The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tartuffe, by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin
Moliere, Translated by Jeffrey D. Hoeper

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Title: Tartuffe
or The Hypocrite

Author: Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Moliere

Release Date: April 3, 2009 [eBook #28488]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TARTUFFE***

Copyright (C) 2009 by Jeffrey D. Hoeper.

Moliere (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) 1622-1673

Tartuffe or The Hypocrite

Translated by Jeffrey D. Hoeper

ACT I
SCENE I
Madame Pernelle and her servant Flipote, Elmire, Mariane, Dorine, Damis, Cleante

Mme. Pernelle. Let's go, Flipote, let's go. I hate this place.
Elmire. I can't keep up, you rush at such a pace.
Mme. Pernelle. Peace, my dear, peace; come no farther.
I don't wish to cause you any bother.
Elmire. What duty demands, I insist on giving.
But, mother, what has caused your hasty leaving?
Mme. Pernelle. I just can't stand the way your household runs . . .
And no one cares what I wish to have done.
Oh, yes, I leave your household quite dissatisfied
For all my wise advice has been defied . . .
And nobody respects me, and everybody shouts,
And truly this is a home for the king of louts!
Dorine. If . . .
Mme. Pernelle. You, my dearie, are a bold lassy,
A little brazen and very sassy,
You butt into everything to speak your mind.
Damis. But . . .
Mme. Pernelle. You, grandson, are a fool of the worst kind.
It is I, your grandmother, that pronounce this edict
And to my son, your father, I have oft predicted
That you'll turn out to be a worthless wastrel,
And give him in life a foretaste of Hell.
Mariane. I think . . .
Mme. Pernelle. My lord, his sister! You seem so discreet
And so untainted, so very sweet,
But the stillest waters are filled with scum,
And your sly ways earn my revulsion.
Elmire. But . . .
Mme. Pernelle. Daughter, my views may make you mad,
But yo