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Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Luxury Clothing

Elmire, Orgon’s young wife, likes nice clothes, which her mother-in-law, Madame Pernelle, calls “costly fripperies.” To Madame Pernelle, Elmire’s clothes symbolize reckless spending and immodesty. To Elmire, the clothes symbolize wealth, pleasure, and youth. For Tartuffe, Elmire’s clothes are symbols of sexual desire. At a key moment in the play, the first time Tartuffe actually touches Elmire, he strokes her clothes and then lets his hands wander as he admires the lace. As the seemingly holiest man on earth, Tartuffe naturally abjures fine clothing for himself and wears a hair shirt, at least in public.

Handkerchiefs

In Act One, Scene II, Dorine tells Cléante how she witnessed Tartuffe’s servant, Laurent, tear a handkerchief in pieces because it had polluted a holy book. In Act Three, Scene II, Tartuffe hands Dorine his handkerchief and tells her to cover her bosom so that she can’t tempt him to sin. As both scenes reveal attempts to control and humiliate Dorine, the handkerchiefs stand for what Dorine suffers. The handkerchiefs also signal that bullying is taking place.

Illness

When the protagonist, Orgon, makes his first onstage appearance in Act One, Scene IV, his wife Elmire is sick in bed. When Dorine informs Orgon that Elmire has been sick, Orgon ignores this news and worries only about Tartuffe. Elmire’s illness stands as a symbol for discord in their marriage. Tartuffe expresses sympathy for Elmire’s illness as an excuse for mentioning her body. When her fake seduction of Tartuffe goes further than she likes, Elmire fakes a cough to ward off Tartuffe’s attack and to get Orgon’s attention. She has to cough several times. Orgon’s failure to pick up her signal shows that illness still stands for a marriage that needs to heal.

Deeds and Documents

As in real life, the deeds and documents in the play represent business transactions and legal evidence. Written documents also function to mark points in the plot. When Orgon draws up the deed that grants his house to Tartuffe, the deed symbolizes his reckless rejection of his own family. The writ of eviction that the bailiff serves on Orgon represents Orgon’s public disgrace. The negative report that the bailiff threatens to file against Damis and Dorine stands for the family’s new social insecurity. The deeds, papers, and pardons with which the King rewards Orgon stand for justice and the restoration of order.

The Strong-Box

A mysterious strong-box enters the story in the last line of Act Four. Act Five opens with Orgon’s account of the box, which widens the understanding of the story. Orgon once hid the strong-box for a friend, then he entrusted the box to Tartuffe, who has been using its contents to blackmail Orgon. The box passes from Tartuffe to the King, who returns it to Orgon. The strong-box stands for secrets, not only potentially dangerous political secrets but also domestic secrets. Much sorrow could have been avoided if only Orgon had confided in Elmire instead of Tartuffe.

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