The Country Wife

by

William Wycherley

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The Country Wife: Act 3, Scene 2 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
In the New Exchange, in the city center, Horner, Harcourt, and Dorilant are discussing their plans for the evening. Harcourt and Dorilant are confused that Horner will go to dinner with some ladies rather than with his friends. After all, they complain, he hates women and can have no use for them now that he is impotent. Horner, however, tells them that, because he hates women, he wishes to spend time with them, to make fun of them and to get them drunk so that he may take revenge on them by exposing them as drunkards.
Horner pretends to be the opposite of what he is to hide his true intentions; he pretends to hate women when, really, he loves them. This demonstrates Horner’s hypocrisy and shows that Restoration society is easily taken in by reputation and appearance. Drunkenness was considered another vice, like promiscuity, which was publicly frowned upon but often privately practiced by “honorable” people.
Themes
Reputation, Appearance, and Hypocrisy  Theme Icon
Theatre, Puritanism, and Forbidden Desire  Theme Icon
Quotes
Harcourt begins to tell them that he is in love with Alithea and to ask their advice about how to woo her. As they are talking, Sparkish approaches. Horner tells Harcourt that Sparkish will help Harcourt win Alithea’s love because he is such a fool. When Sparkish meets them, he begins to tease Harcourt about the fact that he flirted with Alithea. He then rounds on Horner and asks if he heard the “wits” making fun of him in the theatre that afternoon.
Horner knows that Sparkish is so arrogant that he does not believe Alithea could cheat on him. Therefore, he will not suspect Harcourt of being able to woo her and will not notice if Harcourt does so right in front of him. Sparkish is very proud of his reputation as a “wit,” but he is not considered a “true wit” by clever “rakes” like Horner. Therefore, he would be recognized as a fool by Restoration audiences.
Themes
Reputation, Appearance, and Hypocrisy  Theme Icon
Love, Marriage, and Misogyny  Theme Icon
Quotes
Horner admits that he did but finds it strange that Sparkish and his friends do not go to the theatre to laugh at the play. Sparkish announces that he and his friends are much funnier than most of the plays and that they hate the poets who write them.
This shows Sparkish’s arrogance and disdain for the theatre and represents the attitude of many Restoration theatre goers. Restoration audiences would participate in the action on stage by shouting from the pit and Wycherly sees this as disrespectful and thinks it shows that the audience, like Sparkish, are pompous and pretentious and look down on the playwright’s work.
Themes
Theatre, Puritanism, and Forbidden Desire  Theme Icon
Quotes
Literary Devices
Horner asks why Sparkish hates poets and Sparkish explains that he wrote some songs for a woman he was courting and that a poet made fun of them in one of his plays. Sparkish was deeply offended by this and believes that poets deliberately try to make brave, “honorable” men of rank look foolish onstage by giving them comic parts.
Wycherly explains the hatred leveled at playwrights by arrogant fools like Sparkish. They dislike it when playwrights portray them in unflattering ways onstage. Men like Sparkish expect to be respected because of their rank and position in society.
Themes
Reputation, Appearance, and Hypocrisy  Theme Icon
Theatre, Puritanism, and Forbidden Desire  Theme Icon
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Harcourt says that the poets are just following the fashion and asks why Sparkish is not embarrassed by what he says loudly in the audience if he is too embarrassed to hear his words spoken onstage. Sparkish says that he would prefer to have his portrait painted than his likeness portrayed onstage because painters go out of their way to make a portrait flattering.
Sparkish wants all the adulation of a playwright with none of the risk. He will make jokes and witticisms when he is anonymous, among the crowd in the theatre, but is not brave enough to write his own plays for public scrutiny. He only wants to be seen in a flattering light and dislikes playwrights because they tell the truth and do not flatter. Wycherly suggests that it is a playwright’s job to portray the world as it is.
Themes
Reputation, Appearance, and Hypocrisy  Theme Icon
Theatre, Puritanism, and Forbidden Desire  Theme Icon
Pinchwife, Margery, Alithea, and Lucy pass them in the street. Sparkish tries to hide from Alithea because he wants to spend the evening at court rather than with her. Pinchwife tries to ignore Horner but Horner recognizes them and asks Sparkish who the young man with them is. Sparkish says that it is Margery’s brother and Horner and Dorilant follow them at a distance.
Sparkish is more concerned about his reputation at court, and impressing the King, than about spending time with Alithea. He does not really love her and is already casting her aside in the manner of a careless husband like Sir Jasper.
