Act V: Scene I
CLEANTE.Whither away so fast?
ORGON.How should I know?
CLEANTE.Methinks we should begin by taking counselTo see what can be done to meet the case.
ORGON.I'm all worked up about that wretched box.More than all else it drives me to despair.
CLEANTE.That box must hide some mighty mystery?
ORGON.Argas, my friend who is in trouble, brought itHimself, most secretly, and left it with me.He chose me, in his exile, for this trust;And on these documents, from what he said,I judge his life and property depend.
CLEANTE.How could you trust them to another's hands?
ORGON.By reason of a conscientious scruple.I went straight to my traitor, to confideIn him; his sophistry made me believeThat I must give the box to him to keep,So that, in case of search, I might denyMy having it at all, and still, by favourOf this evasion, keep my conscience clearEven in taking oath against the truth.
CLEANTE.Your case is bad, so far as I can see;This deed of gift, this trusting of the secretTo him, were both--to state my frank opinion--Steps that you took too lightly; he can lead youTo any length, with these for hostages;And since he holds you at such disadvantage,You'd be still more imprudent, to provoke him;So you must go some gentler way about.
ORGON.What! Can a soul so base, a heart so false,Hide neath the semblance of such touching fervour?I took him in, a vagabond, a beggar! ...'Tis too much! No more pious folk for me!I shall abhor them utterly forever,And henceforth treat them worse than any devil.
CLEANTE.So! There you go again, quite off the handle!In nothing do you keep an even temper.You never know what reason is, but alwaysJump first to one extreme, and then the other.You see your error, and you recogniseThat you've been cozened by a feigned zeal;But to make up for't, in the name of reason,Why should you plunge into a worse mistake,And find no difference in characterBetween a worthless scamp, and all good people?What! Just because a rascal boldly duped youWith pompous show of false austerity,Must you needs have it everybody's like him,And no one's truly pious nowadays?Leave such conclusions to mere infidels;Distinguish virtue from its counterfeit,Don't give esteem too quickly, at a venture,But try to keep, in this, the golden mean.If you can help it, don't uphold imposture;But do not rail at true devoutness, either;And if you must fall into one extreme,Then rather err again the other way.
Words in this poem 21
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- argas n.
- A genus of venomous ticks which attack men and animals. The famous Persian Argas, also called Miana bug, is A. Persicus; that of Central America, called talaje by the natives, is A. Talaje.
- conscientious a.
- Influenced by conscience; governed by a strict regard to the dictates of conscience, or by the known or supposed rules of right and wrong; -- said of a person. [Cf. F. consciencieux, LL. conscientiosus.]
- scruple n.
- A weight of twenty grains; the third part of a dram. [L. scrupulus a small sharp or pointed stone, the twenty-fourth part of an ounce, a scruple, uneasiness, doubt, dim. of scrupus a rough or sharp stone, anxiety, ]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- sophistry n.
- The art or process of reasoning; logic. [OE. sophistrie, OF. sophisterie.]
- favour n.
- Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will. [Written also favour.]
- conscience n.
- Knowledge of one's own thoughts or actions; consciousness. [F. conscience, fr. L. conscientia, fr. consciens, p.pr. of conscire to know, to be conscious; con- + scire to know. See Science.]
- fervour n.
- Heat; excessive warmth. [OF. fervor, fervour, F. ferveur, L. fervor, fr. fervere. See Fervent.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- 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,]
- abhor v. i.
- To shrink back with horror, disgust, or dislike; to be contrary or averse; -- with from.
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
- recognise v. t.
- To know again; to perceive the identity of, with a person or thing previously known; to recover or recall knowledge of. [From Recognizance; see Cognition, and cf. Reconnoiter.]
- scamp n.
- A rascal; a swindler; a rogue. De Quincey. [OF. escamper to run away, to make one's escape. originally, one who runs away, a fugitive, a vagabond. See Scamper.]
- boldly adv.
- In a bold manner. [AS. bealdlice.]
- austerity n.
- Sourness and harshness to the taste. Horsley. [F. austérité, L. austerias, fr. austerus. See Austere.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- nowadays adv.
