by Molière’s Tartuffe turned on questions of content and, above all, context. While the content of the play was undoubtedly controversial in and of itself, it is the politico-religious context in which the play appeared that led to a full-blown controversy. I have also argued that what is commonly known as the Tartuffe controversy was brought about by a wish to avoid fueling a more dangerous, religious controversy (although, as we have seen, theatre had a role to play in contemporary religious polemic, just as the debates over Molière’s play were sometimes couched in fundamentally religious terms).

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