Chapter: ACT V   SCENE I

  ORGON, CLEANTE


  CLEANTE
  Whither away so fast?

  ORGON
  How should I know?

  CLEANTE
  Methinks we should begin by taking counsel
  To see what can be done to meet the case.

  ORGON
  I'm all worked up about that wretched box.
  More than all else it drives me to despair.

  CLEANTE
  That box must hide some mighty mystery?

  ORGON
  Argas, my friend who is in trouble, brought it
  Himself, most secretly, and left it with me.
  He chose me, in his exile, for this trust;
  And on these documents, from what he said,
  I judge his life and property depend.

  CLEANTE
  How could you trust them to another's hands?

  ORGON
  By reason of a conscientious scruple.
  I went straight to my traitor, to confide
  In him; his sophistry made me believe
  That I must give the box to him to keep,
  So that, in case of search, I might deny
  My having it at all, and still, by favour
  Of this evasion, keep my conscience clear
  Even in taking oath against the truth.

  CLEANTE
  Your case is bad, so far as I can see;
  This deed of gift, this trusting of the secret
  To him, were both--to state my frank opinion--
  Steps that you took too lightly; he can lead you
  To any length, with these for hostages;
  And since he holds you at such disadvantage,
  You'd be still more imprudent, to provoke him;
  So you must go some gentler way about.

  ORGON
  What! Can a soul so base, a heart so false,
  Hide neath the semblance of such touching fervour?
  I took him in, a vagabond, a beggar! ...
  'Tis too much! No more pious folk for me!
  I shall abhor them utterly forever,
  And henceforth treat them worse than any devil.

  CLEANTE
  So! There you go again, quite off the handle!
  In nothing do you keep an even temper.
  You never know what reason is, but always
  Jump first to one extreme, and then the other.
  You see your error, and you recognise
  That you've been cozened by a feigned zeal;
  But to make up for't, in the name of reason,
  Why should you plunge into a worse mistake,
  And find no difference in character
  Between a worthless scamp, and all good people?
  What! Just because a rascal boldly duped you
  With pompous show of false austerity,
  Must you needs have it everybody's like him,
  And no one's truly pious nowadays?
  Leave such conclusions to mere infidels;
  Distinguish virtue from its counterfeit,
  Don't give esteem too quickly, at a venture,
  But try to keep, in this, the golden mean.
  If you can help it, don't uphold imposture;
  But do not rail at true devoutness, either;
  And if you must fall into one extreme,
  Then rather err again the other way.

 At this point, Orgon is running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Cleante tries to calm him down. He asks him what's the matter. As it turns out, Orgon's fears were confirmed. Tartuffe has made off with the contents of the "strongbox," also known as a safe. It seems that, long ago, Orgon's friend Argas brought him the box just before he, that is, Argas, fled the country. As far as Orgon knows, the papers contained within would ruin Argas's reputation if they were ever released. They're what you might call prime blackmail material...sort of like those nude photos of celebrities you hear about every once in a while. We don't know exactly what they are, but they were bad enough to send Argas fleeing from the government...and that's pretty bad. Cleante doesn't understand why Tartuffe would even know about such things. Orgon, it seems, saw fit to let Tartuffe hold onto the box; he felt guilty about keeping such a secret. Cleante, usually quick with advice, has nothing to say. Orgon has really messed things up this time. Orgon curses Tartuffe and swears that he'll never associate with "pious men" and that he'll "persecute them worse than Satan could" . Cleante tells Orgon to stop talking such drivel and wise up. One bad apple doesn't spoil the barrel, as far as Cleante is concerned, and if Orgon wants to prevent another debacle he has to stop taking things to the extreme. Cleante reminds him - and the audience - that there are truly righteous men out there and that, as long as he/they is/are cautious, he/they will be able to avoid frauds like Tartuffe.

