“Tartuffe must be approved, or all plays condemned.”  So wrote Moliere after years of the King denying production for fear of religious, political, and cultural backlash.  Why?  Because if drama is a mirror, the image being reflected was hypocritical, corrupt, and too close for courtly comfort.  But this play is about more than religious attack.  It is about reflection.  Each character is a mirror of a particular type.  The shrewish mother in law.  The cuckolded husband.  The adulterous wife.  The saucy maid.  The young lovers.  The hypocrite.  Yet each has a self-awareness that their identity depends upon the identities of others.  Each knows they are playing a part.  Each knows the part the other must play.  And each must play their role even if they wish to play against their type.  The only way Elmire can prove Tartuffe’s hypocrisy is to play the role of adulterous wife.  The only way Mariane and Valere can earn permission to marry is to play the role of quarrelsome lovers.  The rules of comedy call for it.  Moliere, however, has his cake and eats it too.  On the one hand, this is a brilliantly constructed comedy, adhering to the rules at every predictable turn.  On the other hand, it is a savage retaliation, not only on the religious group protesting the content of the play, but on the King himself for being so swayed.  In order for a mirror to reflect, it needs the light of the sun.  And in order for these characters’ identities to reflect the truth (however unseemly), they need the light of the Sun King.  All light emanates from him, and all identity depends upon it.  If, however, he is swayed, then all identity shifts throughout the court.  So in the end, what appears to be a lengthy and self-aware ode to the King’s power to force a happy ending is also a warning.  Moliere will not hesitate to turn the mirror on the King himself.  But playwright beware.   As Moliere writes himself, ”We easily endure reprimands, but not being laughed at.  We want to be wicked, but not ridiculous.”