Q 01/05

In Molière's Tartuffe, where does Orgon hide to overhear the title character trying to seduce his wife?

A) Behind a curtain

B) Under a table

C) Inside a closet

D) Behind a screen

Answer · why

B) Under a table

Under a table is where Orgon crouches at his wife's urging, and he crawls out only when Tartuffe's advances leave no room for doubt. It takes that muc...

Q 02/05

Thanks to Molière's play, calling someone a tartuffe in French or English brands them as what?

A) A hypocrite

B) A penny-pincher

C) A social climber

D) A womaniser

Answer · why

A) A hypocrite

A hypocrite is the meaning, above all one who makes a show of religious virtue. The character was so vivid that his name became an everyday noun in tw...

Q 03/05

Which French king enjoyed Tartuffe at its 1664 court premiere yet banned Molière's comedy from public stages?

A) Henry IV

B) Louis XIII

C) Louis XIV

D) Louis XV

Answer · why

C) Louis XIV

Louis XIV found the play highly diverting, but ruled that sham piety and true devotion looked too alike on stage for public showing. He went on shield...

Q 04/05

What penalty did the Archbishop of Paris threaten for anyone who watched, acted in or read Molière's Tartuffe?

A) A heavy fine

B) Imprisonment

C) Exile from France

D) Excommunication

Answer · why

D) Excommunication

Excommunication was the threat in Archbishop Péréfixe's edict, which covered readers as well as actors and audiences. Private showings for aristocrats...

Q 05/05

Molière, the author of Tartuffe, collapsed on stage in 1673 while acting in which of his own comedies?

A) The Bourgeois Gentleman

B) The Hypochondriac

C) The Learned Ladies

D) The School for Wives

Answer · why

B) The Hypochondriac

The Hypochondriac, also called The Imaginary Invalid, cast Molière as a healthy man convinced he is ill, while the actor himself had tuberculosis. He ...