- In these days; at the present time. [For now on (OE. an) days. See A-, 1.]
- devoutness n.
- Quality or state of being devout.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act V: 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 V: Scene I, in Tartuffe; Or, The Hypocrite (1908), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2027, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/moliere-tartuffe/act-v-scene-i.html, id L26946.
Form and metre
Act V: Scene I is 68 lines in 11 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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.
- 11 ---A--B---B---A-------- cleante · handle · temper · alwaysA · other · recognise · zealB · reason · mistake · character · peopleB · you · austerity · him · nowadaysA · infidels · counterfeit · venture · mean · imposture · either · extreme · way
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 |
|---|---|---|
| CLEANTE. | 1 | · |
| Whither away so fast? | 6 | /˘˘/·· |
| ORGON. | 2 | ·· |
| How should I know? | 4 | ···· |
| CLEANTE. | 1 | · |
| Methinks we should begin by taking counsel | 11 | ˘/··˘/·/˘/˘ |
| To see what can be done to meet the case. | 10 | ·········· |
| ORGON. | 2 | ·· |
| I'm all worked up about that wretched box. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| More than all else it drives me to despair. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| CLEANTE. | 1 | · |
| That box must hide some mighty mystery? | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| ORGON. | 2 | ·· |
| Argas, my friend who is in trouble, brought it | 11 | /˘·····/˘·· |
| Himself, most secretly, and left it with me. | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| He chose me, in his exile, for this trust; | 10 | ·····/···· |
| And on these documents, from what he said, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| I judge his life and property depend. | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| CLEANTE. | 1 | · |
| How could you trust them to another's hands? | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| ORGON. | 2 | ·· |
| By reason of a conscientious scruple. | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| I went straight to my traitor, to confide | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| In him; his sophistry made me believe | 10 | ···/˘˘··˘/ |
| That I must give the box to him to keep, | 10 | ·········· |
| So that, in case of search, I might deny | 10 | ········˘/ |
| My having it at all, and still, by favour | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Of this evasion, keep my conscience clear | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Even in taking oath against the truth. | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| CLEANTE. | 1 | · |
| Your case is bad, so far as I can see; | 10 | ·········· |
| This deed of gift, this trusting of the secret | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| To him, were both--to state my frank opinion-- | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Steps that you took too lightly; he can lead you | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| To any length, with these for hostages; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| And since he holds you at such disadvantage, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| You'd be still more imprudent, to provoke him; | 11 | ····˘/˘·˘/· |
| So you must go some gentler way about. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| ORGON. | 2 | ·· |
| What! Can a soul so base, a heart so false, | 10 | ·········· |
| Hide neath the semblance of such touching fervour? | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| I took him in, a vagabond, a beggar! ... | 11 | ·····/˘˘·/˘ |
| 'Tis too much! No more pious folk for me! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I shall abhor them utterly forever, | 11 | ··˘/·/˘˘˘/˘ |
| And henceforth treat them worse than any devil. | 11 | ·//····/˘/˘ |
| CLEANTE. | 1 | · |
| So! There you go again, quite off the handle! | 11 | ····˘/···/˘ |
| In nothing do you keep an even temper. | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| You never know what reason is, but always | 10 | ·/··/˘··/˘ |
| Jump first to one extreme, and then the other. | 11 | ····˘/···/˘ |
| You see your error, and you recognise | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That you've been cozened by a feigned zeal; | 10 | ·····˘···· |
| But to make up for't, in the name of reason, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Why should you plunge into a worse mistake, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And find no difference in character | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Between a worthless scamp, and all good people? | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| What! Just because a rascal boldly duped you | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·· |
| With pompous show of false austerity, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Must you needs have it everybody's like him, | 11 | ·····/˘·˘·· |
| And no one's truly pious nowadays? | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Leave such conclusions to mere infidels; | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| Distinguish virtue from its counterfeit, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Don't give esteem too quickly, at a venture, | 11 | ··˘/·/˘··/˘ |
| But try to keep, in this, the golden mean. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| If you can help it, don't uphold imposture; | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
| But do not rail at true devoutness, either; | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
| And if you must fall into one extreme, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Then rather err again the other way. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
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