Inter-influential relationship of literature and history in its connection with hegemony : a parallel readind on Moliere`s Tartuffe and Mark Kishlansky`s Louis XIV - USD Repository

  

INTER-INFLUENTIAL RELATIONSHIP OF LITERATURE

AND HISTORY IN ITS CONNECTION WITH HEGEMONY: A

PARALLEL READING ON MOLIÈRE’S TARTUFFE AND

MARK KISHLANSKY’S LOUIS XIV

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

YABES ELIA SURYANTO

  Student Number: 034214061

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

  

INTER-INFLUENTIAL RELATIONSHIP OF LITERATURE

AND HISTORY IN ITS CONNECTION WITH HEGEMONY: A

PARALLEL READING ON MOLIÈRE’S TARTUFFE AND

MARK KISHLANSKY’S LOUIS XIV

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

YABES ELIA SURYANTO

  Student Number: 034214061

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

  

The unexamined life is not

worth living.

  

(Socrates)

 

  

There are no whole truths; all

truths are half-truths. It is trying

to treat them as whole truths that

plays the devil.

  (Alfred  North Whitehead)

   

For my beloved Mother, Yetty Kemawati

Raharja

  

In heaven

For your incredible struggle

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Thanks to Jesus and Socrates, I finished my thesis. First of all, I would like to give my deepest appreciation to my favorite characters, Jesus and Socrates who have inspired me in every cell of my brain. They have proved me the greatness of the texts in giving influences in people’s life.

  Second, I would like to thank my advisor, Paulus Sarwoto, S.S., M.A, for his thoughts, believes and every seconds during my thesis writing process. I would like you to know that you are the most annoying, yet my favorite teacher.

  My deepest gratitude also goes to my adored mother, Yetty Kemawati

  

Raharja. Thank you for showing me that every human is a super human. Thank

you for your life.

  Thanks to my older sister, Yitra Ambarukmi Sutrisni S.E. I will never make until this far without you. Thank you for giving me chances and understanding. Thanks to you for allowing me walk along with you by my side.

  My special thanks goes to I Putu Jody Sudiartawan and Andreas Teguh

  

Sujarwadi S.S for giving me ‘home’ every time I feel lonely. Thanks to my great

friends Wahyu Adi Putra Ginting, S.S. and Wahmuji for their special guidance.

  Thank you for correcting my ill sentences. My special thanks also go to my ‘family’ Budi Utomo, Sunu, Gideon, Sugeng Utomo, Galang, Bigar, Kethek,

  

Ramto and Badu. I also would like to express my thanks to all my friends

  especially Kentang, Boim, Tombro, Nitnot, Wedhus, Tiara, Danik, Stella,

  

Tumpal, Dika, Cosmas, Asep, Dodik, Mbendol, Bayu and all English Letters

  

Students of 2003 for companying and supporting me during my study, it is great

to be their friends.

  Finally, for my wife Tyas Purbasari, S.S. and my child Bumi Yabes, I can not find any words to show my gratefulness. You are the reason in everything.

  You are my steps in my walks. I am the luckiest man because of you, the logic of my thought and the love of my emotion.

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE............................................................................................ i

APPROVAL PAGE .................................................................................. ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ............................................................................ iii

MOTTO PAGE......................................................................................... iv

DEDICATION PAGE .............................................................................. vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................... vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................... ix ABSTRACT .............................................................................................. xi ABSTRAK ................................................................................................. xii

  

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ............................................................ 1

  1 A. Background of the Study .............................................................

  4 B. Problem Formulation ...................................................................

  4 C. Objectives of the Study ................................................................

  5 D. Definition of Terms ......................................................................

  

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ........................................... 6

  6 A. Review of Related Studies...........................................................

  7 B. Review of Related Theories.........................................................

  7 1. Elements of Drama …............................................................

  7 a. Theory on Plot …………………………………………..

  10 b. Theory on Character..........................................................

  12 2. Theory of Absolute Power………………………...................

