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Tartuffe

Yes, so he says himself. Such vanity...

Overview

Character
Gender
Female
Playing Age
Young Adult, Adult
Style
Comedic
Act/Scene
2/2
Time & Place
The monologue takes place in the drawing room of Orgon's grand Parisian house during the seventeenth century.
Length
Medium
Time Period
Classical
Show Type
Play
Age Guidance
Youth (Y)/General Audiences (G)

Context

Text

Yes, so he says himself. Such vanity
But ill accords with pious living, sir.
The man who cares for holiness alone
Should not so loudly boast his name and birth;
The humble ways of genuine devoutness
Brook not so much display of earthly pride.
Why should he be so vain? . . . But I offend you:
Let's leave his rank, then,--take the man himself:
Can you without compunction give a man
Like him possession of a girl like her?
Think what a scandal's sure to come of it!
Virtue is at the mercy of the fates,
When a girl's married to a man she hates;
The best intent to live an honest woman
Depends upon the husband's being human,
And men whose brows are pointed at afar
May thank themselves their wives are what they are.
For to be true is more than woman can,
With husbands built upon a certain plan;
And he who weds his child against her will
Owes heaven account for it, if she do ill.
Think then what perils wait on your design.

Link to full text: http://archive.org/stream/tartuffe02027gut/trtff10.txt from a translation by Curtis Hidden Page for Project Gutenberg in January of 2000. Accessed October 26, 2016.

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