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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Since you have given me this good advice. Valère
Don’t shield yourself with talk of my advice.
You had your mind made up, that’s evident;
And now you’re snatching at a trifling pretext
To justify the breaking of your word.
Exactly so.
ValèreOf course it is; your heart
Has never known true love for me.
Alas!
You’re free to think so, if you please.
Yes, yes,
I’m free to think so; and my outraged love
May yet forestall you in your perfidy,
And offer elsewhere both my heart and hand.
No doubt of it; the love your high deserts
May win …
Good Lord, have done with my deserts!
I know I have but few, and you have proved it.
But I may find more kindness in another;
I know of someone, who’ll not be ashamed
To take your leavings, and make up my loss.
The loss is not so great; you’ll easily
Console yourself completely for this change.
I’ll try my best, that you may well believe.
When we’re forgotten by a woman’s heart,
Our pride is challenged; we, too, must forget;
Or if we cannot, must at least pretend to.
No other way can man such baseness prove,
As be a lover scorned, and still in love.
In faith, a high and noble sentiment.
ValèreYes; and it’s one that all men must approve.
What! Would you have me keep my love alive,
And see you fly into another’s arms
Before my very eyes; and never offer
To someone else the heart that you had scorned?
Oh, no, indeed! For my part, I could wish
That it were done already.
What! You wish it?
MarianeYes.
ValèreThis is insult heaped on injury;
I’ll go at once and do as you desire.
He takes a step or two as if to go away.
MarianeOh, very well then.
ValèreTurning back.
But remember this.
’Twas you that drove me to this desperate pass.
Of course.
ValèreTurning back again.
And in the plan that I have formed
I only follow your example.
Yes.
ValèreAt the door.
Enough; you shall be punctually obeyed.
MarianeSo much the better.
ValèreComing back again.
This is once for all.
MarianeSo be it, then.
ValèreHe goes toward the door, but just as he reaches it, turns around.
Eh?
MarianeWhat?
ValèreYou didn’t call me?
MarianeI? You are dreaming.
ValèreVery well, I’m gone. Madam, farewell.
He walks slowly away.
MarianeFarewell, sir.
DorineI must say
You’ve lost your senses and both gone clean daft!
I’ve let you fight it out to the end o’ the chapter
To see how far the thing could go. Oho, there,
Mister Valère!
She goes and seizes him by the arm, to stop him. He makes a great show of resistance.
ValèreWhat do you want, Dorine?
DorineCome here.
ValèreNo, no, I’m quite beside myself.
Don’t hinder me from doing as she wishes.
Stop!
ValèreNo. You see, I’m fixed, resolved, determined.
DorineSo!
MarianeAside. Since my presence pains him, makes him go,
I’d better go myself, and leave him free.
Leaving Valère, and running after Mariane.
Now t’other! Where are you going?
MarianeLet me be.
Dorine.Come back.
MarianeNo, no, it isn’t any use.
ValèreAside. ’Tis clear the sight of me is torture to her;
No doubt, t’were better I should free her from it.
Leaving Mariane and running after Valère.
Same thing again! Deuce take you both, I say.
Now stop your fooling; come here, you; and you.
She pulls first one, then the other, toward the middle of the stage.
ValèreTo Dorine. What’s your idea?
MarianeTo Dorine. What can you mean to do?
DorineSet you to rights, and pull you out o’ the scrape.
To Valère. Are you quite mad, to quarrel with her now?
ValèreDidn’t you hear the things she said to me?
DorineTo Mariane. Are you quite mad, to get in such a passion?
MarianeDidn’t you see the way he treated me?
DorineFools, both of you.
To Valère. She thinks of nothing else
But to keep faith with you, I vouch for it.
To Mariane. And he loves none but you, and longs for nothing
But just to marry you, I stake my life on’t.
To Valère. Why did you give me such advice then, pray?
ValèreTo Mariane. Why ask for my advice on such a matter?
DorineYou both are daft, I tell you. Here, your hands.
To Valère. Come, yours.
ValèreGiving Dorine his hand.
What for?
DorineTo Mariane. Now, yours.
MarianeGiving Dorine her hand.
But what’s the use?
DorineOh, quick now, come along. There, both of you—
You love each other better than you think.
Valère and Mariane hold each other’s hands some time without looking at each other.
ValèreAt last turning toward Mariane.
Come, don’t be so ungracious now about it;
Look at a man as if you didn’t hate him.
Mariane looks sideways toward Valère, with just a bit of a smile.
DorineMy faith and troth, what fools these lovers be!
ValèreTo Mariane. But come now, have I not a just complaint?
And truly, are you not a wicked creature
To take delight in saying what would pain me?
And are you not yourself the most ungrateful … ?
DorineLeave this discussion till another time;
Now, think how you’ll stave off this plaguey marriage.
Then tell us how to go about it.
DorineWell,
We’ll try all sorts of ways.
To Mariane. Your father’s daft;
To Valère. This plan is nonsense.
To Mariane. You had better humour
His notions by a semblance of consent,
So that in case of danger, you can still
Find means to block the marriage by delay.
If you gain time, the rest is easy, trust me.
One day you’ll fool them with a sudden illness,
Causing delay; another day, ill omens:
You’ve
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