782 Molière
often include strong female characters, men behav-
ing badly, and servants who outwit their masters,
the themes of gender and social class are also
relevant.
Dan Smith
Family in Tartuffe
The importance of family in Tartuffe is apparent
from a glance at the list of characters, for they are
identified primarily in terms of their familial rela-
tionships. Household patriarch Orgon presides over
his immediate family: his two children, Damis and
Mariane, and his second wife, Elmire. Also living
with the family are Orgon’s mother, Madame Per-
nelle, and servants, including the outspoken Dorine.
Orgon’s brother-in-law Cléante is a regular visitor.
As in many of Molière’s plays, the flaws of the father
figure cause a family crisis. In this case, Orgon’s
inability to distinguish between honest religious
faith and the false performances of piety by the
hypocritical Tartuffe have led him to invite Tartuffe
into his home, upsetting the balance of his family’s
comfortable bourgeois life. Once installed as a guest,
Tartuffe imposes his will on the family, gradually
usurping Damis’s place as Orgon’s heir, with the
ultimate goal of replacing Orgon as the property
owner and head of household.
As the play begins, Madame Pernelle dramati-
cally mobilizes the family crisis by moving out of
the house. Like her gullible son, Madame Pernelle
has been taken in by Tartuffe. She rails against the
inhospitality the other family members have shown
to Tartuffe, and against what she views as their lax
morals. Her departure allows for much exposition,
including important details about Tartuffe’s charac-
ter and about the future of the family. In act 1, scene
3, Damis explains his suspicion that Tartuffe wants
to break off Mariane’s marriage to Valère. Such an
event would imperil his chances for a match with
Valère’s sister, because Orgon had already agreed to
a marriage contract. Breaking the contract would
be dishonorable, and would certainly cause a rift
between the two families.
Orgon, however, demonstrates his skewed pri-
orities from his first appearance on stage. When he
asks for news of the household upon his return from
a trip, Dorine informs him that his wife has been ill.
Orgon is unconcerned about Elmire’s condition, and
instead repeatedly asks about Tartuffe. This lack of
concern for his wife is emblematic of Orgon’s failure
as a husband and father. An unhealthy obsession
with Tartuffe has supplanted the protective instincts
he should feel for his family.
As Damis feared, Orgon goes back on his word
about Mariane’s marriage to Valère. Upon hearing
her father announce his intention of fully joining
Tartuffe to his family by giving him his daughter’s
hand in marriage, Mariane is speechless. In the
scene that follows, Dorine chides Mariane for not
speaking up to her father. When Mariane explains
that her father has absolute power over her, Dorine
insinuates that Orgon’s absurd proposition nullifies
Mariane’s duty to obey him.
Dorine enlists Elmire to save the family from
this disastrous marriage by speaking with Tartuffe,
who has displayed evidence of desire for Orgon’s
wife. After Tartuffe speaks frankly of his lust for
Elmire, she rebuffs him and offers her silence on this
delicate matter in exchange for his allowing Mariane
to marry Valère. But Damis, who has overheard the
incident, tries to use this information to turn his
father against Tartuffe. Underestimating Orgon’s
devotion to Tartuffe at the expense of his family,
Damis appeals to his father’s sense of honor. Tartuffe
saves himself with a discourse of repentance, and
an enraged Orgon banishes Damis from the house.
At the end of act 3, Orgon declares his intention to
name Tartuffe his sole heir. In effect, Tartuffe would
become both son-in-law and son, marrying Mariane
and replacing the now-disgraced Damis.
Elmire, Mariane, Cléante, and Dorine make
one last futile attempt to use reason to dissuade
Orgon from marrying Mariane to Tartuffe. Finally,
Elmire offers to show Orgon that Tartuffe is false.
In perhaps the best-known scene of the play, Orgon
hides under a table while Tartuffe tries to seduce his
wife. Elmire’s stratagem works, and Orgon finally
sees Tartuffe for the hypocrite he really is. His fam-
ily can throw out the interloper and begin to heal.
But Orgon has already signed over his property to
Tartuffe!
After Tartuffe leaves to set the legal proceedings
into play, Madame Pernelle returns. Even she finally
realizes Tartuffe’s deceitful nature, thus uniting