Memorable Scenes
Here's a few scenes that strike me as worth
remembering, for one reason or another.
Act I, Scene 1:
The biggest thing I remember about this scene, other
than Pernelle telling everyone off, is that, at the end, she slaps Flipote
and then says a couple of funny lines. The biggest reason I think
this is worth noting, is that Pernelle has this holier-than-thou attitude,
and then abuses Flipote after telling everyone how immoral they are.
Read the last few lines for yourself, and decide for yourself if that sounds
like a religious woman. Seems to me that Tartuffe might not be the
only hypocrite in the play.
Act I, Scene 4:
What I remember most from this scene is Orgon's general repulsive character.
He comes home and asks Dorine how things have been and what is going on.
Dorine responds that Elmire (Orgon's wife) has been ill. Orgon ignores
that and asks how Tartuffe was. She tells him that Tartuffe is bursting
with health. Orgon replies "Poor fellow!" Dorine keeps going
back to talking about Elmire. Orgon keeps asking about Tartuffe.
Dorine keeps telling Orgon how well Tartuffe is, and Orgon keeps saying
"Poor fellow." By the time they were through with this conversation,
I was ready to beat the Tartuffe out of Orgon.
Act II, Scene 4:
In this scene, Mariane and Valere have an utterly ludicrous argument.
Valere has arrived, shortly after Orgon has told Mariane to marry Tartuffe.
Valere wants to know if she is going to marry Tartuffe. Now remember,
at this point, she isn't sure what she is going to do, so she does not
give Valere a definite "no". Valere interprets that as Mariane is
having second thoughts about marrying him, and therefore deduces that she
loves Tartuffe and not himself. Thinking so, he does what he thinks
is the noble thing to do, and advises her to marry Tartuffe. Mariane
is now confused, because she thought her "maybe" answer was more a "no"
than a "yes", and then thinks that he must not love her. Therefore,
she will marry Tartuffe and make Valere and Orgon happy.
Still with me? Valere starts to leave,
having spoken his piece, but is hesitant, and keeps making excuses not
to leave. For example, he pretends that Mariane called him back.
While this ridiculous bit of quarreling has been going on, Dorine has been
observing everything. Now she really tries to get things settled
down, but the two lovers are not very cooperative. She tries to drag
Valere back into the room, and Mariane thinks he is so repulsed by her
presence, that she will leave and cease to bother him. So, Dorine
runs to get Mariane, and Valere thinks that Mariane hates him and wants
to get away from him, and so, he starts to leave again. Dorine finally
gets them to make up, and when she tells them that she is going to help
Mariane get out of marrying Tartuffe, they are overjoyed. They are
so overjoyed that, when Dorine tries to get them to leave by two separate
doors, they won't quit holding hands, because they are so in love.
I agree with Dorine; Valere and Mariane are bonkers. (Well, she doesn't
exactly use that phrase, but she uses something much like it) There,
now you know about the big fight between the love struck (and dumb struck)
Mariane and Valere.
Act III, Scene 3
/ Act IV, Scene 5: These two scenes are most note worthy
because they show Tartuffe's true colors. Scene three is the first
glimpse of his true nature. During the scene, he hits on Elmire,
though she acts like it does not bother her much, and kind of shrugs him
off. His actions and comments more than clearly define him as a villainous
character. In scene five, Elmire tricks him into revealing more of
his deceitful nature. The first gives the reader a look at some of
Tartuffe's character. However, in my opinion, it is scene five that
really accents his wickedness. These two scenes also add a great
deal of depth to Elmire's character, showing her to be a woman of great
intuition and cleverness. Her cunning is hinted at during scene three,
when she is going to promise to keep quiet if Tartuffe will promise not
to marry Mariane. However, her genius is best seen in scene five.