Previous
Mrs. Dainty Fidget
Mrs. Squeamish is a fashionable town lady, the companion of Lady Fidget and Mrs. Dainty Fidget and a member of the “virtuous gang.” Mrs. Squeamish is unmarried and lives under the care of her grandmother, Old Lady Squeamish. Like the other “virtuous” ladies, Mrs. Squeamish pretends to be extremely pure and “honorable” in public, but is highly promiscuous and decadent in private. Alongside the other two ladies in her “gang,” she becomes the mistress of Horner and is constantly trying to escape her grandmother so that she may do as she pleases. Mrs. Squeamish is involved in the “china scene,” in which Lady Fidget and Horner have sex offstage, while Sir Jasper and Old Lady Squeamish listen at the door, believing that Lady Fidget and Horner are fighting over a piece of rare china. Mrs. Squeamish arrives while Horner and Lady Fidget are offstage, followed by her grandmother who is trying to keep an eye on her. When she hears that Lady Fidget and Horner are alone together, she becomes extremely jealous and tries to interrupt them. Although Mrs. Squeamish does not know for sure that Horner is sleeping with Lady Fidget, she is suspicious, and this suggests that the “virtuous” ladies do not expect loyalty from each other any more than they do from men. Horner plays the women off against each other in this scene, but he and the ladies are proved to be each other’s equals at the end of the play when Mrs. Squeamish and her companions reveal that they use their reputations to hide their true pursuits, just as Horner uses his. Like Mrs. Dainty, Mrs. Squeamish’s name is symbolic, reflecting her outward persona, as a woman who is “squeamish” about sex, when underneath she is very promiscuous.
Mrs. Squeamish Quotes in The Country Wife
The The Country Wife quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Squeamish or refer to Mrs. Squeamish. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 2 Quotes
Mrs. Squeamish: ’Tis true, nobody takes notice of a private man, and therefore with him ’tis more secret, and the crime’s the less when ’tis not known.
Lady Fidget: You say true; i’faith, I think you are in the right on’t. ’Tis not an injury to a husband till it be an injury to our honors; so that a woman of honor loses no honor with a private person; and to say truth.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Mrs. Squeamish, Lady Fidget and Mrs. Dainty Fidget discuss the question of promiscuity. Mrs. Squeamish and Lady Fidget assert that it is not being promiscuous which is dishonorable but, rather, getting caught. Mrs. Squeamish suggests that it is better to have an affair with a “private” man because nobody “takes notice” of him. This implies that a man who keeps his affairs to himself is not of any interest to Restoration society, which is primarily interested in gossip and public scandal. Mrs. Squeamish also believes that being unfaithful or promiscuous is “less” immoral if no one knows about it. Restoration Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et u
Act 5, Scene 4 Quotes
Lady Fidget: Our reputation! Lord, why should you not think that we women make use of our reputation, as you men of yours only to deceive the world with less suspicion? Our virtue is like the statesman’s religion, the Quaker’s word, the gamester’s oath, and the great man’s honor – but to cheat those that trust us.
Squeamish: And that demureness, coyness, and modesty that you see in our faces in the boxes at plays is as much a sign of a kind woman as a vizard-mask in the pit.
Dainty: For, I assure you, women are least masked when they have the velvet vizard on.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Horner asks the “virtuous” ladies why, if they want to attract lovers, they pretend to be so “honorable” that they put suitors off. The ladies reply that, like Horner, they pretend to be the opposite of what they are and use their reputation to hide the truth so that they can do what they like. The ladies point out that Horner thinks they are less cunning than men. They tell him that this is not true and that they are just as capable of cleverly deceiving the world as men are. They use their reputations to avoid suspicion; because they Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta ita
Get the entire The Country Wife LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Mrs. Squeamish Character Timeline in The Country Wife
The timeline below shows where the character Mrs. Squeamish appears in The Country Wife. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 2
...what he has just witnessed. He is surprised when Lady Fidget, Mrs. Dainty Fidget, and Mrs. Squeamish , a friend of theirs, arrive to take Margery to the theatre. He will not...
(full context)
Utterly mollified, Lady Fidget announces to Mrs. Dainty Fidget and Mrs. Squeamish that Horner is an excellent companion for them all and Sir Jasper hurries off to...
(full context)
Act 4, Scene 3
While Sir Jasper is listening at the door, Mrs. Squeamish bursts in looking for Horner. When she hears that he is with Lady Fidget she...
(full context)
...a piece of china, and Horner follows, complaining that she has taken his best piece. Mrs. Squeamish then re-enters the room and begs Horner to give her some china too but he...
(full context)
Act 5, Scene 4
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...
(full context)
...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...
(full context)
...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....
(full context)
...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”...
(full context)
