Act III: Scene I
DAMIS.May lightning strike me dead this very instant,May I be everywhere proclaimed a scoundrel,If any reverence or power shall stop me,And if I don't do straightway something desperate!
DORINE.I beg you, moderate this towering passion;Your father did but merely mention it.Not all things that are talked of turn to facts;The road is long, sometimes, from plans to acts.
DAMIS.No, I must end this paltry fellow's plots,And he shall hear from me a truth or two.
DORINE.So ho! Go slow now. Just you leave the fellow--Your father too--in your step-mother's hands.She has some influence with this Tartuffe,He makes a point of heeding all she says,And I suspect that he is fond of her.Would God 'twere true!--'Twould be the height of humourNow, she has sent for him, in your behalf,To sound him on this marriage, to find outWhat his ideas are, and to show him plainlyWhat troubles he may cause, if he persistsIn giving countenance to this design.His man says, he's at prayers, I mustn't see him,But likewise says, he'll presently be down.So off with you, and let me wait for him.
DAMIS.I may be present at this interview.
DORINE.No, no! They must be left alone.
DAMIS.I won'tSo much as speak to him.
DORINE.Go on! We know youAnd your high tantrums. Just the way to spoil things!Be off.
DAMIS.No, I must see--I'll keep my temper.
DORINE.Out on you, what a plague! He's coming. Hide!(Damis goes and hides in the closet at the back of the stage.)
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- straightway adv.
- Immediately; without loss of time; without delay.
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- towering a.
- Very high; elevated; rising aloft; as, a towering height.
- tartuffe n.
- A hypocritical devotee. See the Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction. [F. tartufe.]
- humour n.
- Moisture, especially, the moisture or fluid of animal bodies, as the chyle, lymph, etc.; as, the humors of the eye, etc. [OE. humour, OF. humor, umor, F. humeur, L. humor, umor, moisture, fluid, fr. humere, umere, to be moist. See Humid.]
- presently adv.
- At present; at this time; now.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act III: Scene I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Tartuffe; Or, The Hypocrite, Project Gutenberg ebook #2027, the Curtis Hidden Page translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Molière, Act III: Scene I, in Tartuffe; Or, The Hypocrite (1908), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2027, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/moliere-tartuffe/act-iii-scene-i.html, id L26931.
Form and metre
Act III: Scene I is 44 lines in 10 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 2 ---AA dorine · passion · it · factsA · actsA
- 4 ------------A-A dorine · fellow · hands · tartuffe · says · her · humour · behalf · out · plainly · persists · design · himA · down · himA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| DAMIS. | 2 | ·· |
| May lightning strike me dead this very instant, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| May I be everywhere proclaimed a scoundrel, | 11 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| If any reverence or power shall stop me, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/··· |
| And if I don't do straightway something desperate! | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| DORINE. | 3 | ˘/˘ |
| I beg you, moderate this towering passion; | 11 | ···/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| Your father did but merely mention it. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Not all things that are talked of turn to facts; | 10 | ·········· |
| The road is long, sometimes, from plans to acts. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| DAMIS. | 2 | ·· |
| No, I must end this paltry fellow's plots, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And he shall hear from me a truth or two. | 10 | ·········· |
| DORINE. | 3 | ˘/˘ |
| So ho! Go slow now. Just you leave the fellow-- | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Your father too--in your step-mother's hands. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| She has some influence with this Tartuffe, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| He makes a point of heeding all she says, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And I suspect that he is fond of her. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Would God 'twere true!--'Twould be the height of humour | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Now, she has sent for him, in your behalf, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| To sound him on this marriage, to find out | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| What his ideas are, and to show him plainly | 12 | ··˘/˘·····/˘ |
| What troubles he may cause, if he persists | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| In giving countenance to this design. | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘··˘/ |
| His man says, he's at prayers, I mustn't see him, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| But likewise says, he'll presently be down. | 10 | ·/···/˘˘·· |
| So off with you, and let me wait for him. | 10 | ·········· |
| DAMIS. | 2 | ·· |
| I may be present at this interview. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| DORINE. | 3 | ˘/˘ |
| No, no! They must be left alone. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| DAMIS. | 2 | ·· |
| I won't | 2 | ·· |
| So much as speak to him. | 6 | ······ |
| DORINE. | 3 | ˘/˘ |
| Go on! We know you | 5 | ····· |
| And your high tantrums. Just the way to spoil things! | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Be off. | 2 | ·· |
| DAMIS. | 2 | ·· |
| No, I must see--I'll keep my temper. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| DORINE. | 3 | ˘/˘ |
| Out on you, what a plague! He's coming. Hide! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| (Damis goes and hides in the closet at the back of the stage.) | 15 | ·······/˘······ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.