Name:
Date:
Period:
Close Reading Organizer - Act 1, Scene 1
Directions: Read each summary entry and think about which themes listed in the Themes Key apply to it, then color
in those themes in the Theme Tracker. Next, write a few sentences of Analysis to explain how the themes you chose
apply to each summary section.
Themes Key
1
Hypocrisy
2
Reason vs. Emotion
3
Religion, Piety, and Morals
4
Family and Fathers
5
Appearances and Beauty
Summary
Theme Tracker
Your Analysis
The setting for the entirety of Tartuffe is the
house of Orgon, a prosperous middle class
man who has served the King of France well
in a recent war—he is currently away on a
two-day business trip to the country. As the
play opens his mother, Madame Pernelle, is
finishing a visit with the rest of his family:
his son and daughter, Damis and Mariane;
their stepmother and Orgon’s second wife,
Elmire; and Elmire’s brother, Cléante.
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Madame Pernelle scolds each member of
the family for what she perceives as their
sinful ways. She tells Damis and Mariane
that they do not respect their father
enough, and upbraids Elmire for
entertaining too many callers and caring too
much about her appearance. She even tells
Cléante that he is too worldly, and should
not be allowed in the house. Each character
tries in turn to reason with her, but she
interrupts them all.
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The discussion turns to Tartuffe, a holy man
whom Orgon and Madame Pernelle revere.
The other characters believe him to be
deceitful and hypocritical. They attempt to
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Summary
Theme Tracker
Your Analysis
tell Madame Pernelle about the religious
tyranny that he inflicts upon their
household. Dorine is especially harsh in her
criticism of him, saying that he has
“usurp[ed]” Orgon’s place in the household,
and even implying that Tartuffe may lust
after her mistress, Elmire. Madame
Pernelle, however, will not hear a word of
against him; she believes Tartuffe to be truly
pious, and calls her relatives sinful for
ignoring his advice. She believes that their
sins will ruin the family if they do not begin
to heed Tartuffe’s wisdom.
The group discusses various pious people
they know, particularly citing a supposedly
pious neighbor who often gossips about
Elmire; Madame Pernelle believes such
ostentatiously moral people to be truly
virtuous, while Cléante and Dorine assert
that they are hypocrites like Tartuffe, using
excessive shows of faith to mask their true
sins, and perverting the power of the
Church.
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5
Frustrated by her relatives (particularly
Cléante, who is laughing at her), Madame
Pernelle takes her leave—though not
before slapping the long-suffering Flipote.
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