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Irony
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Prologue
Explanation and Analysis—The Muses:
In the prologue, Goldsmith makes an allusion to the Comic Muse—the ancient Greek goddess of the comedic arts—in a metaphor that highlights his rejection of the sentimental comedy for the comedy of manners genre. In the prologue, Mr Woodward, a celebrated actor, enters the stage dressed in black and crying. He explains the cause of his grief: ""I’m crying now—and have been all the week. / '’Tis not alone this mourning suit,' good masters: / 'I’ve that within'—for which there are no plasters! / Pray, would you know the reason why I’m crying? / The Comic Muse, long sick, is now a-dying! / And if she goes, my tears will never stop; / For as a player, I can’t squeeze out one drop[.]"
Explanation and Analysis—The Prologue :
The prologue of “She Stoops to Conquer” takes the form of a soliloquy, with Mr Woodward, a celebrated actor, entering and directly addressing the audience as he delivers a speech alone on the stage. By starting the play in this way, Goldsmith immediately fosters an intimacy with the audience while also separating the prologue from the rest of the play, with this and the play's epilogues being the only instances of soliloquy. This is fitting, as these are also the only instances where the audience is directly invoked in a breaking of the fourth wall that gives the play a meta-textual (referring to itself) element.
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Act 2
Explanation and Analysis—Love as a Battle :
The description of courtship as a battle is a metaphor that comes up multiple times in She Stoops to Conquer. Hastings and Marlow talk of their wooing of Kate and Constance in terms of a military conquest, while Kate herself also refers to being “threatened with a lover.” In this way, love is presented as something that is hard won. The metaphor also conforms to gender stereotypes of courtship, with the men taking the active role, while the women are the objects of their conquest that must be wooed into surrender. This dynamic, however, is presented in a very playful way, with Kate especially holding her own when under Marlow’s “siege” and ultimately proving the one in control of the courtship.
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Act 3
Explanation and Analysis—Nectar of Your Lips :
When Marlow is trying to seduce Kate (though at this point he believes her to be a barmaid), he adheres to typical conventions of coquetry through the use of metaphor and euphemism. Instead of asking for a kiss, for example, he asks to taste the “nectar of [her] lips”:
Unlock with LitCharts A+MARLOW. Suppose I should call for a taste, just by way of trial, of the nectar of your lips; perhaps I might be disappointed in that, too!
MISS HARDCASTLE. Nectar! nectar! That’s a liquor there’s no call for in these parts. French, I suppose. We sell no French wines here, sir.
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Epilogue 1
Explanation and Analysis—Life as a Play :
The idea that life is a play is hinted at throughout the play, but is most strongly invoked in a metaphor in the first epilogue. After the main events of the play have concluded, Kate emerges on the stage alone to deliver an epilogue in which she recounts her character’s journey through the five acts and the different parts she plays.
Unlock with LitCharts A+WELL, having stooped to conquer with success,
And gained a husband without aid from dress,
Still as a Barmaid, I could wish it too,
As I have conquered him to conquer you:
And let me say, for all your resolution,
That pretty Barmaids have done execution.
Our life is all a play, composed to please,
“We have our exits and our entrances.”
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Explanation and Analysis—She Stoops to Conquer :
The idea of “stooping to conquer” forms an extended metaphor throughout the play with metatheatrical implications. Elements of metatheatre—which refers to plays that draw attention to their own nature as drama (i.e., plays which break the fourth wall)—appear multiple times in She Stoops to Conquer. Introduced as a concept at the start of the play through the prologue’s direct address of the audience, Kate picks this thread up again in her epilogue at the end of the play:
Unlock with LitCharts A+WELL, having stooped to conquer with success,
And gained a husband without aid from dress,
Still as a Barmaid, I could wish it too,
As I have conquered him to conquer you
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