Themes
Reputation, Appearance, and Hypocrisy  Theme Icon
Love, Marriage, and Misogyny  Theme Icon
Harcourt convinces Sparkish that Alithea has noticed him and that she will be insulted if he does not acknowledge her. Harcourt also says that he wants to make up with her because he offended her with his behavior earlier. Sparkish agrees and Harcourt realizes that being friendly with Sparkish will help him spend time with Alithea. Sparkish walks off looking for Alithea and Harcourt prowls after him.
Harcourt follows Horner’s advice and uses his friendship with Sparkish to get close to Alithea. Harcourt is very mercenary and predatory in his approach—but, it is implied,  Sparkish brings this on himself because he is such a fool.
Themes
Love, Marriage, and Misogyny  Theme Icon
Theatre, Puritanism, and Forbidden Desire  Theme Icon
Quotes
Pinchwife is about to take Margery home and shouts back to Alithea, whom they have left behind, that they will not wait for her. Margery says that she doesn’t want to leave, so Pinchwife begrudgingly leads her down another street. Margery is amazed by the number of painted signs on the shopfronts. Pinchwife notices that all these signs depict rams, or bulls, or other animals with horns, and Pinchwife says that these images are like the husbands they see swarming the streets of the Exchange.
Pinchwife says that the signs are like the husbands because all city husbands are “cuckolds.” “Cuckold” is an old-fashioned term for a husband whose wife cheats on him and, in drama, literature, and folklore, cuckolds were often depicted as men with horns. In this sense, the husbands are like the horned animals painted on the shop signs.
Themes
Reputation, Appearance, and Hypocrisy  Theme Icon
Love, Marriage, and Misogyny  Theme Icon
They walk out of sight and Sparkish, Harcourt, Alithea, and Lucy reappear. Sparkish is imploring Alithea to forgive Harcourt, even though Alithea insists that she hates Harcourt because he is disloyal to Sparkish. Sparkish does not understand why Alithea wants him to hate Harcourt and thinks she is being very unreasonable. Harcourt continues to flirt with Alithea and poke fun at Sparkish, although Sparkish does not realize this, and Alithea grows more and more infuriated by Sparkish’s obtuseness.
Sparkish does not listen to Alithea or believe her when she says that Harcourt is flirting with her. He automatically takes Harcourt’s side and continues to push them together despite Alithea’s protests.
Themes
Love, Marriage, and Misogyny  Theme Icon
Alithea cannot understand why Sparkish is not jealous when Harcourt pursues her in front of him and eventually points out to Sparkish that Harcourt is making fun of him. Sparkish, however, thinks that Alithea is overreacting and misinterpreting Harcourt’s friendliness for flirtation. He asks Harcourt how he feels about Alithea and Harcourt replies that he loves her “with all his soul.” This satisfies Sparkish that Harcourt does not wish to marry Alithea as, he says, marriage is not for couples who really love each other.
Sparkish misogynistically assumes that Alithea is exaggerating Harcourt’s advances because she is vain and convinced of her own beauty. Harcourt answers honestly because he really loves Alithea. Sparkish, however, cannot recognize real love because he is so self-involved and only thinks about what he can get from marriage; in this case, Alithea’s money. Marriage was widely assumed to be an obstacle to real love rather than a vehicle for it and adulterous love was often considered more genuine than marital love.
Themes
Love, Marriage, and Misogyny  Theme Icon
This causes Alithea to question Sparkish’s motives in marrying her and Sparkish realizes he has made a mistake. He makes Alithea stay to listen to the rest of Harcourt’s proclamation and Harcourt makes a long speech about how he loves her best. Alithea is incredulous at Sparkish’s naivety and tries to point out that, by “he,” Harcourt means himself but Sparkish will not listen and encourages Alithea to kiss Harcourt.
Alithea does believe that married couples can love each other and she believes that Sparkish does love her. Much of this interaction between Harcourt and Sparkish would be played for laughs, with Harcourt saying one thing and gesturing another behind Sparkish’s back.
Themes
Love, Marriage, and Misogyny  Theme Icon
Theatre, Puritanism, and Forbidden Desire  Theme Icon
Pinchwife returns with Margery at this moment and is horrified by what he sees. He insults Sparkish but Sparkish brushes it off and informs Pinchwife that he loves to be an object of jealousy and takes it as a compliment when other men admire his wife. Oblivious still, he leaves Harcourt and Alithea together. Pinchwife, seeing this, drives them apart and tries to take his sister home, but not before Harcourt has promised to call on her the next morning.
Pinchwife, who sees infidelity in everything, immediately understands Harcourt’s real intentions. He interprets them as an insult to himself because Alithea is his sister and he sees her “honor” and reputation as an extension of his own. He does not want her to be tarnished by an affair with Harcourt, who is a “rake.”