  3. Theory of Hegemony………………………………………. 14

  C. Review on Historical Facts……………………………………… 15

  18 D. Theoretical Framework …………………………………………

  

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ……………………………………. 20

  20 A. Object of the Study.......................................................................

  21 B. Approach of the Study.................................................................

  23 C. Method of the Study .....................................................................

  

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ……………………………………………. 25

  25 A. The Intrinsic Elements on Tartuffe ..............................................

  1. Plot…………..……………………………………………… 25

  a. Exposition………………………………………………. 25

  27 b. Point of Attack...……..………………………………….

  28 c. Rising Action…………………………………………….

  d. Climax…………………………………………………... 31

  e. Resolution………..……………………………………... 32

  a. Orgon……………………………………………………. 33

  b. Tartuffe………...……..…………………………………. 37

  B. The Influences of the History in the Intrinsic Elements ………… 40

  1. Plot………………………………………………………….. 40

  52 2. Character ……………………………………………............

  C. The Influences of the Intrinsic Elements in the History ………… 58

  58 1. Character ……………………………………………............

  2. Plot………………………………………………………….. 61

  

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION …............................................................ 65

BIBLIOGRAPHY ….................................................................................. 67

APPENDIX ………………………………………………………………. 69

  

ABSTRACT

YABES ELIA SURYANTO. Inter-influential Relationship of Literature and

History in its Connection with Hegemony: A Parallel Reading on Molière’s

Tartuffe and Mark Kishlansky’s Louis XIV. Yogyakarta: Department of

English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2008.

  Begin with personal interests with this work, Molière’s Tartuffe, the writer tries to find historical information on this play. The writer finds that this play has its own special records. The finding on its special records and historical background inspire the writer to do deeper analysis on this play. The absolute power and its hegemony, as a way maintaining it, become the focus on this study. The writer chooses this topic because of his finding that the hegemony of absolute power has been some major problems in many countries over centuries.

  The problems to be answered in this thesis are: (1) how the plot and characters are described in Tartuffe?, (2) how the history influences the plot and characters in Tartuffe?, (3) how the plot and characters in Tartuffe influenced the history?

  The study of this thesis is a library research. It takes most information and references from books. The study uses the new historicism approach since the aim is to find the inter-influential relationship of literature and history in its connection with hegemony of absolute power.

  Through this study, the writer discovers the inter-influential relationship of literary text and historical text in its connection with hegemony. The first influences are found in the intrinsic elements of the play, plot and character. The important role of absolute power, including its benefits and consequences, in the reign of Louis XIV, influenced the plot of the play. The ruling system of Louis

  XIV emphasized on the role of the king influenced Molière, the writer of the play, in creating Orgon’s characteristics. The second influences are in the history. A character in this play, Tartuffe, annoyed the church. This character caused the church to give an execution on Molière for heresy. The plot, on the contrary, caused Louis XIV to save the writer of the play from his execution.

  

ABSTRAK

YABES ELIA SURYANTO. Inter-influential Relationship of Literature and

History in its Connection with Hegemony: A Parallel Reading on Molière’s

Tartuffe and Mark Kishlansky’s Louis XIV. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra

Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2008.

  Berawal dari selera individu atas sebuah karya dari Molière yang berjudul

  

Tartuffe, penulis mencoba mencari catatan sejarah yang berhubungan dengan

  karya ini. Penulis menemukan bahwa karya ini memiliki catatan sejarah yang istimewa. Penemuan-penemuan atas catatan sejarah dan latar belakang sejarah dari karya inilah yang menginspirasi penulis untuk melakukan analisa yang lebih lanjut. Kekuasan absolut dan hegemoni nya, yang dipandang sebagai salah satu cara untuk mempertahankan kekuasaan, menjadi focus dari studi ini.

  Rumusan masalah yang akan dijawab dalam studi ini adalah: (1) bagaimana plot dan karakter dijabarkan dalam karya ini?, (2) bagaimana sejarah mempengaruhi plot dan karakter di dalam karya ini?, (3) bagaimana plot dan karakter dalam karya ini mempengaruhi sejarah?

