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Act 1, Scene 5
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Tartuffe, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Hypocrisy
Reason vs. Emotion
Religion, Piety, and Morals
Family and Fathers
Appearances and Beauty
Summary
Analysis
Orgon finds his daughter Mariane and praises her for her obedience, though not before checking for eavesdroppers. Mariane is flattered by his praise, and replies that doing as her father says delights her. When Orgon asks her opinion of Tartuffe, his daughter asserts that she will say whatever her father wishes her to say; but when he tells her that he wishes her to marry Tartuffe, Mariane grows hesitant and upset, unable to believe that her father would truly give her to Tartuffe.
Mariane is the “ideal” daughter—docile, tractable, and modest. Yet even she finds it difficult to obey her father when he makes his odious request. It is also worth noting how the behavior of the ideal daughter gives total power over her to her father. A foolish father can therefore have a devastating impact.
Themes
