Nicole K

A Sheep or a Wolf?

There is an old saying “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” which means someone seems to

be good, but is actually evil and malevolent in disguise. This idiom reflects the conflict

between appearance and reality. There are people who look nice and kind in appearance

like a sheep, but are actually malicious in reality like a wolf. The other way around,

someone who is fierce-looking like a woof is actually benevolent in reality. Both Tartuffe

and Monkey address the issue of “sheep or wolf”, which is conflict between appearance

and reality. In Moliere’s Tartuffe, Tartuffe the hypocrite beguiles Organ into proffering

his daughter and wealth. In Wu Cheng-En’s Journey to the West, at the beginning of their

pilgrimage to India, Monkey is easily outraged by the monsters and bursts into fighting

with them. Both Organ and Monkey are deceived by what they see, and confuse

appearance and reality. Their blindness is driven by their desires, with Organ’s desire for

religion and Monkey’s for power and skills. However, with the help of others, both of

them discover reality through detachment from their desires. Organ regains his ability to

reason through detachment from passions, and Monkey is helped by the Bodhisattya

Kuan-yin to achieve Buddhist detachment.

In Tartuffe, Organ and his mother Madame Pernelle are deeply deluded by Tartuffe’s

pious appearance. From Organ’s eyes, he sees Tartuffe’s false piety as protestations of

devotion. From Act I Scene 5, we can see that Organ blindly believes in what he sees

about Tartuffe in the church. He prays conspicuously, requests for fewer gifts, and sheds

crocodile tears for killing a flea. All these artificial behaviors seem lofty in Organ’s eyes.

However, everyone else in the household can easily and clearly recognize Tartuffe’s
 


hypocrisy, even though they see exactly what Organ or Madame Pernelle sees. The

reason that Organ is bewildered by Tartuffe’s appearance is that he is swollen by his

passions for piety and religion. Organ, who is approaching old age and death, needs to

attach himself to religion and devotion for comfort. Tartuffe, who is by Organ’s side at

that time, appears to be a pious saint. Organ’s desire for religious zeal causes him to lose

his ability to reason. He absurdly believes what he sees is the reality. Organ’s blindness

makes himself disregard Cleante’s counsel that Tartuffe is a hypocrite, and

indiscriminately falls into Tartuffe’s deceitful tricks.

The same problem happens to Monkey in Journey to the West. On their way to India,

Monkey encounters many monsters that look ugly and frightening. Every time Monkey

sees such a creature, he presumes it has malicious intention because of its monstrous

appearance. Monkey’s immediate reaction is to start a fierce fight with the monsters to

subdue them. For example, in Chapter XVIII, Monkey comes across a horrifying-looking

monster when the three of them come to the River of Flowing Sands. As the book

describes, this monster’s hair “was flaming red, his eyes were like two lanterns”(38).

Because of Sandy’s ugly appearance, Monkey assumes that he is a devil in reality, but

Sandy is the former marshal of the hosts of Heaven and will become Tripitaka’s third

dependable disciple. However, Monkey has no patience in finding the reality before he

fights several rounds with Sandy. Like Organ’s blindness, Monkey’s confusion between

appearance and reality is caused by his desire for power and invincibility. Nurtured by the

pure essences of Heaven and Earth, Monkey is very energetic and bellicose in his nature.

As the book says, “Monkey, seeing the grand fight that was in progress, itched to go and

join in it”(38). He says he is “going off to have a bit of fun with the creature”(38).
 


Because of Monkey’s desire for victory, he is intoxicated with fighting and loses his

ability to distinguish appearance and reality.

Both Organ and Monkey’s mistakes in mixing up reality and appearance are caused

by their desires, though the nature of their desires differs. Nevertheless, their eventual

ability to learn the truth is achieved by detachment from their desires, which helps them

get a more accurate view about reality.

In Act IV Scene 5, Organ sees Tartuffe strip off his sheep’s clothing with his own

eyes. Although this time Organ perceives with his senses, he is not deluded by Tartuffe’s

appearance any more. This time he is using his reasoning ability to make a judgment.

Elmire asks Organ to get under the table and observe Tartuffe’s actions. Hiding in the

concealed place, Organ stays aloof from the matter happening outside and watches from a

more neutral point of view. Being an audience, Organ is detached from his desire and

maintains his consciousness. Thinking in a reasonable way, Organ realizes a real pious

person would never seduce a brother’s wife or derogate a friend. Eventually Organ

discovers Tartuffe’s reality and learns his mistakes.

Monkey’s realization of the truth is not achieved by self-reasoning, but through

Bodhisattya Kuan-yin’s help and aids. Whenever Monkey sees a monster, he is too

impetuous to learn the reality. His desire for power always creates chaos. As in the case

of meeting Sandy, Monkey is too busy trying to catch him. As Kuan-yin directly points

out, “This is the same thing all over again”(40). Kuan-yin addresses Monkey’s problems

and tells him what to do. With Kuan-yin’s help, Monkey realizes the truth that the

horrifying-looking Sandy is actually his companion. Eventually Monkey admits his

 


mistakes in mixing up appearance and reality and says, “It is me whom are to blame, for

never having told him that we are going to get scriptures”(41).

All Kuan-yin’s help leads Monkey to understand the verity that he needs to discipline

his rambunctious intellect and detach from his desire if he wants to achieve

enlightenment. In the idea of Buddhism, desire lies at the root of suffering. Desires cause

all kinds of problems, including confusing appearance and reality. Kuan-yin’s help is to

propagate this idea of Buddhism and rescue the pilgrims from troubles. Organ’s mistakes

also reflect the idea of Enlightenment in Europe, which is to “control passions and

institutionalize reason”(295). Organ’s obsession with religion brings trouble to his

family, and his eventual realization of reality proves that reasons finally triumph.