  Studi ini merupakan studi pustaka, artinya mayoritas informasi dan referensi bersumber pada buku. Studi ini menggunakan pendekatan new

  

historicism karena tujuan utama dari studi ini adalah untuk menemukan hubungan

  antara karya sastra dan sejarah yang saling mempengaruhi dalam hubungannya dengan hegemoni kekuasaan absolut.

  Melalui studi ini, penulis menemukan hubungan antara karya sastra dan sejarah yang saling mempengaruhi dalam hubungannya dengan hegemoni kekuasaan absolut. Pengaruh pertama ditemukan pada karya sastra, pada plot dan karakter. Peran penting dari kekuasaan yang absolute, termasuk keuntungan dan resiko nya, pada jaman pemerintahan Louis XIV mempengaruhi plot. Sistem kekuasaan yang bertumpu pada peran Louis XIV mempengaruhi Molière, penulis karya ini, dalam menciptakan karakteristik Orgon. Pengaruh kedua ditemukan pada sejarah. Seorang tokoh dalam karya ini, Tartuffe, membuat marah gereja. Tokoh ini membuat gereja menjatuhkan eksekusi pada Molière karena dianggap bidah. Plot pada karya ini, sebaliknya, mempengaruhi Louis XIV untuk menyelamatkan penulis karya ini dari eksekusi nya.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study When the writer read the play, Molière’s Tartuffe, at the first time, the writer was interested in its conflict and the personality of each character. However, this play was not made just for the beauty in literature but it was made

  for criticism. At the first time, the writer noticed that this play is Molière’s, the writer of this play, critic towards hypocritical church through the characterization in Tartuffe. However, when the writer read the history and recognized what

  th

  happened in France in 17 century, he then realized that this play is not only criticizing the church but also producing a possibility that it shows Molière’s disagreement towards the absolute power of Louis XIV.

  Tartuffe was performed at the first time in Great Palace Versailles with the

  royal court as the audience. After this play was performed, it made the church annoyed because of the content. The play was banned for the public performance.

  Although Tartuffe was extremely popular with audiences and was acclaimed by Louis XIV, the Archbishop of Paris issued a decree threatening to excommunicate anyone performing, attending, or even reading the play. It was not until 1669—after the bulk of political and religious power had shifted away from his most adamant opponents—that Molière was permitted to perform publicly the final version of the play.<Pavloski>

  Though this play has ever been banned, yet the writer believes a remarkable literary work will never die, even it will get stronger, if someone tries to kill it. This play has also become an evidence that literary work, sometimes, is the mirror of reality. In literature, people can find historical facts which happened in the real life. Moreover, if the people can see the reality deeper than it seems, they can see that there are comedy, tragedy, drama and ode in the real world usually seen in a literary piece. This play, in addition to becoming a reflection of the reality, was not only influenced by the reality but also, interestingly, influenced the reality.

  That’s why when the writer knows that even though it had been banned but Tartuffe is still alive till today and the writer trusts that the influence of historical facts may reveal good lesson toward today’s life. And it makes the writer consider that this play is worth studying.

  Another reason is, absolute power had been some major problem in many countries over centuries. The example of absolute power which occurred not long ago was done by Soeharto in Indonesia (1968-1998). It proves that even absolute power had existed for a long time ago, it is still alive now.

• William Ewart Gladstone (1809 1898), a British statesman who is referring to proposed electoral reforms and extension of the franchise (Reform Bill, 1867) in his speech to the British Parliament stated that “I venture to say that every man who is not presumably incapacitated by some consideration of personal unfitness or of political danger is morally entitled to come within the pale of the constitution”. Another opinion from Maximilien Robespierre (1758 - 1794), a French lawyer and revolutionary in the Declaration of the Rights of Man is “any

law which violates the indefeasible rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all”.

