Hypocrisy as a Means to Power

He’s out to save your souls, and all of you
Must love him, as my son would have you do.

Act One, Scene I

In Act One, Scene I, Orgon’s mother, Madame Pernelle, addresses her son’s wife, Elmire, and the other members of his household. Madame Pernelle is a pious hypocrite. She moralizes against frivolous society and its vicious gossip while dispensing gossip she has picked up in society. In these lines, Madame Pernelle insists that everyone in Orgon’s household must love Tartuffe, a con artist who has captivated Orgon by pretending extreme piety. Orgon pursues piety in order to increase his own moral authority over his family. Now Madame Pernelle claims Orgon’s moral high ground. Madame Pernelle states that Orgon’s family must love Tartuffe because that’s what Orgon demands. She knows that she can use Tartuffe—and Orgon’s regard for Tartuffe—as a control mechanism. She pretends piety and defends Tartuffe not because she truly cares about what is right and just but because agreeing with Orgon is her best path to maintaining power within his family.

They cloak their spite in fair religion’s name,
Their private spleen and malice being made
To seem a high and virtuous crusade.

Act One, Scene V

In Act One, Scene V, Orgon’s brother-in-law, Cléante, tries verbal persuasion to get Orgon to recognize Tartuffe as an imposter. It’s the family’s first, most reasonable step in countering Tartuffe. Cléante begins by elaborating on the difference between hypocrisy and true piety and arguing that piety “beyond the bounds of moderation” might be false. Orgon sneers that Cléante thinks of himself as wiser than all mankind. Here, Cléante steps up his attack with a lecture on the evils of charlatans who pretend to live monkish lives and then use their virtue to attack others. Cléante’s metaphor refers to the warrior monks who went on Crusades to Jerusalem during the Middle Ages. Cléante’s description clearly and blatantly refers to Tartuffe, who always uses his own hypocritical piety as a weapon of power. Orgon lets Cléante drone on, pays little attention to the speech, and then ignores Cléante’s conclusion that Orgon has been dreadfully deluded.

Get up! The more you loathe the man, and dread him,
The more ennobling it will be to wed him.
Marry Tartuffe, and mortify your flesh!

Act Four, Scene III

Orgon feels enraged because his son, Damis, has told him about Tartuffe’s come-on to Elmire, Orgon’s wife. Instead of believing Damis, however, Orgon allows Tartuffe to convince him that Damis is disgracefully disrespectful to his father. Orgon then disinherited Damis. To further reassert his authority as a father, Orgon decrees that the marriage between his daughter, Mariane, and Tartuffe must take place that very night. Mariane begs to be allowed to enter a convent instead. Furious at this contradiction to his wishes, Orgon speaks these words to reassert pure male power, using religious language to do so. Tartuffe often pretends to scourge himself to kill sensual desire, a truly perverted mindset for a stalker who can’t keep his hands off women. Orgon believes so completely in Tartuffe’s sick version of piety that he risks subjecting Mariane to physical abuse. Orgon’s power over Mariane is more important to him than her happiness or even safety.

Material things enslave the soul, and so
He kindly has arranged your liberation
From all that might endanger your salvation.

Act Five, Scene V

As the end of the play nears, Tartuffe appears to have won in his campaign to steal everything from Orgon and ruin him completely. After Tartuffe serves a writ of eviction on Orgon, Madame Pernelle, Tartuffe’s last loyal disciple, finally perceives Tartuffe’s villainy, which leaves her “thunderstruck” and “utterly aghast.” With these words, Dorine, the family’s smart-mouthed maid, can’t resist gloating over how the nasty old Madame Pernelle allowed herself to be bamboozled. After all, back at the beginning of the play, Madame Pernelle had criticized them all for being too worldly and insisted that Tartuffe would save the family’s souls. Dorine’s sarcastic comment summarizes Tartuffe’s strategy and explains how he worked his scam. Tartuffe has urged the family away from material things so that he can grab the material things for himself. Events have proved that Tartuffe’s false piety was only a means for the scoundrel to gain power.

Credulity as a Tool of Duplicity

Tartuffe, much pleased to find so easy a victim,
Has in a hundred ways beguiled and tricked him,
Milked him of money, and with his permission
Established here a sort of Inquisition.

Act One, Scene II

Here, the maid, Dorine, speaks to Cléante, Elmire’s brother. Dorine and Cléante gossip about Madame Pernelle’s prolonged departure scene and about how much Tartuffe has fooled Madame Pernelle. Then Dorine describes to Cléante how Tartuffe controls Orgon, her master and Madame Pernelle’s son. Dorine worries that Tartuffe is stealing Orgon’s money, but she’s more upset over how Tartuffe exerts power. Tartuffe and his lackey, Laurent, act as moral police for the household. Laurent snoops in their things, confiscates vanities such as ribbons and colognes, and gives family members arrogant advice on how to live. Dorine’s reference to the Inquisition, the arm of the Catholic Church that persecuted heretics, gives her account a grimmer tone. She correctly blames Orgon’s infatuation with Tartuffe for this unholy state of affairs. Dorine understands clearly that Orgon’s gullible nature has made it easy for Tartuffe to take advantage.

No, amorous men are gullible. Their conceit
So blinds them that they’re never hard to cheat.

