The comedy of the first scene is partly based on the overbearing and flustery Madame Pernelle who is dominating all conversation and forcing her own egotistical opinions on the others. The comedy is also based upon seeing this woman proven wrong. Moliere's technique in Tartuffe is to set up a character or characters that are deviations from the norm of behavior and gradually reveal their absurdity.

I had to ask myself "How does Moliere do this?" He does this first by subtitling his play "The Hypocrite." From the subtitle alone, I know that Madame Pernelle is praising a man unworthy of praise.

Second, since there was only one person in Act I, Scene 1 who is holding the opinion that Tartuffe is a holy and pious man, people tend to side with the many and not the one. Third, the manner in which Madame Pernelle defends Tartuffe instantly makes me doubt her honesty and credibi

At the close of the Third Act, Scenes 5-7, Orgon's total absurdity is revealed. Tartuffe tries to tell Orgon that he is wicked, depraved, and deserving of being driven from the house. Orgon then turns on Damis and chastises him for trying to ruin a good man's name. Tartuffe even begs Orgon to believe Damis and that he deserves all the abuse in the world. Instead he turns on Damis, calling him a villain and an ingrate. Orgon disinherits Damis and throws him out of the house.

lity. She is overbearing, talkative, and so superficial that I immediately defined her opinions as absurd.

In Act III, Scenes 3-4, Tartuffe expresses his great admiration to Elmire. The manner in which he cannot control his passion and the way he pursues Elmire reveals the absurd manner in which he uses reverse logic to suggest that a woman is safe having an affair with a pious man because the pious man himself must be careful to protect his name. Tartuffe does not realize that Elmire finds him repulsive because his passion is so strong.

After he is gone, Orgon emerges and is completely astounded. As Tartuffe returns, Orgon hides behind Elmire and immediately grabs Tartuffe and orders him from the house. Tartuffe then reminds Orgon the house belongs to him now and that Orgon is the one that must leave. Orgon confesses that he is frightened about the deed he signed and also about a strongbox that is in Tartuffe's room upstairs.

Orgon has been so deluded though, that he cannot listen to any of this criticism. The high degree of his absurd deviation from the norm of behavior is rapidly becoming obvious.

In Act I, Scenes 2-3, the establishment of the influence that Tartuffe has over Organ is the main point. Cleante cannot understand how Tartuffe has totally deceived Madame Pernelle. Dorine points out that Orgon is even more deceived. She explains the many ways in which Tartuffe has already duped Orgon and the many tedious sermons that they all have to listen to constantly. Dorine explains that Orgon already loves Tartuffe more than "mother, child, or wife." This statement characterizes the religious man who will give up all earthly ties in order to follow a saintly life. This idea at the time is not fully developed but it will be later on. In Act I, Scenes 2-3 though, the idea surely applies to Orgon because he shows no concern for the wishes of his own daughter in the next scenes.

Cleante points out to Orgon that since he went to absurd extremes, he was to be ridiculed. This is a point of Moliere's comedies. Cleante advises him to learn to distinguish between the true worth of man and the charlatan.

Near the end of Scene 5, it is blatantly obvious of how bad Tartuffe duped Orgon. Tartuffe is using the outward acts of religion to appear religious. Cleante is trying to expose this to Orgon. Cleante suggests that the truly religious person has no desire to parade his "holiness" before the world. He also points out that a religious man does not spend his time chiding and criticizing others.

Act V, Scenes 1-2, are devoted to explaining the difficulty Orgon has gotten into as a res

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Approximate Word count = 2093
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)