  Many people disagree with absolute power and they will do their efforts to against it. There are a lot of examples of the act against absolute power which is happened in many countries such as America, in their war of independence (1775- 1783), England which is known as Puritan revolution (1640-1660), French revolution (1789-1799).

  The writer can not give any judgements on the act of opposing the absolute power whether it is good or bad. The writer interests in the process on how people get involved in the absolute power. The evidences from the history show that there are a lot of people who involve in this matter whether they are supporting by doing or against it. This phenomenon is widely occurred throughout the world even all religions in this world believe that the God has the absolute power. For those reasons, in the writer’s opinion, absolute power which is the most popular phenomenon in the society is worth studying.

  In Microsoft® Student 2008 [DVD], Antonio Gramsci, a Marxist political theorist defined Hegemony as the ways in which ruling classes use a dominant ideology to conceal their control of the masses. It is obviously seen that the concept of hegemony is closely related with the absolute power since it can be the most applicable and easiest way to maintain that condition, therefore studying the concept of hegemony will give a better chance to deal with the existence of absolute power, whatever position is taken. Therefore, the title of this study is

  

Inter-influential Relationship of Literature and History in its Connection with

  

Hegemony: A Parallel reading on Molière’s Tartuffe and Mark Kishlansky’s

Louis XIV. The purpose of this study is finding the significance of the hegemony

  of absolute power and revealing the process of this hegemony. Therefore the readers who oppose the absolute power may have better chance to defeat it and the readers who support it may have better chance to maintain or to achieve it. The writer will give the readers a freedom to choose since the writer believes that many people will refuse to be controlled by other people but those many people will take the chance to have control on the other.

B. Problem Formulation

  1. How are the plot and characters described in Tartuffe?

  2. How does history influence the plot and characters in Tartuffe?

  3. How do plot and characters in Tartuffe influence history?

C. The Objective of the Study

  The objective of this study is to answer the questions in the problem formulation. Firstly, by revealing the intrinsic elements, especially the plot and characters in Tartuffe, the writer can reveal the significances of the history towards this play. Secondly, the writer can show on how this play influences history. Finally, by knowing those influences, the writer can relate the influences with hegemony of absolute power.

D. Definition of Term

  As it is stated before, the term hegemony according to Gramsci is the ways in which ruling classes use a dominant ideology to conceal their control of the masses (Microsoft® Student 2008 [DVD]).

  Barry Burke believes that by hegemony, Gramsci meant the permeation

  

throughout society of an entire system of values, attitudes, beliefs and morality

that has the effect of supporting the status quo in power relations.

  Dominant groups in society, including fundamentally but not exclusively the ruling class, maintain their dominance by securing the 'spontaneous consent' of subordinate groups, including the working class, through the negotiated construction of a political and ideological consensus which incorporates both dominant and dominated groups." (Strinati, 1995: 165)

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review on Related Studies Molière's Tartuffe as a satire on religious fanaticism This was written by Lyman Allen Baker (1996). In this study, the author

  wanted to show that what was written by Wilbur, a translator of Tartuffe who wrote some analyzes on the primary source used in this thesis, misses the point of the premise that Molière’s criticism, using the character of Tartuffe, applied only to people who are religious but do not act in accordance with their sincere professions. Orgon, who would easily believe and obey what church said, was used to criticize the traditional Christian. It is shown through Orgon who believes in Tartuffe because he comes from the church.

  In this work, it is obviously shown that Orgon’s attitude is recognizably a parody of St. Augustine. He was successful in commanding the Roman Empire and Protestant reformers.

  It was also described that Cleante is the one who can think clearly since he argues that God wants his people to enjoy their life instead of mortify their flesh.

  In this research, the writer agrees with the opinion of Lyman Allen Baker that Orgon is used to criticize the power from the church. However, Baker did not go deeper in her analysis. She only regarded Orgon as the victim of the church’s power, not as the victim of something bigger than that: something behind the church which is an absolute power held by the church in that time.