Act Four, Scene III

Elmire, Orgon’s wife, talks to Dorine, the maid. The two are both practical women who are wise to the ways of men. Dorine has long realized that Tartuffe is attracted to Elmire. Dorine has even urged Elmire to take advantage of Tartuffe’s interest to persuade him not to marry Mariane. Elmire’s verbal persuasion did not work. Now Orgon has decreed that Tartuffe and Mariane must marry immediately. In response to this emergency, Elmire decides to stage a fake seduction of Tartuffe so that Orgon can see for himself how treacherous the imposter really is. Dorine worries that “the cunning scoundrel” will suspect a trap. With these lines, Elmire tries to reassure Dorine that Tartuffe’s gullibility will bring him down. Elmire knows that Tartuffe is so conceited about his own sexual attractiveness that he’ll be blind to her manipulations. For her trap to succeed, Elmire counts on Tartuffe’s credulity and self-delusion.

Why worry about the man? Each day he grows
More gullible; one can lead him by the nose.

Act Four, Scene V

Tartuffe is having an intimate and, he thinks, private conversation with Elmire, who has been unleashing her charms and pretending to be infatuated with him. Tartuffe has allowed himself to be convinced by Elmire’s fake seduction after her flattery overcomes his initial suspicions. Now Tartuffe presses Elmire to provide physical proof of her desire. Elmire tries to buy time by claiming that she worries Orgon might discover her with another man. Here, unaware that Orgon is eavesdropping, as previously arranged by Elmire, Tartuffe brags about his own power to control Orgon and makes fun of Orgon’s gullibility. This mockery, even more than Tartuffe’s advances toward Elmire, finally jolts Orgon back to reality and unmasks Tartuffe in Orgon’s eyes as a hypocritical villain. Orgon calls Tartuffe a monster, more vicious than anything in Hell. However, Orgon does not admit the truth: He has indeed allowed himself to be led “by the nose.”

Family as the Source of Social Order

He calls him brother, and loves him as his life,
Preferring him to mother, child, or wife.

Act One, Scene II

Dorine, the maid, talks to Cléante, Elmire’s brother. Dorine describes her master Orgon’s infatuation with Tartuffe. Dorine, the most clearheaded and plainspoken member of the household, is the first to recognize that Tartuffe must be stopped if the family is to survive. Dorine’s outburst clearly states Orgon’s offense against right behavior: Orgon has transferred to Tartuffe feelings that he rightfully should shower upon his family, such as love, trust, and devotion. According to Dorine, Orgon “pets and pampers” Tartuffe with more tenderness than he would show a mistress. Orgon worships Tartuffe. He dotes on Tartuffe and treats every word Tartuffe says as if it comes from an oracle. When Orgon himself appears two scenes later, the audience sees that Dorine’s description is accurate. Orgon cares everything for Tartuffe and nothing for Elmire, his own wife. Thanks to Tartuffe, Orgon has deserted his family and thus created discord in his own home.

Unless my sister and Valère can marry,
My hopes to wed his sister will miscarry[.]

Act One, Scene III

Damis, Orgon’s son, speaks to Cléante, Orgon’s brother-in-law. Damis knows that Cléante plans a tactful talk with Orgon about Tartuffe. Damis asks Cléante to sound Orgon out about the promised marriage of Mariane to Valère. Orgon has already agreed to this marriage, but Damis thinks Tartuffe has been urging Orgon to withdraw his blessing. Damis fears that if Orgon goes back on his word, then his own marriage to Valère’s sister will fall through. Breaking off a formal betrothal would be a serious breach of social custom liable to bring disgrace to the family, thus making Damis an ineligible suitor. The young couples are acting according to the rules of family and society, making plans for cementing family alliances and securing their families’ futures, but now their plans are under threat from Tartuffe. The fact that Damis no longer trusts Orgon to keep his word shows how much Tartuffe has torn the family apart.

My keen concern for my good name insures
The absolute security of yours;
In short, I offer you, my dear Elmire,
Love without scandal, pleasure without fear.

Act Three, Sceen III

Here, Tartuffe speaks to Elmire, Orgon’s wife. Elmire has asked for a private meeting with Tartuffe so that she can plead on behalf of Mariane and Valère. Tartuffe misinterprets Elmire’s intentions and propositions her aggressively. Tartuffe declares his love in a long, increasingly salacious speech that draws heavily on religious imagery, a sleazy mix of piety and lust. In this part of his declaration, Tartuffe reassures Elmire that she won’t harm her family by making love to him. In fact, Tartuffe makes clear that he respects the sanctity and reputation of the family so much that Elmire can cheat on Orgon with no fear of scandal. Besides, Tartuffe has his own reputation as a saint to consider. To Tartuffe, fidelity within marriage is just another convention of society to be hypocritical about. The audience is well aware that the affair Tartuffe is proposing would irreparably divide Orgon’s family.

Does true religion teach that rightful heirs
May freely be deprived of what is theirs?

Act Four, Scene I

Cléante confronts Tartuffe after Tartuffe manipulated Orgon into disinheriting Damis. Tartuffe also persuaded Orgon to sign over the family’s house and other property. Cléante first warns Tartuffe that “the whole town, high and low, is scandalized” by the quarrel between Orgon and Damis and by Tartuffe’s role in it. Tartuffe’s influence has now made Orgon back out of a formal betrothal, try to force an unwanted marriage on Mariane, and cast off Damis. Orgon can no longer carry out his family responsibilities, and Orgon’s family can no longer expect their rightful inheritance. Cléante argues that such behavior goes against true religion and against society’s values. He begs Tartuffe to do “the decent thing” and not banish Damis. Tartuffe just walks out on Cléante. The scene reveals that Tartuffe has no conscience at all. He only cares about grabbing Orgon’s wealth.

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