laying your part?
To think you allow such a mad proposal
Without voicing even a meek refusal!
Mariane. How can I resist such a harsh patriarch?
Dorine. By any means! Don't be an easy mark!
Mariane. But how?
Dorine. Tell him you can't love on command,
That you marry for yourself, not by demand,
And since you are most concerned in these affairs
You'll choose for yourself the sire of his heirs,
And that, if Tartuffe is so charming to him,
He can wed him himself--if that's his whim.
Mariane. A father, I'm sure, has absolute power;
Before him I can only cringe and cower.
Dorine. Use your head. Valere wants to tie the knot.
Do you really love him, I ask--or not?
Mariane. Your injustice to me has a mortal sting!
Dorine, how can you ask me such a thing?
Haven't I poured out my whole soul to you,
And don't you know yet that my love is true?
Dorine. How do I know that your heart echoes your voice
And that this love is truly your own choice?
Mariane. Your doubts, Dorine, wrong me greatly;
My real feelings are shown far too plainly.
Dorine. You love him then?
Mariane. Yes, with the strongest passion.
Dorine. And he seems to love you in the same fashion?
Mariane. I think so.
Dorine. And both of you burn equally
For this union in marriage?
Mariane. Certainly.
Dorine. And about this other man, what's your intention?
Mariane. I'd die before I'd submit to coercion.
Dorine. Fine! I hadn't thought of that recourse.
Death would give you such a forcible divorce.
What an ingenious remedy! Geez!
I hate to hear such stupid ideas.
Mariane. Good Heavens! What a rotten mood you're in!
You have no pity for my pain, Dorine!
Dorine. I have no sympathy for foolishness
And those who meet a crisis with such weakness.
Mariane. But what do you want me to do? I was born frail.
Dorine. A woman in love needs a heart of steel.
Mariane. But haven't I kept it free for my lover
Whose task it is to win me from my father?
Dorine. What! If your father is a mad fanatic
Whose love for Tartuffe is completely lunatic
And who has blocked the match you are now bewailing,
Is your lover to be damned for failing?
Mariane. But am I to display how deeply I'm bi