  The writer believes that a deeper analysis regarding the absolute power from the church making Orgon as a victim is needed. There is a larger matter involved such as why Orgon becomes a victim and how the power of the church relates to its hegemony. Therefore, the writer tries to analyze the larger context related with the absolute power and its hegemony. The writer tries to find the inter-influential relationship of literary text and historical text in its connection with hegemony of absolute power.

B. Review on Related Theories

1. Elements of Drama The object of this study is a drama, which has some intrinsic elements.

  Therefore, theory of elements of drama is provided. There are some intrinsic elements of drama but there are only two elements which are discussed. The other elements are not related to the problem in this study.

a. Plot

  Plot is one of the most important elements in a story since it will guide the reader to understand the story better. Plot will show the readers the significant of every event from the beginning until the end of the story.

  Based on Microsoft Student 2008, plot is the narrative and thematic development of the story—that is, what happens and what these events mean.

  English novelist E. M. Forster, author of works such as A Room with a View (1908) and Howards End (1910), referred to the plot as a “narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality.” In other words, plot is a series of contiguous events that has a connection to one another, not a fragmented of unrelated episodes.

  Rohrberger and Woods in Reading and Writing about Literature (1971:21) divide the plot of the story into four stages.

  1. The first stage is exposition in which the author gives some information about characters. The information is useful for readers in order to understand what will happen in the story.

  2. The author afterwards brings forward the complication or often be called conflict. The stage is called raising action because the conflict leads higher action for characters.

3. The third stage is the climax in which the action comes in the highest level.

  4. The stage is the resolution, or denouement. The characters find some ways to minimize the conflict. Another term to describe this stage is falling action. According to Aristotle's Poetics, a plot in literature is "the arrangement of incidents" that (ideally) each follows plausibly from the other. The plot is like the pencil outline that guides the painter's brush. Aristotle notes that a string of unconnected speeches, no matter how well-executed, will not have as much emotional impact as a series of tightly connected speeches delivered by imperfect speakers. According to Abrams (1971: 159), plot is constituted by events and actions which directly order the achieving particular emotional and artistic effects. He also suggests that a plot is also a bare synopsis of the temporal order of what happens in a literary work.

  According to Terrin Lynch Adair there are five elements of plot. The first is point of attack. This is the moment of the play at which the main action of the plot begins. This may occur in the first scene, or it may occur after several scenes of exposition. The point of attack is the main action by which all others will arise.

  It is the point at which the main complication is introduced. Point of attack can sometimes work hand in hand with a play’s inciting incident, which is the first incident leading to the rising action of the play. Sometimes the inciting incident is an event that occurred somewhere in the character’s past and is revealed to the audience through exposition.

  The second element is exposition. Exposition is important information that the audience needs to know in order to follow the main story line of the play. It is the aspects of the story that the audience may hear about but that they will not witness in actual scenes. It encompasses the past actions of the characters before the play’s opening scenes progress.

  The third element is rising action. Rising action is the section of the plot beginning with the point of attack and/or inciting incident and proceeding forward to the crisis onto the climax. The action of the play will rise as its set up a situation of increasing intensity and anticipation. These scenes make up the body of the play and usually create a sense of continuous mounting suspense in the audience.

  The next element is climax/crisis. All of the earlier scenes and actions in a play will build technically to the highest level of dramatic intensity. This section of the play generally refers to the moment of the play’s climax. This is the moment where the major dramatic questions rise to the highest level, the mystery hits the unraveling point, and the culprits are revealed. This should be the point of the highest stage of dramatic intensity in the action of the play. The whole combined actions of the play generally lead up to this moment.

  Resolution/Obligatory scene is the last element of plot. The resolution is the moment of the play in which the conflicts are resolved. It is the solution to the conflict in the play, the answer to the mystery, and the clearing up of the final details. This is the scene that answers the questions raised earlier in the play. In this scene the methods and motives are revealed to the audience.

b. Character and Characterization

  Character is the most critical element in the play. Most of the times, the reader can get the main idea of the play by seeing it through the characters.

