Chapter: SCENE VII    ORGON, TARTUFFE


  ORGON
  What! So insult a saintly man of God!

  TARTUFFE
  Heaven, forgive him all the pain he gives me! [4]

  [Footnote 4: Some modern editions have adopted the reading, preserved
  by tradition as that of the earliest stage version: Heaven, forgive
  him even as I forgive him! Voltaire gives still another reading:
  Heaven, forgive me even as I forgive him! Whichever was the original
  version, it appears in none of the early editions, and Moliere
  probably felt forced to change it on account of its too close
  resemblance to the Biblical phrase.]

  (To Orgon)
  Could you but know with what distress I see
  Them try to vilify me to my brother!

  ORGON
  Ah!

  TARTUFFE
  The mere thought of such ingratitude
  Makes my soul suffer torture, bitterly ...
  My horror at it ... Ah! my heart's so full
  I cannot speak ... I think I'll die of it.

  ORGON (in tears, running to the door through which he drove away his
  son)
  Scoundrel! I wish I'd never let you go,
  But slain you on the spot with my own hand.

  (To Tartuffe)
  Brother, compose yourself, and don't be angry.

  TARTUFFE
  Nay, brother, let us end these painful quarrels.
  I see what troublous times I bring upon you,
  And think 'tis needful that I leave this house.

  ORGON
  What! You can't mean it?

  TARTUFFE
  Yes, they hate me here,
  And try, I find, to make you doubt my faith.

  ORGON
  What of it? Do you find I listen to them?

  TARTUFFE
  No doubt they won't stop there. These same reports
  You now reject, may some day win a hearing.

  ORGON
  No, brother, never.

  TARTUFFE
  Ah! my friend, a woman
  May easily mislead her husband's mind.

  ORGON
  No, no.

  TARTUFFE
  So let me quickly go away
  And thus remove all cause for such attacks.

  ORGON
  No, you shall stay; my life depends upon it.

  TARTUFFE
  Then I must mortify myself. And yet,
  If you should wish ...

  ORGON
  No, never!

  TARTUFFE
  Very well, then;
  No more of that. But I shall rule my conduct
  To fit the case. Honour is delicate,
  And friendship binds me to forestall suspicion,
  Prevent all scandal, and avoid your wife.

  ORGON
  No, you shall haunt her, just to spite them all.
  'Tis my delight to set them in a rage;
  You shall be seen together at all hours
  And what is more, the better to defy them,
  I'll have no other heir but you; and straightway
  I'll go and make a deed of gift to you,
  Drawn in due form, of all my property.
  A good true friend, my son-in-law to be,
  Is more to me than son, and wife, and kindred.
  You will accept my offer, will you not?

  TARTUFFE
  Heaven's will be done in everything!

  ORGON
  Poor man!
  We'll go make haste to draw the deed aright,
  And then let envy burst itself with spite!

 Once Damis's out of the room, Tartuffe tells Orgon how awful Damis has made him feel. Orgon runs to the doorway through which Damis has just exited and shakes his fist, cursing his son some more. Tartuffe tells Orgon he simply has to leave, that he's caused too much trouble for everyone. Again, Tartuffe proves himself a master of reverse psychology...or maybe just proves that Orgon is a buffoon. Or both. Orgon talks Tartuffe into staying - as if he really needed the encouragement. When all that is settled, Tartuffe makes one more request: he tells Orgon that he simply must avoid Elmire, just in case, you know, something might happen. Orgon will hear nothing of the sort. He wants to get back at his mean, deceitful relatives. In order to do so, he tells Tartuffe to spend as much time as possible with his wife. He also decides to make him "his only son and heir"; he matters more, he tells Tartuffe, "than wife, child or kin" . Tartuffe is cool with the arrangement; as far as he's concerned it's God's will. He and Orgon set off to write up the contract.

