Tartuffe by Molière (most motivational books TXT) 📕
Description
The first three acts of Molière’s Tartuffe were first performed for Louis XIV in 1664, but the play was almost immediately suppressed—not because the King disliked it, but because the church resented the insinuation that the pious were frauds. After several different versions were written and performed privately, Tartuffe was eventually published in its final five-act form in 1669.
A comic tale of man taken in by a sanctimonious scoundrel, the characters of Tartuffe, Elmire, and Orgon are considered among some of the great classical theater roles. As the family strives to convince the patriarch that Tartuffe is a religious fraud, the play ultimately focuses on skewering not the hypocrite, but his victims, and the hypocrisy of fervent religious belief unchecked by facts or reason—a defense Molière himself used to overcome the church’s proscriptions. In the end, the play was so impactful that both French and English now use the word “Tartuffe” to refer to a religious hypocrite who feigns virtue.
In its original French, the play is written in twelve-syllable lines of rhyming couplets. Curtis Hidden Page’s translation invokes a popular compromise and renders it into the familiar blank verse without rhymed endings that was popularized by Shakespeare. The translation is considered a seminal by modern translators.
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- Author: Molière
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There are strange goings-on about your house,
And everybody knows your people hate him.
What’s that to do with what I tell you now?
Madame PernelleI always said, my son, when you were little:
That virtue here below is hated ever;
The envious may die, but envy never.
What’s that fine speech to do with present facts?
Madame PernelleBe sure, they’ve forged a hundred silly lies …
OrgonI’ve told you once, I saw it all myself.
Madame PernelleFor slanderers abound in calumnies …
OrgonMother, you’d make me damn my soul. I tell you
I saw with my own eyes his shamelessness.
Their tongues for spitting venom never lack,
There’s nothing here below they’ll not attack.
Your speech has not a single grain of sense.
I saw it, harkee, saw it, with these eyes
I saw—d’ye know what saw means?—must I say it
A hundred times, and din it in your ears?
My dear, appearances are oft deceiving,
And seeing shouldn’t always be believing.
I’ll go mad.
Madame PernelleFalse suspicions may delude,
And good to evil oft is misconstrued.
Must I construe as Christian charity
The wish to kiss my wife!
You must, at least,
Have just foundation for accusing people,
And wait until you see a thing for sure.
The devil! How could I see any surer?
Should I have waited till, before my eyes,
He … No, you’ll make me say things quite improper.
In short, ’tis known too pure a zeal inflames him;
And so, I cannot possibly conceive
That he should try to do what’s charged against him.
If you were not my mother, I should say
Such things! … I know not what, I’m so enraged!
To Orgon. Fortune has paid you fair, to be so doubted;
You flouted our report, now yours is flouted.
We’re wasting time here in the merest trifling,
Which we should rather use in taking measures
To guard ourselves against the scoundrel’s threats.
You think his impudence could go far?
ElmireFor one, I can’t believe it possible;
Why, his ingratitude would be too patent.
Don’t trust to that; he’ll find abundant warrant
To give good colour to his acts against you;
And for less cause than this, a strong cabal
Can make one’s life a labyrinth of troubles.
I tell you once again: armed as he is
You never should have pushed him quite so far.
True; yet what could I do? The rascal’s pride
Made me lose all control of my resentment.
I wish with all my heart that some pretence
Of peace could be patched up between you two
If I had known what weapons he was armed with,
I never should have raised such an alarm,
And my …
To Dorine, seeing Mr. Loyal come in.
Who’s coming now? Go quick, find out.
I’m in a fine state to receive a visit!
To Dorine, at the back of the stage.
Good day, good sister. Pray you, let me see
The master of the house.
He’s occupied;
I think he can see nobody at present.
I’m not by way of being unwelcome here.
My coming can, I think, nowise displease him;
My errand will be found to his advantage.
Your name, then?
Mr. LoyalTell him simply that his friend
Mr. Tartuffe has sent me, for his goods …
To Orgon. It is a man who comes, with civil manners,
Sent by Tartuffe, he says, upon an errand
That you’ll be pleased with.
To Orgon. Surely you must see him,
And find out who he is, and what he wants.
To Cléante. Perhaps he’s come to make it up between us:
How shall I treat him?
You must not get angry;
And if he talks of reconciliation
Accept it.
To Orgon. Sir, good day. And Heaven send
Harm to your enemies, favour to you.
Aside to Cléante. This mild beginning suits with my conjectures
And promises some compromise already.
All of your house has long been dear to me;
I had the honour, sir, to serve your father.
Sir, I am much ashamed, and ask your pardon
For not recalling now your face or name.
My name is Loyal. I’m from Normandy.
My office is court-bailiff, in despite
Of envy; and for forty years, thank Heaven,
It’s been my fortune to perform that office
With honour. So I’ve come, sir, by your leave
To render service of a certain writ …
What, you are here to …
Mr. LoyalPray, sir, don’t be angry.
’Tis nothing, sir, but just a little summons:—
Order to vacate, you and yours, this house,
Move out your furniture, make room for others,
And that without delay or putting off,
As needs must be …
I? Leave this house?
Mr. LoyalYes, please, sir
The house is now, as you well know, of course,
Mr. Tartuffe’s. And he, beyond dispute,
Of all your goods is henceforth lord and master
By virtue of a contract here attached,
Drawn in due form, and unassailable.
To Mr. Loyal. Your insolence is monstrous, and astounding!
Mr. LoyalTo Damis. I have no business, sir, that touches you;
Pointing to Orgon.
This is the gentleman. He’s fair and courteous,
And knows too well a gentleman’s behaviour
To wish in any wise to question justice.
But …
Mr. LoyalSir, I know you would not for a million
Wish to rebel; like a good citizen
You’ll let me put in force the court’s decree.
Your long black gown may well, before you know it,
Mister Court-bailiff, get a thorough beating.
To Orgon. Sir, make your son be silent or withdraw.
I should be loath to have to set things down,
And see your names inscribed in my report.
Aside. This Mr. Loyal’s looks are most disloyal.
Mr. LoyalI have much feeling for respectable
And honest folk like you, sir, and consented
To serve these papers, only to oblige you,
And thus prevent the choice of any other
Who, less possessed of zeal for you
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