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TARTUFFE SUMMARY ● ●

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How It All Goes Down There's a storm brewing at Orgon's house. According to his mother, Madame Pernelle, Orgon's family has become decadent and depraved. They're unable to see the greatness of Tartuffe, a beggar and holy man Orgon recently took in. According to the rest of Orgon's family, Orgon has been "taken in." They think Tartuffe is a hypocritical, self-righteous con artist. When Orgon returns from the country, we find that he's become obsessed with Tartuffe; he would rather hear about him than about his sick wife. Orgon is offended when his brother-in-law, Cléante, tells him he's been acting like an idiot. When Orgon attempts to explain why Tartuffe is such a great and admirable man, Cléante sees right through his brother-in-law's unsound reasoning. Cléante asks Orgon about the rumored postponement of Mariane's (Orgon's daughter) wedding. Orgon confirms that it has indeed been postponed, but he will say nothing further. Cléante is rightfully concerned.

Orgon calls Mariane in for a chat. He wants to know how she feels about Tartuffe. When she acts surprised, he tells her how she's supposed to feel: she respects him, is fond of him, and will marry him. Mariane is speechless, but luckily Dorine, a saucy servant, isn't. She comes in and asks Orgon if Mariane is really going to marry Tartuffe. When her boss confirms this, she makes fun of him, calling the idea ridiculous. Dorine proceeds to annoy Orgon, preventing him from talking further with Mariane.

Once Orgon leaves, an irritated Dorine tells Mariane that she can't believe how weak she acts in front of her father. Although she is hard on Mariane, Dorine eventually relents and agrees to help the girl. Valère, Mariane's fiancé, enters. He's heard the bad news about their wedding plans. Soon enough he and Mariane are arguing over nothing in particular. Dorine gets them to kiss and make up. The clever servant instructs

Mariane to stall the wedding to Tartuffe and tells Valère to spread word of Orgon's foolishness around town.

When Damis, Orgon's son, hears about his father's plan to marry Mariane to Tartuffe, he flips out and tells Dorine that he's going to give Tartuffe a knuckle sandwich. Dorine has a better idea: she's arranged for a meeting between Tartuffe and Elmire, Orgon's wife. Damis insists on watching, and spies on the conversation while hiding in a closet. During the meeting, Tartuffe makes a rather awkward attempt to seduce Elmire. When he fails, Elmire strikes a deal with him. If he refuses to marry Mariane, she says, she won't tell Orgon about what just happened. While Tartuffe seems fine with this, Damis does not. He leaps from the closet and confronts Tartuffe. When he tells Orgon – who just happens to walk in – what he's just seen, Orgon doesn't believe him. As a result, Orgon disinherits Damis and gives Tartuffe the rights to his whole estate.

Cléante attempts to reason with Tartuffe and get him to give Damis a second chance, but Tartuffe refuses. All the while, things get worse: Mariane can no longer bear the stress of her impending marriage. When Orgon appears, marriage contract in hand, Mariane, Dorine, and Elmire plead with him. Though he has pangs of conscience, he stands firm. Elmire takes matters into her own hands, and promises to show him the truth about Tartuffe. She makes him hide under a table and tells Dorine to call in Tartuffe.

When Tartuffe arrives, she does her best to "seduce" him. He is skeptical of the whole situation, given the quick about-face, and demands that she give him some concrete sign of her affection. Elmire becomes increasingly antsy, and eventually asks Tartuffe to step outside the room and look to make sure her husband – Orgon – isn't around. When he does, Orgon pops out from under the table, enraged. Elmire tries to get him to hide again, in order that he might watch more and really make sure he's satisfied, but Tartuffe comes in before he can hide. When Orgon confronts Tartuffe, Tartuffe reminds him that he has the rights to Orgon's property and promises to get his revenge.

As it turns out, not only does Tartuffe have the rights to Orgon's property, he also has a number of documents that, if they were to come to the attention of the King, could get Orgon in serious trouble. Damis returns, ready to fight Tartuffe – literally – but he's interrupted by Madame Pernelle. She can't believe the rumors she's heard about Tartuffe. Orgon attempts, unsuccessfully, to convince her, and only becomes frustrated in the process. Their argument is cut short by the arrival of Monsieur Loyal, a messenger sent by Tartuffe. He serves Orgon with a notice of eviction, and let's them know that he and his family should be out of the house by the next morning. Just when things seem like they couldn't get any worse, Valère comes in and tells Orgon that he must flee the country, as Tartuffe has denounced him to the King.

