A successful patriarch of high social standing, Orgon’s role in Tartuffe is a variant of the aging, greedy merchant, a stock character in comedy. Under the influence of Tartuffe, a sham saint, Orgon has recently turned to religion. Having discovered that rules against sin make excellent weapons for maintaining authority, Orgon has become a domestic tyrant.

Orgon has very little self-control and is ridiculously excessive in his manner. Caught up in his extreme desire to please Tartuffe, Orgon has ceased to care about his children or his young wife. Dorine, the family’s outspoken maid, describes Orgon as having “lost his senses.” The main conflict of the play is whether Orgon’s family can free Orgon from Tartuffe’s influence. Convinced of the inevitable rightness of his own judgment, Orgon stubbornly refuses to come back to his senses. The stronger the arguments against Tartuffe, the more wealth Orgon turns over to the con artist.

Orgon embodies the play’s major themes. He uses his hypocritical piety to justify his domestic tyranny. Orgon’s credulity makes it possible for the duplicitous Tartuffe to gain power over him. Orgon finally turns against Tartuffe only when he overhears Tartuffe mocking his gullibility, and Orgon’s extreme love for Tartuffe immediately turns to extreme hatred toward all pious men. Orgon reaches the brink of complete ruin before a miraculous rescue teaches him to moderate his emotions and pursue sincere virtue.