  According to Barnet, Berman and Burto, character has two meanings: (1) a figure of literary work, and (2) personality, that is the mental and the moral qualities of the figure, as when we may say that X’s character is strong, or weak, or immoral, or whatever. (Barnet, Berman, and Burto, 1988: 71).

  In Glossary of Literary Terms (1981: 20-21) Abram defines character as the person presented by the author as being endowed with moral and disposition qualities that can be evaluated from the dialogue and the action.

  In the book entitled Approach to Literature, Little gives explanation of how to study a character. According to him, a character can be studied from: First, his or her basic characteristics. This can be seen from: i. The physical condition of the characters, including his or her age. ii. The social relationship, which mean the personal relationship with other characters or wider social relationship, such as social class and occupation. iii. The mental qualities, this is typical ways of thinking, feeling, and acting.

  Second, it can be seen from his or her appearance from various points of view. This includes: i. How the character sees himself or herself ii. How other characters see him or her iii. How he or she develops or fails to develop during the course of the story

  Third, is from his or her place in the work. It means: i. The treatment of the author (sketched of fully rounded portrayed descriptively or dramatically treatment sympatically or unsympathetically) ii. His or her place in the story (leading character or a minor one) iii. His or her relation to the theme. For example: whether the character embodies something important that the author has to say.

  In order to be believable or convincing, the characterization must observe at least 3 principles (Perrine, 1969: 69). Firstly, the character must be consistent in their behavior. They must have a strong and appropriate reason if they change. In other words, a character may remain stable or unchanged or she/he may undergo a radical change in her/his outlook and deposition from the beginning to the end of the story, but she/he must be consistent with her/his behavior traits.

2. Theory of Absolute Power

  According to William Benton and Helen Hemingway Benton (1983), the etymology of the term ‘power’ is traced back to a Latin root (potere, potesse, or

  

posse), essentially meaning, “to be able to” or having the capacity to do

  something. One common meaning of “power” now a rather ambiguous term is “the ability to act”, “capacity to produce a result”, or simply “strength”. In politic, this meaning became more specialized, referring to the ability to affect the actions of others; that is, to produce alteration in their behavior. The most common classification of power would divide it into economic, social, and political categories essentially institutional classification. Political power pertains to the state or government, economic power to the financial and production establishments, and social power to the remaining institution. Similar, but more elaborate, classifications that have been suggested would include religious, militarily, judicial, informational, and international power along with economic, social and political power. From another perspective, this various type of power can be regarded as referring to control over different kinds of valued resources.

  Political scientists who have pursued this line of thought most explicitly list eight types of human values: power, respect, rectitude, affection, well-being, wealth, skill, and enlightenment. Since power can be based on the control over any of this values, there are eight basic types of power (“forms of influence”): political power, councillorship, mentorship, personal influence, violence, economic power, expertness, and advisory influence respectively (The New Encyclopedia

  Britannica 1983:697-702).

  In the international encyclopedia, the leader who has absolute power can not allow anyone else to have any power whatever; he must depend on no one, thus he must be able to dispense at anytime with any of his subordinates. The analysis of absolute power is often concerned, therefore, with the identification of elites and leadership, the discovery of the ways in which power is allocated to different strata, relations among leaders and between leaders and non leader, and so forth. The leader who has absolute power has a right issue commands; subordinates perceive an obligation to obey. If the character of the communication is questioned, then the leader is diminished and the bond that holds the participants together is in danger of being served. The leader will be strong when subordinates anticipated of superior even before they are voiced (Sills, 1972:473- 479).

3. Theory of Hegemony

  According to Gramsci, the term ‘hegemony’ is the ways in which ruling classes use a dominant ideology to conceal their control of the masses (Microsoft® Student 2008 [DVD]).

