Molière performed his first version of Tartuffe on the 12th of May 1664 at the Palace of Versailles. This performance occurred during Les Plaisirs de l'île enchantée, a grand festival celebrating King Louis XIV.
King Louis XIV banned public performances of Tartuffe because he feared the resemblance between true devotion and false virtue could be mistaken for one another. The monarch believed such confusion might allow vice to abuse religious matters and forbade shows to protect the public from this danger.
The original three-act version of Tartuffe was never published and no text has survived to modern times. Many writers believe it consisted of the first three acts of the final version while John Cairncross proposed that acts one three and four were performed originally.
Archbishop Paul Philippe Hardouin de Beaumont de Péréfixe of Paris heavily influenced the decision to ban Tartuffe. The king's confessor also urged him to act against the play due to fears regarding religious hypocrisy.
The largely-final third version titled Tartuffe ou L'Imposteur appeared on the 5th of February 1669 at the Palais-Royal theatre. This final version was highly successful and published by Molière himself before becoming the standard text performed today across centuries of theater history.