Why Did I Believe In Tartuffe?

Everyone wants to believe in someone or something even if we know it’s a lie. Orgon is no different, he puts his trust in Tartuffe not because he has to, but because he wants to. Orgon wants to believe in something genuine and doesn’t want anyone to rob him of this fantasy. Before anyone judges Orgon, we all have fallen victim to the Santa Claus lie. As children, we are taught Santa Claus is this fat jolly old man that brings present to boys and girls across the world. Now that we’re older this sounds almost comical, right? So why did we believe in this jolly fat man? Why, because we wanted someone to have hope in, and for Orgon, it was Tartuffe.
Besides knowing Orgon is gullible and can be easily manipulated, he is also weak in his faith. What I mean by this is that, many people who believe in God or a being of higher power, have a hard time manifesting their faith in an entity. This is due to not being able to use our physical senses to confirm our belief. So, some gain their faith by looking to people or objects in hopes of getting their faith. In Kant’s essay about enlightenment, he informs
I went straight to my traitor, to confide in him; his sophistry made me believe That I must give the box to him to keep, so that, in case of search, I might deny My having it at all, and still, by favour Of this evasion, keep my conscience clear Even in taking oath against the truth.” (Moliere 38). In this text Orgon was prayed on by Tartuffe because of his weak heart. Many of us fall victim to leaning on people who mean us no good, but we go to them because they are the only ones around. Orgon put his hopes in Tartuffe because he was in desperate need of something to believe in. An example of this is when a child’s parent in convicted of a crime, no matter how bad the crime, that child only sees them as their parent. This is the same for Orgon, regardless of how bad people spoke of Tartuffe he still saw him as this holy