From Act I and II of Moliere’s Tartuffe, I can know Orgon is crazy on Tartuffe. Even though Tartuffe didn’t show up in the first two act, Orgon trying to marry his daughter to Tartuffe, and he does not care about his family’s opinions. Tartuffe is a pool guy with nothing, but Orgon believes Tartuffe is the best guy in the world. In the Act 1.5, Cleante trying to convince him,and help him to make a right choice. But Orgon says:” You just don’t see him in the way I do, but if you did, you’d feel what I feel, too. Every day he came to church and knelt,., and from his groans, I knew just what he felt. Those sounds he made from deep inside his soul, were fed by piety he could not control.” And Cleante thinks Orgon is out of his mind, all his speak are nonsense. Dorine thinks Orgon is intoxicated with Tartuffe, as she said:” he calls “brother” and loves more than one, more than daughter, wife, son.” Tartuffe made Orgon lost his mind, he cares about Tartuffe more than his wife, his family. This is ridiculous. If Tartuffe is a good person, he should help Orgon, not divide his family to a part. I don’t understand their relationship, I have a lot of questions, Orgon is just like a fool, and why he trusts Tartuffe.
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Jing,
I think you are right to have questions about the situation dramatized in the play. How do we understand the intensity of Orgon’s feelings for Tartuffe and his utter refusal to listen to his family? You correctly note that Tartuffe doesn’t actually appear onstage until the third act of the play. Why do you think Moliere sets things up this way?
JS