However, Tartuffe's declaration of his passion, for all of its self-interest, still makes him a compelling and almost Romantic character. Even in the artificial and constructed nature of the play, there is some Romantic, or inner feeling exhibited that is not revealed by the outer character of Tartuffe. Even though what Tartuffe does in unnatural in his pretence and his designs upon the younger daughter of his host to gain money, Tartuffe's inner feeling for a married woman seems to be natural or unforced in a way that the carefully constructed social forms of the play cannot fully reveal-after all, the character would simply pursue the daughter's hand in marriage, if social advancement were his only goal, and not the satisfaction of his passion.

             Candide is a satire, and its characters do not speak to the audience-rather, the author Voltaire narrates what occurs with a distanced, humorous eye, just as Moliere's characters narrate their own lives over the course of the drama. The Enlightenment belief in the rational nature of government by human design rather than faith is stressed again and again, as leaders are shown to be corrupt and ignorant, and the characters at the heart of the drama, namely Cunegonde, Pangloss, and Candide, are persecuted for no just and moral reason. Only human reason, not divine reason prevails. There is no real ethical reason to the universe why some people are punished and other people are not. Unlike "Tartuffe," the reader is never sure of what is going to happen at the end of the fantastic scenarios, but only that there is no moral rhyme or reason to what will transpire.

             In Candide, the Neo-Classical aesthetic of 'constructed' narrative and character, as was typical in Moliere, is evidenced in the cold, rationalistic way that the author Voltaire regards his characters as moral exemplars, rather than characters the reader 'feels' for, as human beings.