Stylistically, the dialogue Wycherley writes for his characters is robust in metaphor and figurative language: one cannot go more than a few pages without at least one of the characters—and, most of the time, several—making some kind of analogy or imposing simile onto a situation they find themselves in.
The Country Wife also heavily features epigrammatic writing, in which characters speak in short, witty statements, often with a satirical twist. This style of writing is well-suited generally to depicting the particular sphere of society Wycherley satirizes: people who, though often highly educated, cannot communicate their thoughts on controversial or taboo matters directly because of the parameters and restrictions of social etiquette. These characters must default to indirect language, whether this takes the form of epigram or simile. An instance of this epigrammatic writing comes at the end of Act 2, Scene 1, when Lady Fidget states the following:
LADY FIDGET. Who for his business from his wife will run,
Takes the best care to have her business done.
This epigram could be condensed, in more literal prose, to the statement that men need to satisfy the sexual and emotional needs of their wives or else risk losing them. To state this directly would not be considered tactful, however. Wycherley adapts his writing style to accommodate this culture of indirectness.
