At the invitation of the owner, a certain Mr. Tartuffe settled in the house of the venerable Orgon. Orgon didn’t see the soul in him, reckoning with an incomparable model of righteousness and wisdom: Tartuffe’s speeches were extremely exalted, teachings - thanks to which Orgon learned that the world is a big garbage hole, and now he would not blink an eye, burying his wife, children and other relatives - supremely useful, devotion aroused admiration; but how selflessly Tartuffe was the morality of the Orgon family ...
Of all the households, Orgon's admiration for the newly arrived righteous was shared, however, only by his mother, Ms. Pernelle. Elmira, the wife of Orgon, her brother Cleant, the children of Orgon, Damis and Mariana, and even the servants, saw in Tartuffe who he really was - a hypocritical sanctuary who deftly uses the error of Orgon in his unwise earthly interests: it’s delicious to eat and sleep softly, have a reliable roof over your head and some other benefits.
Orgon’s family was utterly disgusted with Tartuffe’s teachings; with his worries about decency, he discouraged almost all his friends from home. But as soon as someone spoke badly of this zealot of piety, Ms. Pernel staged stormy scenes, and Orgon simply remained deaf to any speeches that were not imbued with admiration for Tartuffe. When Orgon returned from a short absence and demanded a report on home news from Dorina’s handmaid, the news of his wife’s malaise left him completely indifferent, while the story of how Tartuffe had overeat at dinner, then sniff out until noon, and sip wine at breakfast, filled Orgon with compassion for the poor fellow.
Orgon's daughter, Mariana, was in love with a noble young man named Valera, and her brother Damis - in Valera’s sister. Orgon seems to have already agreed to the marriage of Mariana and Valera, but for some reason everyone postponed the wedding. Damis, worried about his own fate — his marriage to Valera’s sister was to follow Mariana’s wedding — asked Cleant to find out from Orgon what was the reason for the delay. Orgon answered the questions so evasively and inconspicuously that Cleant suspected if he had decided to somehow dispose of his future daughter.
What exactly Orgon sees as the future of Mariana, it became clear when he informed his daughter that Tartuffe's excellence needed a reward, and such a reward would be his marriage to her, Mariana. The girl was stunned, but did not dare to argue with her father. Dorina had to intervene for her: the maid tried to explain to Orgon that to give Marian off Tartuffe - a poor, low-hearted freak - would mean to be ridiculed by the whole city, and in addition to push her daughter on the path of sin, for no matter how virtuous the girl, It’s simply impossible to train the horns of such a hubby as Tartuffe. Dorina spoke very warmly and convincingly, but, despite this, Orgon remained adamant in his determination to intermarry with Tartuffe.
Mariana was ready to submit to the will of her father - so she told her daughter duty. The docility dictated by natural timidity and reverence for her father tried to turn Dorin in her, and she almost managed to do this by unfolding vivid pictures in front of Mariana of the conjugal happiness he had prepared with Tartuffe.
But when Valera asked Mariana if she was going to obey Orgon's will, the girl replied that she did not know. In a fit of despair, Valere advised her to do as her father ordered, while he himself would find a bride who would not change this word; Mariana replied that she would only be glad, and as a result, the lovers almost broke up forever, but then Dorin arrived in time. She convinced young people to fight for their happiness. But they just need to act not directly, but in a roundabout way, to take time, and something will surely work there, because everything - Elmira, Kleant, and Damis - is against the absurd plan of Orgon,
Damis, even too determined, was going to tame Tartuffe properly, so that he would forget to think about marrying Marian. Dorina tried to cool his ardor, to instill that by cunning one could achieve more than threats, but to the end she failed to convince him of this.
Suspecting that Tartuffe was not indifferent to Orgon's wife, Dorina asked Elmira to talk with him and find out what he himself thinks of marriage with Mariana. When Dorina told Tartuffe that the lady wanted to talk with him face to face, the holy man brightened up. At first, crumbling before Elmira in heavy compliments, he did not give her mouth to open, when she finally asked a question about Mariana, Tartuffe began to assure her that his heart was captivated by another. To the bewilderment of Elmira - how is it that a man of holy life is suddenly engulfed in carnal passion? - her admirer answered fervently that yes, he is pious, but at the same time, after all, the man that their heart is not a flint ... Immediately, Tartuffe invited Elmira to indulge in the delights of love. In response, Elmira wondered how, according to Tartuffe, her husband would behave when he heard about his heinous harassment. The terrified cavalier begged Elmira not to destroy him, and then she proposed a deal: Orgon does not know anything, Tartuffe, for his part, will try to let Mariana go down the aisle with Valera as soon as possible.
