Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Country Wife, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Reputation, Appearance, and Hypocrisy
Love, Marriage, and Misogyny
Theatre, Puritanism, and Forbidden Desire
Town vs. Country
Summary
Analysis
At Horner’s house, Lady Fidget, Mrs. Dainty Fidget, and Mrs. Squeamish arrive dressed in masquerade costumes. Horner curses their appearance, as he has not yet had chance to send Margery away and must lock her in another room to avoid her being seen. The ladies have brought alcohol and plan to get very drunk. In fact, they seem tipsy already and decide to be very honest and open with each other since they are only in Horner’s presence.
Convoluted plot structure and layers of confusion which build over time were typical elements of Restoration comedy. The ladies are free from social constraints when they are with Horner.
Themes
Lady Fidget begins to sing a bawdy drinking song which curses the “tyrants” who oppress them and leave them alone in bed every night. After all, men often choose wine over women and so why shouldn’t women drink too? Men are only considered witty and brave when they drink, whereas women are weak and powerless against men because they abstain. Therefore, Lady Fidget concludes, women should retaliate by drinking, forget their figures, and rely on wine instead of men to have fun. The women drink and continue to curse theirs husbands and keepers.
The tyrants are their husbands. This suggests that Restoration wives, despite their infidelities, feel mistreated and neglected. They have less freedom than their male spouses and cannot be publicly seen to have affairs, or distract themselves with work, as men can. Therefore, drink is their only comfort, and, through drink, they can gain some of courage that drink gives men. This will allow them to be honest and brazen about their pleasure, which usually they are too timid to flaunt. This scene demonstrates genuine sympathy for women of this type and suggests that, to a certain extent, they are trapped in a life of hypocrisy by society’s double standards.
Themes
Horner asks if they curse these people for his sake, but the women scornfully reply that they curse them “for their own.” They complain bitterly that they are passed over in favor of common women and ask Horner why this is the case. Horner responds that pomp and “ceremony” makes men uncomfortable and that “honorable” ladies seem to scorn “wild” men. The ladies dismiss this suggestion; they hate tame men more than anything. Horner confesses that he was often put off by a woman’s reputation and the ladies reply that women use their reputations just as men do; to “cheat those that trust” them.
Horner thinks that they are sad because he has lost his reputation, but they are sad because they have to maintain their own. Their reputations work against them. As noble women, they have to pretend to be very virtuous, and this façade of virtue puts off the men that they want to sleep with, as these men assume that they will not be interested. Although they pretend to hate “wild,” sexually aggressive men, they really love them. There is a purpose to their virtuous reputations, however. These reputations hide their promiscuity from their husbands and from a society which would judge them.
Themes
Horner asks why they did not send him a secret sign if this was the case, and the women reply that they were frightened by his reputation as much as he was by theirs. Horner says that it is not only this that put him off; “honorable” women are, after all, notoriously expensive to keep. The women reject this as a trifle and say that their lovers should want to buy them things to prove their love. To be generous in love, they say, is better than to be jealous.
The women did not approach Horner because he had a reputation as a “rake” and was generally known to be untrustworthy. Therefore, they could not afford to risk their reputations, even if they did want to sleep with him. The women are materialistic and expect their lovers to compete with their husbands financially.
Themes
Get the entire The Country Wife LitChart as a printable PDF.
Speaking of jealousy, Lady Fidget suddenly announces that she can no longer conceal her secret and tells the other ladies that Horner is her lover. Mrs. Dainty Fidget and Mrs. Squeamish are horrified; they each protest that Horner is also their secret lover and that he has destroyed his reputation for their own sake. Horner deflects their anger by reminding them that they are his “false rogues” too, and the women resign themselves to keeping each other’s secrets as they must protect their most prized “jewels” (their honor), even if it is based on a lie. Horner says that it doesn’t matter whether their “honor” is real or not; all that matters is that other people think it is.
Lady Fidget is drunk and reveals her secret. Although the women are angry with Horner for lying to them, they cannot expose him because he could expose them, too, and their virtuous reputations would be lost. Basically, they are all as bad as each other. Like the ladies, Horner knows that what is important in Restoration society is not how they behave, but how people think they behave. None of them have any intention of being virtuous, but they are prepared to protect their reputations as these are the disguises that they use to have their fun and keep their social status.
Themes
Sir Jasper and Old Lady Squeamish arrive to take the ladies home and Horner hurriedly removes Margery from the chamber she has been locked in. He begs her to go home but Margery refuses. Horner tells her that she must so that her husband does not find out that she has been to see him, but Margery announces that Horner will be her husband from now on. Horner tries to explain that this cannot be the case, because she is already married, but Margery angrily states that she sees that women in London spend time with men they are not married to all the time.
Margery naively believes that, because she loves Horner, he will be her husband. She still does not understand the rules around marriage. Wycherly implies that the idea that couples must be faithful to each other and must marry for social reasons rather than for love are stupid and unintuitive. Therefore, it is society that is stupid and not Margery. She unknowingly exposes the hypocrisy of the town wives who are always cheating on their husbands.
