As Act I closed with the exposure of Orgon's wrongheaded obstinacy, Act II opens with his putting into action his plans to marry his daughter to Tartuffe. And, without having met Tartuffe yet, the audience immediately recognizes this as an absurd act; immediately, we wonder how much more ridiculous Orgon will become before he regains his sanity. Thus, again, we see that Molière's technique is one of exposing a character's deviation from the norm of behavior until the audience is ready to thoroughly condemn his absurd behavior.
By trying to make Mariane say that she thinks highly of Tartuffe, Orgon takes advantage of the fact that his daughter is a dutiful daughter, who would obey him. It is paradoxical that Orgon, in his enthusiasm, would actually have his daughter lie about her feelings, merely because he is determined to have the wedding take place. At the end of this scene, Orgon has gone to a further ridiculous extreme in determining to force Mariane to marry Tartuffe.
In terms of the development of character and plot, the reader should be aware that Mariane only functions as a convenient vehicle for the other characters. As a person, she acts as an intermediary between the other, more central, characters.
When Dorine enters, we have some delightful comic techniques developed. One of the principal comic devices throughout the drama is the incredible statements made by a character and the absolute wonder of the other characters. Orgon finds himself now in a position of being laughed at because Dorine feels that his suggestions are so absurd that he could not be serious and, instead, is making a joke involving the entire family. The difficulty Orgon has in convincing Dorine of his serious intent is inherently comic and also functions as a commentary on the absurdity of trying to get Mariane to marry Tartuffe.
