Tartuffe Quotes

In Tartuffe, Cleante says of Orgon: "Ah there you go--extravagant as ever! Why can you not be rational? You never manage to take the middle course, it seems. But jump, instead, between absurd extremes." With this comment in mind, describe/discuss the character of Orgon. Use examples from the text to support your discussion

In Moliere’s comedy Tartuffe, the main focus is not on Tartuffe but of Orgon who is blindly infatuated with Tartuffe. The character Orgon represents how man could be so blind in devotion to a belief that he is unable to make accurate decisions and uses that belief to end up deceiving him. Due to Orgon’s blindness and gullibility, Tartuffe is easily able to manipulate him; gaining access to becoming Orgon’s son in law as

well as inheritance of the house. It is not till the end of the play, that Orgon’s perspective of Tartuffe changes and results in Tartuffe’s removal. This essay will examine the different unreasonable acts of Orgon with his self obsession with Tartuffe, the reasonable characters that try to talk sense into him, and how Orgon “changes” at the end of the play.
Orgon, who is portrayed as an unreasonable character ignores his family’s reasonable doubts about Tartuffe.

A quote that shows Orgon’s first sign of ignorance occurs in 1.4. In this scene Dorine and Cleante are updating Orgon on his wife’s condition. All Orgon can say is, “Ah, and Tartuffe?” (10) He shows no sympathy for his wife, and his blind infatuation with Tartuffe continues. Another quote that Orgon says that sets him apart from the rest of his family occurred in 1.5 when Cleante tries to offer reasonable advice. “He’s taught me to love nothing and no one! / Mother, father, wife, daughter, son− / They could die right now, I’d feel no pain” (25-27). It is unreasonable to even say this to someone in your family; Orgon’s unreasonableness is beyond any of his family’s reasonable doubts of Tartuffe. This quote truly shows how deep in obsession Orgon really is, and how unrational he is as a

character.
The reasonable characters in this play are Cleante, Elmire, and Dorine, they try to make Orgon see reason and change his mind about Tartuffe.

Cleante is the first character who tries to persuade Orgon about Tartuffe’s suspicious character in 1.5. He offers advice to Orgon by saying,” I believe you praise him quite sincerely, / I also think you’ll pay for this quite dearly / He’s a fraud, this man whom you adore” (174-176). Orgon chooses to ignore the advice of Cleante. Dorine, Orgon’s daughter Mariane’s maid is shocked to find out that Orgon is forcing his daughter to marry Tartuffe. In 2.2 Dorine addresses Orgon about the forced marriage

saying:
DORINE: And who will blame the fates
For failure of this marriage made in hell?
And whose fault will it be? Not hard to tell.
Since everyone you know will see the truth:
You gave your daughter away to Tartuffe. (2.2.136-40)
And in response for Dorine’s plea with Orgon about his foolish, unreasonable decision to make his daughter marry Tartuffe Orgon tells her to stop talking. Elmire, Orgon’s wife is trying to convince her husband of Tartuffe’s treachery in 4.3. “And now I wonder have you lost your mind? / Your love for this one man has made you blind. / Can you stand there and say you don’t believe / A word we’ve said? That we’re here to deceive?” (42-45) Due to Orgon’s unchanging character he pays his wife no mind and says that she is lying.
Not only is Orgon blind with his obsession with Tartuffe and deaf to all his family members when it comes to reasonable advice. Only when Elmire get’s raped by Tartuffe does he hear and realize how unholy Tartuffe really was. Orgon experiences “change” in the play, he goes from praising Tartuffe in 1.5 when he was being offered advice by Cleante saying:
ORGON. If you only could know him as I do,
You would be his true disciple too.
The universe, your ecstasy would span.
This is a man…who…ha!..well, such a man.
Behold him. Let him teach you profound peace.
When we first met, I felt my troubles cease.
Yes, I was changed after I talked with him. (1.5.14-20)
To suddenly, in 5.1 after realizing that Orgon had been deceived by Taruffe “changes” by saying this about Tartuffe:
ORGON. What? With his wicked heart and corrupt soul,
Yet I’m to keep my rage under control?
Yes me who took him in, right off the street?
Damn all holy men! They’re filled with deceit!
I now renounce them all, down to the man,
And I’ll treat them worse than Satan can. (5.1.31-6)
This is where Orgon makes a “change” and made it seem like Tartuffe was always unholy from the beginning. He immediately makes a change from being religious to calling out everyone who is religious as being unholy without thinking of being reasonable. Even at the end of the play when Tartuffe is jailed and Orgon with his family escapes eviction from their home, Orgon will never truly change or become enlightened to becoming a reasonable character. As stated by Mander, Gertrud, “The victim never learns from experience: ridiculous characters are incapable of learning from this manner, for one of their weaknesses is always unreasonableness, lack of insight, and unresponsiveness in the face of attempts to persuade their folly…” (Mander, 32-33) Orgon as a character even till the end remains the same unreasonable character from start to finish.