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Act Three

Summary: Scene I

This scene contains a short conversation between Dorine and Damis, Orgon’s son. Dorine urges the young hotheaded Damis not to resort to violence but to let his stepmother, Elmire, deal with the problem. Dorine confirms her suspicion that Tartuffe is smitten by Elmire, so Elmire might well be able to persuade Tartuffe against marrying Mariane. Damis insists that he wants to hear Elmire’s conference with Tartuffe. Damis hides in a closet.

Summary: Scene II

Tartuffe makes his first onstage appearance. When Tartuffe appears, he gives Dorine his handkerchief and orders her to cover her bosom so that he will not have unclean thoughts. Dorine replies that she is not tempted by Tartuffe at all. Then she delivers a message from Elmire, who begs Tartuffe for a private word.

Summary: Scene III

Elmire says that she wishes to discuss a private matter. Tartuffe interprets her words as an invitation to intimacy and moves in on her immediately. He presses Elmire’s fingertips so hard that he causes pain. When she protests, he moves his hand to her knee and then claims he’s only trying to feel the fine material of her dress. Elmire attempts to turn the conversation to Mariane’s marriage, but Tartuffe launches a long attempt at verbal seduction. He lavishes words of love on her, using the vocabulary of religious worship. Tartuffe assures Elmire that no scandal will arise from their liaison. Elmire manages to hold off Tartuffe by threatening to tell Orgon what has just occurred. Tartuffe begs her pardon. Elmire then agrees not to tell Orgon if Tartuffe will renounce his claim to Mariane and advocate for Mariane’s marriage to Valère.

Summary: Scene IV

Damis emerges from the closet where he has been hiding and overhearing Tartuffe’s attempts to seduce Elmire. Although Elmire tries to talk him out of it, Damis is determined to take this proof of Tartuffe’s evil nature directly to Orgon. Damis charges off, bent on revenge. 

Summary: Scene V

In front of both Tartuffe and Elmire, Damis informs Orgon of Tartuffe’s adulterous offer. Damis is upset and believes she could have handled the situation herself.

Summary: Scene VI

Orgon asks Tartuffe if Damis is telling the truth. In reply, Tartuffe confesses that he is a wicked man and offers to take the blame for what has happened, since Orgon believes what he has been told. Orgon then turns on Damis and accuses him of lying. Tartuffe then begs Orgon not to punish Damis. His words incite Orgon to even more anger against Damis, his own son. Orgon ends the scene by throwing Damis out and disinheriting him.

Summary: Scene VII

Orgon apologizes to Tartuffe, and Tartuffe forgives Damis for his ingratitude. Tartuffe complains that Orgon’s family is working against him, so Orgon rejects his family and signs everything he owns over to Tartuffe.

Analysis: Act Three

In Act Three, the middle act of the play, Tartuffe finally makes his grand entrance. The first two acts have already established Tartuffe as an imposter, and now the audience sees the con artist in action. Tartuffe’s opening lines are parodies of piety—after punishing himself for his own sins, he will go share his last coins with some prisoners. In Scene II, Tartuffe makes sexually charged comments to Dorine and clearly looks forward to the chance to do the same to Elmire. In Scene III, Tartuffe alternates between unctuous piety and unconcealed lust in speeches filled with salacious double meanings. The man is a total sleaze, a character ripe for comic interpretation.

Scenes IV and V focus on Damis, Orgon’s son. Damis, a young and hotheaded man, hates Tartuffe, so he wants to charge into action and go right to Orgon with proof of Tartuffe’s perfidy. Elmire, who is wiser in the ways of the world, cautions him, hoping to avoid scandal. But Damis is so sure he is right that he believes this new weapon against Tartuffe is heaven-sent. Damis is so immature that he expects Orgon to fix everything and so naive that he assumes Orgon will believe him. When Damis speaks of “sweet revenge,” the audience understands that he will probably not get his wish. In Scene V, Damis tells Orgon about overhearing Tartuffe trying to seduce Elmire. Elmire explains why she has kept quiet about Tartuffe’s attack. By using the word tattle, Elmire is wisely reminding her husband about the potential for scandal.

In Scenes VI and VII, Tartuffe’s character slides from sleazy to sinister. The dialogue reveals Tartuffe as a master manipulator, skilled at twisting the truth to consolidate his own power. Orgon expects Tartuffe to deny the story told by Damis, but Tartuffe uses reverse psychology instead. Tartuffe confesses his guilt in such exaggerated terms, expressing mortification over all the vile actions of his life, that Orgon believes even more that Tartuffe is a saint who could not possibly be at fault. To reinforce this belief, Orgon denounces Damis and calls him a liar. Tartuffe pretends to take Damis’s side while actually taunting him. Tartuffe even goads Damis to greater anger, which threatens Orgon’s power. As Tartuffe clearly intends, Orgon digs in his heels and asserts his authority even more rigidly. Orgon insists that Mariane will marry Tartuffe and then cuts Damis out of his will. In Scene VII, Tartuffe reasserts his moral control over Orgon. Tartuffe offers to move out of Orgon’s house to restore peace to the family, which subtly suggests Orgon can’t keep the peace on his own. Tartuffe has turned his own residence in the house into a symbol of Orgon’s authority.

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