Listen to the voice of reason has become a cliché today but it is as relevant now as it was in the past Societal norms can become excessive and even taken to the extreme Whether the idea is fanatic religious pursuits political correctness or political ideologies ideas that start out as the norm or appropriate often become outliers Therefore it is important to surround oneself with reasonable thinking people In Jean Baptiste Moliere's Tartuffe satirical extremes in religious confidence obedience and order are on display In the play the voice of reason comes primarily from two characters Cleante and Dorine Cleante and Dorine act as the voice of reason during the play when interacting with Madame Pernelle Mariane and Orgon Madame Pernelle unreasonably believes in the piety of Tartuffe but Cleante and Dorine attempt to expose that he is a fraud by appealing to reason Dorine states There was no vow of poverty he's poor And he was just some beggar at the door 1 1 67 68 demonstrating that Tartuffe was taking advantage of his financial situation in order to prey upon the family specifically Orgon Later in the play after Tartuffe s true nature has been found out by Orgon and he has run to inform the king Madame Pernelle doesn t believe her son s accounts of the prior events and begins to argue with Orgon about the sincerity of Tartuffe s faith Cleante disrupts the argument by refocusing the danger the family is in by stating Why are we wasting time with all of this