Chapter: SCENE IV

  CLEANTE, DAMIS, DORINE

  DAMIS
  I wish you'd say a word to him about
  My sister's marriage; I suspect Tartuffe
  Opposes it, and puts my father up
  To all these wretched shifts. You know, besides,
  How nearly I'm concerned in it myself;
  If love unites my sister and Valere,
  I love his sister too; and if this marriage
  Were to ...

  DORINE
  He's coming.

 Orgon rolls in, having just come from a trip out of town. He proceeds to ignore Cleante. He wants to hear about what's happened to the family in the time since he left. Dorine tells him that Elmire has been sick with a fever, but all Orgon really wants to hear about is Tartuffe. Every time Dorine tells him anything about his wife - all about how she's felt sick and suffered - he says, "And Tartuffe?" Dorine tells him that he's been doing fine, eating, drinking and sleeping altogether too much for such a pious guy. That doesn't stop Orgon from exclaiming "Poor fellow!" again and again. This goes on for a while. It's what a comedian might call a "routine" or a "bit." When Dorine has had enough, she goes off to tell Elmire how "sympathetic" Orgon has been.