  Strinati states that dominant groups in society, including fundamentally but not exclusively the ruling class, maintain their dominance by securing the 'spontaneous consent' of subordinate groups, including the working class, through the negotiated construction of a political and ideological consensus which incorporates both dominant and dominated groups." (Strinati, 1995: 165)

  The writer also found the definition from Barry Burke that by hegemony, Gramsci meant the permeation throughout society of an entire system of values, attitudes, beliefs and morality that has the effect of supporting the status quo in power relations.

  In WordNet® 3.0 by Princeton University stated that the dominance or leadership of one social group or nation over others; "the hegemony of a single member state is not incompatible with a genuine confederation"; "to say they have priority is not to say they have complete hegemony"; "the consolidation of the United States' hegemony over a new international economic system"

  Based on those definitions on hegemony, the writer learned that hegemony is related to political power. Since this study also discusses about political power, the writer put the opinion that ‘politics influences literature’ from Edward Said. Edward Said says in his book Orientalism that “In the second place, to believe that politics in the form of imperialism bears upon the production of literature, scholarship, social theory, and history writing is by no means equivalent to saying that culture is therefore a demeaned or denigrated thing”(Said, 1978:14).

C. Review on Historical Facts

  This study tries to juxtapose historical facts and literary text and tries to read the historical records within the frame of literature, then relates it to the

  th

  concept of absolute power. Since this drama was written in 17 century in France, the writer chooses to provide particular data to make the analysis clearer.

  Most of the facts on Louis XIV were taken from Microsoft Student 2008 as the main sources, as the writer sees that this source is reliable and easy to be accessed.

  This is a short summary on Louis XIV which is taken from Microsoft Student 2008 written by Mark Kishlansky.

  Louis XIV (1638-1715), king of France (1643-1715), known as the Sun King. Louis, third monarch of the Bourbon family, ruled for 72 years, the longest reign in European history. His rule typified the period of absolute monarchy in the second half of the 17th century, during which time kings ruled without the restraint of representative institutions. This epoch is widely known as the age of Louis XIV because other European monarchs imitated and competed with developments in France. Louis inherited a kingdom that was internally divided, militarily exhausted, and nearly bankrupt. He left to his heirs the greatest power in the Western world. Louis’s main achievements were expanding the effectiveness of the central government, increasing the boundaries of France to the north and east, and placing one of his grandsons on the throne of Spain. But these successes cost the nation dearly. The economy suffered during the long years of war, taxes increased, and the countryside was left vulnerable to punishing famines. From this source, it can be learned that after Mazarin, a principal minister from Louis XIII, died in 1661, Louis XIV ruled the country without a chief minister, something no French king had done in history. Mark Kishlansky also states that the system of absolute monarchy from Louis XIV emphasized the role of the king and no monarch was more successful in creating the image of monarchy than Louis XIV.

  Other data from Microsoft Encarta 2008 which was taken for the evidence in chapter IV are the data on some achievements and losses of Louis XIV. Louis made the achievements in the areas of art, science, economy and military.

  From 1661 until 1689, Louis built a royal palace named Versailles. This royal palace is a part of an artistic renaissance that flourished under Louis XIV.

  Louis also gave royal patronage to the great playwrights Molière and Jean Baptiste Racine. Louis also created three French academies, later part of the Institut de France, to support the study of fine arts, languages, and sciences: L’Académie des Beaux Arts (1648), the L’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles- Lettres (1663), and L’Académie des Sciences (1666).

  Louis XIV trusted financial area in the hands of Colbert. Colbert used a policy known as mercantilism. This policy formed the basis for an economic recovery in the middle years of Louis’s reign. The improvements on the domestic manufacturing led to improvements in transportation. Colbert also established private merchant companies to expand overseas trade.

  In military, Louis worked with his minister Michael Le Tellier and Le Tellier’s son, the Marquis de Louvois, to build up French defenses. They expanded the size of the French army from 100,000 in 1661 to 300,000 in 1688 and then to 400,000 in 1702. They also built fortifications at river crossings and conquered strategically placed towns, especially along the Rhine.

