Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
mistakes in mixing up appearance and reality and says, “It is me whom are to blame, for
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
family, and his eventual realization of reality proves that reasons finally triumph.