Produced by Dagny and John Vickers.
TARTUFFE OR THE HYPOCRITE
by
JEAN BAPTISTE POQUELIN MOLIERE
Translated By
Curtis Hidden Page
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Jean Baptiste Poquelin, better known by his stage name of Moliere,stands without a rival at the head of French comedy. Born at Paris inJanuary, 1622, where his father held a position in the royalhousehold, he was educated at the Jesuit College de Clermont, and forsome time studied law, which he soon abandoned for the stage. His lifewas spent in Paris and in the provinces, acting, directingperformances, managing theaters, and writing plays. He had his shareof applause from the king and from the public; but the satire in hiscomedies made him many enemies, and he was the object of the mostvenomous attacks and the most impossible slanders. Nor did he findmuch solace at home; for he married unfortunately, and the unhappinessthat followed increased the bitterness that public hostility hadbrought into his life. On February 17, 1673, while acting in "LaMalade Imaginaire," the last of his masterpieces, he was seized withillness and died a few hours later.
The first of the greater works of Moliere was "Les PrecieusesRidicules," produced in 1659. In this brilliant piece Moliere liftedFrench comedy to a new level and gave it a new purpose—the satirizingof contemporary manners and affectations by frank portrayal andcriticism. In the great plays that followed, "The School for Husbands"and "The School for Wives," "The Misanthrope" and "The Hypocrite"(Tartuffe), "The Miser" and "The Hypochondriac," "The Learned Ladies,""The Doctor in Spite of Himself," "The Citizen Turned Gentleman," andmany others, he exposed mercilessly one after another the vices andfoibles of the day.
His characteristic qualities are nowhere better exhibited than in"Tartuffe." Compared with such characterization as Shakespeare's,Moliere's method of portraying life may seem to be lacking incomplexity; but it is precisely the simplicity with which creationslike Tartuffe embody the weakness or vice they represent that hasgiven them their place as universally recognized types of humannature.
TARTUFFE
A COMEDY
CHARACTERS
MADAME PERNELLE, mother of Orgon
ORGON, husband of Elmire
ELMIRE, wife of Orgon
DAMIS, son of Orgon
MARIANE, daughter of Orgon, in love with Valere
CLEANTE, brother-in-law of Orgon
TARTUFFE, a hypocrite
DORINE, Mariane's maid
M. LOYAL, a bailiff
A Police Officer
FLIPOTTE, Madame Pernelle's servant
The Scene is at Paris
ACT I
SCENE I
MADAME PERNELLE and FLIPOTTE, her servant; ELMIRE, MARIANE, CLEANTE,
DAMIS, DORINE
MADAME PERNELLE
Come, come, Flipotte, and let me get away.
ELMIRE
You hurry so, I hardly can attend you.
MADAME PERNELLE
Then don't, my daughter-in law. Stay where you are.
I can dispense with your polite attentions.
ELMIRE
We're only paying what is due you, mother.
Why must you go away in such a hurry?
MADAME PERNELLE
Because I can't endure your carryings-on,