  Unfortunately, Louis also had his losses. The main source of this study states that Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685. This revocation caused about 200,000 Huguenots, Protestants in France, fled France rather than convert to Catholicism. Since many Huguenots are highly skilled craftsmen, the loss of many highly productive citizens depressed the French economy. This revocation also caused Protestants states, especially England and Holland, worried about the revival of religious warfare. In 1689, England, Holland, Denmark and Austria formed the League of Augsburg, called Grand Alliance. Mark Kishlansky also stated that The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) was the most brutal and costly of Louis’s military endeavors. For the first time in over a century, French armies lost battles, most notably by John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, at the Battle of Blenheim (in what is now Germany) in 1704 and at Ramillies (in what is now Belgium) in 1706.

  Another source from Philippe Erlanger in Encyclopedia Britannica supports the evidences from Kishlansky. Erlanger stated that Louis XIV was the protector of writers, notably Molière and Jean Racine, whom he ordered to sing his praises, and he imposed his own visions of beauty and nature on artists.

  Another source, written by Evans, stated that there was a great rejoicing in France when Louis XIV died in 1715. Moreover, the Parlement of Paris nullified the will, stating that Louis XIV left actual power in the hands of his son by Mme de Montespan named the Duc du Maine, after his death.

  Other evidences which are stated in chapter IV comes from Pavloski. She stated that the production of Molière’s renowned work, Tartuffe, skewered and offended several aspects of upper-class French society, the Roman Catholic Church, and the influential underground society. She also stated that although

  

Tartuffe was extremely popular with audiences and was acclaimed by Louis XIV,

  the Archbishop of Paris issued a decree threatening to excommunicate anyone performing, attending, or even reading the play. In this page, Pavloski also stated that Louis XIV’s personal support saved Molière from his execution for heresy.

D. Theoretical Framework

  In this analysis, all theories mentioned in the previous sub-chapter will be used to answer the problems in the problem formulation. The first problem is to find the intrinsic elements of the play which is related to the absolute power and the second problem is to read the historical facts through the frame of the play’s intrinsic elements.

  The first theory is theory of elements of drama. In order to read the historical facts within the frame of literary works which become the second problem of this study, the intrinsic elements of drama are needed to be discussed first using their theories. However, only two elements of drama which are discussed in this study, they are plot and characters.

  The second theory, theory on absolute power, is used to give the clear description about absolute power. Since this study is about understanding the effect of absolute power, a better understanding on the concept of absolute power is needed.

  The third is the historical facts on the life Louis XIV. These facts are relevant with this study since this study tries to make a parallel reading between historical facts and literary text.

  The last theory is theory of hegemony. This theory is needed because in this study, hegemony becomes the main cause of the influences between literary text and historical texts.

  After reading the script of the play, finding some elements which are connected with the concept of absolute power, and knowing the historical facts on the life Louis XIV, as it is stated before, the writer tries to read the historical facts within the frame of the literary text to find the effects of hegemony of absolute power.

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study This play, Tartuffe, was written by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known as Moli ère, in 1664 and firstly translated in 1670. The writer uses the translated

  version by Richard Wilbur in the book entitled Types of Drama Plays and

  th

Contexts 8 edition published by Longman in 2001. In this book, beside the script

  of the play, a commentary on Tartuffe was added. The translated play in this book consists of 32 pages. It consists of 4 pages of commentary and other information, and 28 pages of the script of the play.

  This play has its special records. According to the information added in the book entitled Types of Drama Plays and Contexts, after it was performed for the first time before the royal court and Louis XIV, it was banned. In 1667, this play was entitled L’imposteur and some minor changes on the character was done.

  However, in the same year, this version was also banned by the clergy after its first performance. The ban was lifted in 1669 and it was reproduced several times in several countries.

  This play is about a hypocrite person named Tartuffe who tries to take over all of Orgon’s, a noble man, possessions and wife by hiding in the name of religion. This play ends with the king’s words saves Orgon from his misfortune caused by his believes on Tartuffe.