784 Molière
When Orgon turns to chastise Tartuffe, Cléante
cautions him not to gloat and urges him to go and
thank the king for his mercy. With royal justice and
divine justice having been dispensed by the mon-
arch, the last lines of the play turn again to fatherly
justice as Orgon announces that Mariane will marry
Valère.
Dan Smith
reliGion in Tartuffe
While it is impossible to discuss Tartuffe without
considering religion, the play’s primary engagement
with this theme has to do with exposing religious
hypocrisy. Tartuffe’s phony performance of piety
fools Orgon and his mother, Madame Pernelle, but
most other characters see through him. The play
sets up a conflict between excessive external displays
of religiosity and true internal spiritual feeling.
Indeed, the first scene sees Madame Pernelle prais-
ing Tartuffe’s religious austerity in terms of how
it will improve the family’s reputation among the
neighbors, while the outspoken maid Dorine and
Orgon’s rational brother-in-law Cléante argue that
they should worry about their own consciences, not
gossip. Dorine voices her suspicion that those who
are most enthusiastic to condemn sin in others are
secretly greater sinners themselves.
In act 1, scene 5, Orgon describes his relationship
with Tartuffe. Having made a good first impression
through his zealous prayers at church, Tartuffe went
on to find favor with Orgon by fetching holy water
for him and sharing gifts from Orgon with the
poor. Orgon speaks with awe of Tartuffe’s outward
demonstration of piety. But Orgon’s brother-in-law
Cléante urges him to be skeptical. Cléante compares
those who brag about their holiness with those who
would brag about their courage; just as the truly
courageous allow their actions on the battlefield to
speak for them, so the truly pious do good works
quietly, without boasting or proselytizing. When
Orgon attempts to mock Cléante for claiming
to be wise, Cléante replies with a lengthy speech
that praises true faith and condemns hypocrisy. He
defines hypocrites as those who use their religious
reputation to make money or to curry social and
political favor. Cléante goes on to offer several
examples of model Christians, men who incorporate
their religious faith into their everyday actions with-
out showing off or judging others.
Upon Tartuffe’s first entrance in act 3, scene 2,
he immediately speaks of two external symbols of
worship involving self-abnegation: a hair-shirt and
a whip. He then announces that he is going on an
errand to give money to the poor. After Dorine
comments directly to the audience on Tartuffe’s
hypocrisy, Tartuffe provides another striking exam-
ple of it by asking her to cover her cleavage with a
handkerchief so that her flesh will not tempt him.
The conflict between Tartuffe’s sexual appetite and
his pious reputation is further developed in act 3,
scene 3, when he attempts to seduce Orgon’s wife,
Elmire. In an effort to address this incompatibility,
Tartuffe incorporates religious rhetoric to flatter
Elmire. He argues, without much success, that it is
natural for him to desire her because she was cre-
ated in the image of God. When Elmire counters
that such passion is unbecoming a man of his piety,
Tartuffe says that his reputation can serve as a shield
that allows them to engage in an affair without risk
of scandal. He thus exposes himself as the fraud that
Cléante and Dorine have accused him of being.
Act 4, scene 1, sees a confrontation between
Cléante and Tartuffe. Cléante attempts to convince
Tartuffe that Christian values of forgiveness and
compassion should compel him to repair the rift
between Orgon and his son Damis. Tartuffe cuts the
conversation short, citing the need to perform some
unspecified religious duty. Later, in a second scene
with Elmire, Tartuffe elaborates on his prior discus-
sion of how to maintain an outward appearance of
piety while pursuing an adulterous affair. Hiding
under the table, Orgon finally learns of Tartuffe’s
hypocrisy. Orgon sends Tartuffe away, with Tartuffe
vowing that he will take over the house.
In act 5, scene 1, Orgon enumerates his woes,
concluding that he will have no more dealings with
religious men. Cléante criticizes Orgon’s lack of
moderation in drawing such a conclusion. The fact
that Orgon was taken in by one charlatan whose
piety was fake does not mean that the world is
devoid of true Christians. According to Cléante,
Orgon’s new position is worse than his excessive
trust of Tartuffe. Rather than rejecting everyone
who appears pious, Orgon should attempt to learn