Orgon is just about to leave with Valère, when Tartuffe shows up, accompanied by a police officer. He tells Orgon what he already knows and, after being insulted, tells the officer to arrest Orgon. The officer arrests Tartuffe instead, telling Orgon that the King saw through Tartuffe's scheme immediately. Turns out, Tartuffe is also a well-known criminal. Orgon is pardoned by the King, on account of his loyalty and prior aid to the Crown. Orgon begins to curse Tartuffe, but Cléante makes him stop. Instead, he tells Orgon, we should pray for his salvation. Orgon relents, and tells everyone to get ready to see the King. Once the King has been properly thanked, Orgon says that Valère and Mariane can finally be married.

TARTUFFE ACT 1, SCENE 1 SUMMARY ● BACK ● NEXT A Note On Scene Changes: When it comes to scene changes – and a lot of other things, when you think about it – the French do things a little differently. The scene changes whenever characters enter or exit the stage. This means that sometimes you'll get a scene that's only a few lines long. It's not a big deal, but it takes a bit of getting used to. ● We find ourselves in Paris, inside the house of Orgon. ● Madame Pernelle, Orgon's dear mama, is headed out the door, and fast. She's sick of what's going on in her son's house. ● Everyone – meaning Elmire, Orgon's second wife, Damis, his son, Mariane, his daughter, and Cléante, his brother-in-law – try their best to get her to chill out. Nothing, however, can stop the old lady from complaining and hating on anything and everything. ● It seems that Madame Pernelle is angry because her man Tartuffe gets no respect. She thinks he's a stand-up guy and totally righteous – generally, but most especially in the religious sense. But Elmire and company think he's just self-

righteous, a total fake, a thief and, as the full title of the play suggests, a hypocrite. ● Each member of the family has their own strategy for convincing Madame Pernelle: Damis just sort of gets angry, Elmire pleads, Cléante appeals to her reason, and Dorine, well…Dorine is, as you'd expect from a French maid, pretty saucy. ● None of this works, of course. Madame Pernelle tells them they should all be grateful to have Tartuffe bossing them around and telling them how to live. As far as she's concerned, he's pretty much the ultimate life coach. ● When Cléante snickers at her speech, Madame Pernelle tells him to shut up, slaps Flipote, her maid, in the face, and makes her exit, followed by most of the household.

TARTUFFE ACT 1, SCENE 2 SUMMARY ● BACK ● NEXT ● Cléante and Dorine stay behind and discuss the situation. ● Cléante is amazed at how quickly Tartuffe has bamboozled Madame Pernelle. ● Dorine agrees, but she's even more afraid of the way he's tricking Orgon. Though he was once a wise and prudent advisor to the king, he seems to have gone a bit soft in the noggin. Now, she says, he's obsessed with Tartuffe and ignores everyone else. Dorine points out that Tartuffe has been growing rich and fat thanks to his ignorance – this is what we literary types call exposition.

TARTUFFE ACT 1, SCENE 3 SUMMARY ● BACK ● NEXT ● Elmire, Mariane, and Damis come back, looking worn out. They've been getting another lecture from Madame Pernelle. ● Elmire has seen Orgon coming, and she decides to head upstairs. ● Cléante agrees to have a chat with him, and promises to bring up the question of Mariane's upcoming marriage to Valère – he wants to make sure he can marry Valère's sister once all is said and done.

TARTUFFE ACT 1, SCENE 4 SUMMARY ● BACK ● NEXT ● Orgon rolls in, having just come from a trip out of town.

● He proceeds to ignore Cléante. ● He wants to hear about what's happened to the family in the time since he left. ● Dorine tells him that Elmire has been sick with a fever, but all Orgon really wants to hear about is Tartuffe. Every time Dorine tells him anything about his wife – all about how she's felt sick and suffered – he says, "And Tartuffe?" ● Dorine tells him that he's been doing fine, eating, drinking and sleeping altogether too much for such a pious guy. ● That doesn't stop Orgon from exclaiming "Poor fellow!" again and again. This goes on for a while. It's what a comedian might call a "routine" or a "bit." ● When Dorine has had enough, she goes off to tell Elmire how "sympathetic" Orgon has been.

TARTUFFE ACT 1, SCENE 5 SUMMARY ● ● ●

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● BACK ● NEXT Now it's time for the title bout between Cléante and Orgon. Cléante tells his brother-in-law that Dorine was disrespecting him – and with good reason. He asks him how he could fall for Tartuffe's tricks. Orgon will hear none of this. He tells Cléante about how cool, how brilliant and humble Tartuffe is. Soon enough, Orgon promises, Cléante, will see the light. Oh, and Orgon also says that, thanks to Tartuffe and his most excellent teachings, he could lose his whole family, mother, children, brother and wife, and not feel a thing. Yuck. Cléante listens to Orgon babble on for a while, listens to him talk about his first encounter with Tartuffe. It seems that Orgon found him praying, weeping loudly, kissing the ground, and all sorts of overly showy stuff. This didn't stop Orgon from developing a huge man-crush on Tartuffe and, well, before you know it, he was living in Orgon's house. He goes on to tell Cléante how Tartuffe helps to "keep an eye" on Elmire, and that he's a veritable sin detector. Heck, he won't even hurt a fly.