Damis ruined everything. He overheard the conversation and, indignant, rushed to his father. But, as one would expect, Orgon believed not in his son, but in Tartuffe, this time surpassing himself in hypocritical self-humiliation. In anger, he ordered Damis to get out of sight and announced that today Tartuffe would marry Mariana. In a dowry, Orgon gave his future son-in-law all his fortune.
Kleant for the last time tried to speak humanly with Tartuffe and persuade him to reconcile with Damis, abandon his unjustly acquired property and Mariana - after all, it is not appropriate for a Christian to use the quarrel between his father and son for his own enrichment, and even more so doom the girl to life torture. But Tartuffe, a noble rhetorician, had an excuse for everything.
Mariana begged her father not to give it to Tartuffe - let him take the dowry, and she better go to the monastery. But Orgon, having learned something from his pet, without blinking an eye, convinced the poor thing of the life-saving life of her husband, who causes only disgust - after all, mortification of the flesh is only useful. Finally, Elmira could not stand it - since her husband does not believe the words of loved ones, he should personally verify the baseness of Tartuffe. Convinced that he would have to make sure just the opposite — in the high moral standards of the righteous man — Orgon agreed to climb under the table and from there listen to the conversation that Elmira and Tartuffe would conduct in private.
Tartuffe immediately pecked at Elmira’s feigned speeches that she allegedly had a strong feeling for him, but at the same time showed a certain prudence: before refusing to marry Mariana, he wanted to receive from her stepmother, so to speak, a tangible guarantee of tender feelings. As for the violation of the commandment, which will be associated with the delivery of this pledge, then, as Elmira Tartuffe assured, he has his own ways of meeting with heaven.
Heard by Orgon from under the table was enough to finally collapse his blind faith in the sanctity of Tartuffe. He ordered the scoundrel to immediately get away, he was trying to make excuses, but now it was useless. Then Tartuffe changed his tone and, before proudly retiring, promised to brutally get even with Orgon.
The threat of Tartuffe was not unreasonable: firstly, Orgon had already managed to straighten the gift to his house, which from today belonged to Tartuffe; secondly, he entrusted to the vile villain a casket with papers revealing his sibling, for political reasons forced to leave the country.
It was urgent to look for some way out. Damis volunteered to beat Tartuffe and discourage him from harming him, but Cleant stopped the young man - with his mind, he argued, more could be achieved than with fists. Orgona’s homework hadn’t come up with anything yet, when Mr. Loyal, the bailiff, appeared on the doorstep of the house. He brought an order by tomorrow morning to vacate Mr. Tartuffe's house. Then his hands were combed, not only at Damis, but also at Dorina and even Orgon himself.
As it turned out, Tartuffe did not fail to use the second opportunity he had to spoil the life of his recent benefactor: Valera brought the news that the villain had handed over the casket with papers to the king, and now Orgon was facing arrest for aiding the rebel brother. Orgon decided to flee before it was too late, but the guards were ahead of him: the officer who came in announced that he was arrested.
Together with the royal officer, Tartuffe came to Orgon's house. The homeworkers, including Ms. Pernelle, who finally saw the light, began to unanimously shame the hypocritical villain, listing all his sins. Tom was soon tired of this, and he turned to the officer with a request to protect his person from vile attacks, but in response to his great - and universal - amazement, he heard that he was arrested.
As the officer explained, in fact, he did not come for Orgon, but to see how Tartuffe reaches the end in his shamelessness. The wise king, the enemy of lies and a bastion of justice, from the very beginning had suspicions about the identity of the scammer and turned out to be right as always - under the name of Tartuffe was a scoundrel and a scammer, on whose account a great many dark affairs. By his authority, the sovereign terminated the donation to the house and forgave Orgon for indirectly aiding the rebellious brother.
Tartuffe was shamefully escorted to prison, but Orgon had no choice but to give praise to the wisdom and generosity of the monarch, and then bless the union of Valera and Mariana.
