Brent holds a Ph.D. in American culture from the University of Michigan and is a freelance writer and editor. In this essay, Brent discusses the theme of deception and the motif of the social mask in Molière's Tartuffe.

Deception is a recurring theme in Tartuffe. Tartuffe himself is a master of deception, successfully deceiving Orgon into believing he is a virtuous man. Tartuffe is sometimes referred to by the title "Tartuffe, or The Imposter." An imposter is one who fools others into thinking that he is someone other than who he really is. Tartuffe turns out to be a sort of professional imposter who has committed a long list of crimes under various false identities.

As in many of Molière's plays, the symbol of the social mask is central to Tartuffe. The mask symbolizes the ways in which people tend to present...