● Cléante, ever reasonable, can't believe what he hears. ● When Orgon accuses him of impiety, he flies off the handle – in the most reasonable way possible, of course – and tells Orgon what a dunce he is to believe in all of Tartuffe's righteous clap-trap. ● Cléante makes it clear that he's no atheist – he simply knows the difference between truth and lies, real piety and hypocrisy. The difference between the two of them is, well, that Cléante isn't a gullible idiot. Cléante likes big, important terms like Nature and Reason and he, well, really likes to use them. A lot. He talks a lot. ● Orgon makes some sarcastic remarks about how wise Cléante is, which only pushes him to speak some more. He talks more about the difference between true men of religion and hypocritical con artists and he names all sorts of obscure philosophers and thinkers to justify his claims. ● He lists some key virtues which all good, Christian men should demonstrate: humility, good intentions, a desire to do good works, sincerity, humility, humility and…humility. ● At this point, Orgon is sick to death of hearing Cléante lecture, and he asks if he can leave. ● Cléante lets him go, but quickly gets him to come back. ● He asks about the whole Mariane-Valère wedding thing, as per Damis's wishes. ● Orgon tells him that, yes, he gave them his blessing and set a date. Cléante asks if he's now postponed it. Orgon has, but he won't say why. Cléante presses him until, finally, Orgon tells him that he plans "to be guided by Heaven's will." ● This is not, Cléante knows, good news for Mariane and Valère.

TARTUFFE ACT 2, SCENE 1 SUMMARY ● BACK ● NEXT ● Orgon decides it's time he had a little heart-to-heart with Mariane, but before the confab can begin, he checks the room for eavesdroppers.

● That done, he starts buttering her up, telling her how good a daughter she is. He goes on to say that in order to repay him for his love she should do what she's told. She, being the good daughter that she is, responds in the affirmative. ● Orgon pops the question, or, uh, a question: How do you like Tartuffe? It's the kind of thing you might have had your best bud do for you in Middle School – he's like Tartuffe's wingman. ● Mariane doesn't really know what to say and, so, she tells Orgon that whatever's good for Daddy's good for her. ● Unfortunately, Orgon wants her to marry Tartuffe. ● Mariane is horrified, and when Orgon tries to get her to say that she loves the hypocrite, she tells him it'd simply be a big fat lie. ● Just when things are about to get nasty…

TARTUFFE ACT 2, SCENE 2 SUMMARY ● ● ● ● ● ●

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● BACK ● NEXT Dorine shows up; Orgon accuses her of eavesdropping and tells her to buzz off. Dorine says to Orgon, that the gossip around town is that he wants to Mariane to marry Tartuffe, The maid says that the idea is so silly she has to laugh. Orgon can't believe that Dorine can't believe that he would want Mariane to marry Tartuffe. The more he tries to convince her the more she mocks him. She tells Mariane that it's all just a hoax and that she shouldn't believe her father. Dorine finally drops the hoax thing and tells Orgon straight out that nobody can believe he's acting like such a twit. How could you have your daughter marry a man who claims to be so religious? And what about that whole poverty thing – Orgon's a rich gentleman after all. Orgon tells Dorine that Tartuffe lost his "earthly fortune" because he was so occupied by heavenly things. He says Tartuffe needs only a little monetary

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support, in order to regain his estate (2.2.17). (Sound familiar? You may have received some junk mail to that effect.) Dorine tries another strategy. Wouldn't it be something of a strange match, she asks Orgon, considering that Mariane really doesn't like Tartuffe? Because, she says, when a bride doesn't like her groom, she usually cheats. Oh, and a father who gives her daughter to such a man will pay for his sins. Yeah, she really lays it on thick. Orgon can't believe what he's hearing from the servant-girl; he tells Mariane to ignore Dorine. Oh, and it turns out that Valère gambles and doesn't go to church too often. Orgon tries to convince Mariane that he's doing the right thing. Dorine continues to make fun of him and Tartuffe. She interrupts him again and again, until Orgon finally threatens to hit her. The saucy servant immediately starts acting coy, making comments only when Orgon turns his back. Orgon tries to hit her, but misses, and soon leaves the room in anger.