Themes
Reputation, Appearance, and Hypocrisy  Theme Icon
Love, Marriage, and Misogyny  Theme Icon
As Pinchwife is trying to lead his sister away, Horner and Dorilant join them. Pinchwife tries to get away but Horner accosts him and implores him to leave his “little brother” with them while Pinchwife goes about his business. Pinchwife tries to insist that Margery is waiting for them at home, but Horner takes hold of Margery, who is dressed as a young man, and tells her that she looks exactly like the woman he fell in love with at the theatre. Margery thinks Horner is very handsome and Pinchwife notices the chemistry between the pair.
Margery is dressed in her “little brother’s” clothes. It is implied that Margery’s disguise, like Pinchwife’s jealousy which has driven him to dress her like this, is ridiculous and that Horner sees right through it.
Themes
Love, Marriage, and Misogyny  Theme Icon
Theatre, Puritanism, and Forbidden Desire  Theme Icon
Pinchwife tries to drag Margery away, but Horner announces that they shall go with Pinchwife and have dinner at his house. Flustered, Pinchwife then tells Horner that Margery is asleep in bed and must not be disturbed, so Horner asks “her brother” to send her his love and kisses Margery several times in front of Pinchwife. He then passes her to Harcourt and Dorilant to be kissed by them too.
Horner plays along with and pretends he is taken in by Margery’s disguise to torment Pinchwife by kissing his wife in front of his face.
Themes
Love, Marriage, and Misogyny  Theme Icon
Theatre, Puritanism, and Forbidden Desire  Theme Icon
Pinchwife is furious but cannot reveal Margery’s identity. When Horner, Harcourt, and Dorilant finally saunter away, he rushes off to find his carriage to take Margery home. While he is gone, they return and Horner leads Margery away down a side street while Harcourt holds Alithea fast, to stop her protesting, and Dorilant takes hold of Lucy.
Pinchwife has got himself into this ridiculous situation, because of his irrational jealousy, and he has made it so that he cannot tell Horner that this is Margery, and therefore prevent Horner’s advances.
Themes
Love, Marriage, and Misogyny  Theme Icon
Theatre, Puritanism, and Forbidden Desire  Theme Icon
Pinchwife returns and is furious when Lucy tells him that Horner took Margery away to “give him something.” Pinchwife rushes down the nearby streets looking for them. Meanwhile, Harcourt tries to court Alithea again while she struggles to escape his grasp. Lucy tries to assure Pinchwife that, whatever Horner is doing with Margery, it “will not take long,” and Pinchwife berates Alithea and blames her for the situation.
Lucy makes several sexual innuendos in this scene. Harcourt, although he truly loves Alithea, treats her like a conquest and is extremely rough and insistent with her. This shows misogynistic attitudes in the Restoration period: they believed that women should be pursued aggressively and that men should not take no for an answer. Pinchwife, equally misogynistically, blames Alithea for the men’s behavior.
Themes
Love, Marriage, and Misogyny  Theme Icon
Margery rushes back out to meet them and shows them that her hat is full of fruit, which Horner has given her. Horner follows her and Pinchwife struggles to control his temper while Margery shows off her new things. Sir Jasper Fidget arrives to summon Horner because Lady Fidget and her companions are waiting for him to join them for dinner. He begins to lead Horner away and, when Dorilant tries to invite himself along, Sir Jasper rejects him because, he says, there will be “civil” ladies in attendance, and they will not want to keep company with the likes of him.
Margery takes this gift from Horner innocently and does not interpret the sexual connotations behind it; she shows it off to Pinchwife without realizing how jealous it makes him. Sir Jasper is blind to his wife’s pretense at “honor.”
Themes
Reputation, Appearance, and Hypocrisy  Theme Icon
Love, Marriage, and Misogyny  Theme Icon
Town vs. Country Theme Icon
Horner leaves with Sir Jasper while Pinchwife still tries to lead Margery away. Harcourt and Dorilant take their leave of Lucy and Alithea and wander off. Margery, gathering up the gifts Horner gave her, offers half the fruit to Pinchwife. Pinchwife knocks the present out of her hands and complains that, while Horner has provided the “treat,” Pinchwife is the one paying for it.
Pinchwife is so blinded by jealousy that he cannot see Margery’s innocence. She clearly takes Horner’s gifts in good faith and is simply pleased to have the presents. Pinchwife’s angry response rejects Margery’s simple kindness and makes her more likely to dislike him and, ultimately, to be unfaithful.
Themes
Love, Marriage, and Misogyny  Theme Icon
Town vs. Country Theme Icon
Quotes