Themes
As they argue, Horner hears someone coming up the stairs. Pinchwife, Sparkish, Alithea, Lucy, and Harcourt enter with a parson. Pinchwife asks Horner if it is true that he recently brought Alithea to his house. Horner quickly decides to betray Alithea for Margery’s sake, as lying about women is nothing new to him, and agrees that Pinchwife did bring him Alithea. Sparkish believes this confirms Alithea’s guilt, but Harcourt professes that he believes her and that he will restore her reputation.
Horner lies to protect Margery because she wants to be his mistress and, therefore, he can get something (sex) from her. He can get nothing from Alithea and so, looking out for his own interests, he betrays her, even though she is genuinely innocent. Harcourt shows he is a true lover, and a better match for Alithea than Sparkish, because he trusts her and believes in her virtue without proof.
Themes
Pinchwife hustles the parson forwards to marry Alithea and Horner, but Harcourt says that he will marry her instead if she will have him. Pinchwife and Sparkish are confused, but Horner says that he is willing to give Alithea up to Harcourt. Pinchwife is insulted on his sister’s behalf and goes to draw his sword. Seeing this, Margery rushes out to defend Horner.
This type of ending is common in farce, in which multiple characters with conflicting information gather in one scene and gradually untangle the many, confusing plots. Margery genuinely cares about Horner and is concerned for his wellbeing.
Themes
Alithea points out that Margery is dressed in her clothes and all becomes clear to the party. Pinchwife damns his wife and tries to attack her and Horner with his sword. Harcourt stops him. Just then, Sir Jasper, Mrs. Squeamish, Mrs. Dainty Fidget and Old Lady Squeamish re-enter and are surprised by the commotion. Pinchwife tells Sir Jasper that Margery has been sleeping with Horner, and that Sir Jasper’s wife may have been also. At first, Sir Jasper falls about laughing but, seeing Pinchwife’s sincerity, he turns and confronts Horner.
Alithea is the voice of wisdom in the play because she sees through the disguises of others. For a moment, Sir Jasper doubts himself and wonders if he has been too quick to believe gossip.
Themes
Lucy then tries to make peace and suggests that all the confusion stems from her efforts to break up Sparkish and Alithea. Margery objects to this, however, and claims that she does love Horner. Pinchwife threatens her again and Dorilant and the Quack enter the scene and demand to know what is going on. Horner begs the Quack to restore his own and the lady’s reputation and the Quack, understanding immediately, whispers to Sir Jasper and gives his word “as a physician.”
Lucy tries to deflect the tension between the group, but Margery does not realize that it is in her own best interest to lie, so she naively announces that she does love Horner. Sir Jasper trusts the doctor’s word because he is a medical man. However, the doctor is “a quack” and therefore untrustworthy, so this is ironic and makes Sir Jasper look a fool.
Themes
Hearing this, Sir Jasper apologizes to his “virtuous” wife. The Quack informs Pinchwife that Horner is a eunuch. Pinchwife is stunned and wonders whether this report is true. The company confirms that everyone in the town knows it and that, although Horner was a womanizer in the past, his trip to France has changed all that. Dorilant backs up the Quack’s story, but Margery tries to protest and claim it is not true. Mrs. Squeamish whispers to Lucy to silence her and Dorilant comes forward to tell Margery “the truth” about Horner.
It is ironic that Sir Jasper apologizes to Lady Fidget as, of course, she has wronged him. When Pinchwife hears that everyone knows the rumors, he is inclined to believe them. This suggests that people will usually follow the crowd when, really, they should look more closely at the “truth” and decide for themselves. Margery still does not understand and thinks she is doing Horner a favor and protecting his honor by telling the truth.
Themes
Margery is disappointed and realizes that she cannot escape from Pinchwife. Alithea reprimands her brother for suspecting Margery, who, she says, is clearly extremely naïve. Harcourt rejoices that he will soon be married to Alithea and promises not to be a jealous husband, and Dorilant and Sparkish share their relief that they are bachelors. Horner laments that he could not marry even if he wanted to and even Pinchwife is a little disappointed that he cannot be rid of Margery, who seems even more innocent than even he suspected.
Although Alithea thinks that Margery has ended up at Horner’s house in the confusion of Lucy’s plan, she too underestimates Margery and her part in the plot. Although Pinchwife has been obsessed with keeping Margery faithful throughout the play, now that he is certain that she is not having an affair he seems to regret it. This suggests that Pinchwife and Margery will likely grow bored of and be unfaithful to each other.
Themes
Horner suggests that they go to the theatre and Lucy presses Margery to tell Pinchwife that she only came out of the house in disguise to witness Alithea’s wedding to Sparkish, which she feared Pinchwife would not let her go to. Margery whispers to Lucy and Horner that she knows they are lying but agrees to play along with the story. There is a “dance of cuckolds” and Horner concludes by saying that only vain men want to be seen as womanizers by other men, whereas those who really want to be womanizers must let other men look down on them.
Margery now understands that the others want her to lie and she disapproves of this. She goes along with it, however, because of social pressure. This suggests that, in a society where most people are hypocrites and liars, it pays to be one, too. The “dance of cuckolds” is a theatrical spectacle to conclude the action.
Themes
