Chapter: ACT II   SCENE I

  ORGON, MARIANE


  ORGON
  Now, Mariane.

  MARIANE
  Yes, father?

  ORGON
  Come; I'll tell you
  A secret.

  MARIANE
  Yes ... What are you looking for?

  ORGON (looking into a small closet-room)
  To see there's no one there to spy upon us;
  That little closet's mighty fit to hide in.
  There! We're all right now. Mariane, in you
  I've always found a daughter dutiful
  And gentle. So I've always love you dearly.

  MARIANE
  I'm grateful for your fatherly affection.

  ORGON
  Well spoken, daughter. Now, prove you deserve it
  By doing as I wish in all respects.

  MARIANE
  To do so is the height of my ambition.

  ORGON
  Excellent well. What say you of--Tartuffe?

  MARIANE
  Who? I?

  ORGON
  Yes, you. Look to it how you answer.

  MARIANE
  Why! I'll say of him--anything you please.

 Orgon decides it's time he had a little heart-to-heart with Mariane, but before the confab can begin, he checks the room for eavesdroppers. That done, he starts buttering her up, telling her how good a daughter she is. He goes on to say that in order to repay him for his love she should do what she's told. She, being the good daughter that she is, responds in the affirmative. Orgon pops the question, or, uh, a question: How do you like Tartuffe? It's the kind of thing you might have had your best bud do for you in Middle School - he's like Tartuffe's wingman. Mariane doesn't really know what to say and, so, she tells Orgon that whatever's good for Daddy's good for her. Unfortunately, Orgon wants her to marry Tartuffe. Mariane is horrified, and when Orgon tries to get her to say that she loves the hypocrite, she tells him it'd simply be a big fat lie. Just when things are about to get nasty...