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● BACK ● NEXT Dorine criticizes Mariane for not taking a stand against her father. Mariane doesn't really have a good answer. She's just used to doing what she's told; she's done it for so long. Dorine puts her on the spot. Do you love Valère, she asks, or don't you? Mariane is insulted for a bit, but then she tells Dorine how much she loves, really loves Valère, She says she would rather kill herself than marry Tartuffe. Dorine thinks this is just about the stupidest solution to the problem she can think of. She has no sympathy for that kind hopelessness. She tells Mariane to buck up.

● When Mariane agonizes over disobeying her father, Dorine mocks her, telling her how great a husband Tartuffe will make for her, how much fun she'll have visiting her awful in-laws, etc. ● This is too much for Mariane to take; she falls into despair again. ● This time, Dorine takes pity on her, and the two set about making a plan.

TARTUFFE ACT 2, SCENE 4 SUMMARY ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

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● BACK ● NEXT Valère comes in, looking concerned. He's heard that Mariane is supposed to marry Tartuffe now, and he wants some answers. Mariane gets him up to speed. When Valère asks Mariane what she's going to do, she's reluctant to tell him. Eventually, she says, she doesn't know what she's going to do. Valère, clearly annoyed, tells her to go ahead and marry Tartuffe. Mariane tells him that of course she'll follow his advice. The two continue fighting – for no reason in particular – while Dorine watches. Valère says he knows that Mariane never really loved him, and that, like, whatever, he doesn't need her. He can get some loving just like that, Mariane'll see soon enough. Turns out there's some kind of "mystery woman" waiting in the wings for him. Of course, when Mariane calls his bluff and tells him to get lost, Valère pretends not to hear her. At this point, Dorine has had enough, and she tells the both of them to get their acts together. She gets them to put aside their silly, totally made-up problems, at least long enough to discuss the whole Orgon-Tartuffe problem. Dorine tells Mariane to pretend to play along with her father's plan, but to find anyway possible to delay the proceedings-- faking sick, seeing bad omens etc. Valère, on the other hand, has to go tell his friends what's up and try to get them to pressure Orgon. Oh, and they'll get Damis and Elmire on their side too.

● With everything settled, Mariane and Valère finally kiss and make up. ● Dorine has to forcibly separate them before things get out of control.

TARTUFFE ACT 3, SCENE 1 SUMMARY ● ●

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● BACK ● NEXT Damis is ready to kick the crap out of Tartuffe. The servant tries to calm him down and redirect his energy into some more productive enterprise like, maybe, talking to Elmire. Elmire, it seems, has some "power" over Tartuffe – power, no doubt, of the feminine persuasion – and thus might be the key to catching the scoundrel. Dorine has also gotten word that Tartuffe is on his way downstairs. She tells Damis that she's going to intercept him. Damis insists on listening in on the conversation and manages to hide in a close just before…

TARTUFFE ACT 3, SCENE 2 SUMMARY ● ● ●

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● BACK ● NEXT Tartuffe enters, talking loudly to his servant Laurent, who is off-stage; he's going to go to the prison, he says, to give money to the prisoners. Dorine can't stand his pretentiousness. Tartuffe can't stand the sight of Dorine's breasts, and he gives her a handkerchief to cover her bosom; he says the sight of it creates unclean thoughts – no doubt in his dirty mind. Dorine calls him out and says that she would feel nothing if he were prancing around naked. Tartuffe doesn't want to listen to her jibes – and he doesn't have to; Dorine is on her way out. Elmire, she tells him, is headed downstairs to have a chat with him. When Tartuffe gets too excited about this, Dorine thinks her suspicions have been confirmed. She leaves.

TARTUFFE ACT 3, SCENE 3 SUMMARY ● BACK ● NEXT ● Elmire enters. ● Tartuffe immediately showers her with blessings. She asks him to sit down. ● Tartuffe asks about her health, and tells her that he prayed and prayed for her… but that he didn't think his prayers were enough. ● Elmire thanks him for his concern and tells him not to worry. Still, Tartuffe does not stop. She tells him that there's an important matter she'd like to discuss. She's glad there's no one around to annoy them. ● Tartuffe is very glad to hear her say this… It seems he's prayed and prayed for the chance to be alone with her. ● Elmire asks him to be open with his answers. ● He agrees, but before he goes any further he reassures you that all his visits were prompted only by religious feeling and respect. ● At this point, he starts trying to put the moves on her…but he's not very smooth. ● He takes her hand, but manages to pinch her. ● When he puts his hand on her knee – and is caught – he tells Elmire that he was only feeling the fine fabric. ● Elmire st...