e time and was merelywaiting to catch Tartuffe red-handed. "With one keen glance, the king perceived the whole, perversenessand corruption of his soul, and thus high heaven's justice was displayed; Betraying you, the rogue stoodself-betrayed" (Meyer 1507). With this ending Moliere pointed out that there will be no stop to thehypocrite's outrages unless someone in power puts an end to it. Despite the attacks of the clergy, Moliere remained a strong believer that comedy knows noprivileged classes. The church's shortcomings were every bit as eligible to be laughed at as the commonpeasants. It is the privilege of a comic writer to remain aloof from society around him in order to beable to point out issues that others either do not notice, or do not wish to tackle. In the case of"Tartuffe", it was an issue that was taboo for others to speak of. Even King Louis himself was scared togo against the "divine judgement" of the church. The Holy Sacrament decided to ban the play before ithad even been publicly performed. Nevertheless, "the king pressed Moliere to stage his comedy at courtat the first possible moment" (Fernandez 119). After the ban on the play was finally lifted, it becameMoliere's most successful play. This suggests that both the nobility and the public enjoyed seeing theChurch subjected to scrutiny, although they could never say as much! with their words. In essence, Moliere became a champion of the people by mocking the hypocrites whoused religion to rise to power. Since this breed included some of the most powerful men in France atthat time, the move was especially bold. In fact, it caused Moliere to be in conflict with the churchfor the rest ofhis life. For instance, at his deathbed, "his wife was absent, trying fruitlessly topersuade a priest to give him the last rites" (Bishop X). "The Church preferred to regard him as adisreputable player, and was disinclined to grant him religious burial" (Gassner XII)....
