Written proof is a motif throughout they play. Repeated instances where written proof delivers a plot twist foreshadow the resolution of the play, when Mirabell reveals that has the deed to Mrs. Fainall's property. For instance, in Act 1, Scene 2, a servant delivers Mirabell the news that Waitwell and Foible have been married:
SERVANT: Married and bedded, sir; I am witness.
MIRABELL: Have you the certificate?
SERVANT: Here it is, sir.
Mirabell needs to see the certificate to confirm that the marriage and consummation have taken place. Congreve thus begins early on playing with the idea that a marriage plot is a legal plot at least as much as it is a story about love and romance. He needs the documents to blackmail Lady Wishfort later because they are what will prove that Waitwell and Foible are married. By the end of the 17th century in England, written contracts were playing a huge role in marriage. Marriage was still a religious institution presided over by religious leaders, but it was also a legal proceeding. Even when people married for love, marriage was (and largely still is) the main way to consolidate wealth or move into a new social class based on acquired wealth. The legal documents people sign upon marriage were and are what courts rely on to prove that marriages have taken place and that property has changed hands on the wedding day. After all of Waitwell's feigned advances toward Wishfort, the marriage contract will serve as a final trump card that can't be refuted if Wishfort questions which of Waitwell's relationships is "real."
But Congreve's play is full of surprises, and Wishfort turns out to be worse at recognizing written proof than Mirabell may at first have thought. Besides the marriage contract, another piece of written proof that plays a big role in the play is Marwood's letter revealing Waitwell's true identity. The fact that Lady Wishfort is easily convinced that the letter is a fake reveals that she is not especially adept at navigating the modern world of courtship, where the truth lies in documents. Actually forged documents play a small role in this play: deception largely happens on people's faces, not on paper. Wishfort, who is depicted as behind the times and a bit old for courtship, still believes what people tell her and what she sees on their faces instead of the written proof thrust before her.
The repeated use of documents to manipulate Lady Wishfort foreshadows how Mirabell gets his way in the end. He manages to get everything he wants because he has his papers in order. Not only does he have the marriage certificate for Foible and Waitwell, but he also has the deed to Arabella's home. He manages to give Arabella some independence and leverage in her marriage, confirming for Millamant that he will help her retain some independence when they get married. He even manages to get Lady Wishfort's approval for his marriage to Millamant after everyone comes together the explain to Lady Wishfort just what all these papers mean.
Millamant tells Mirabell that she is not interested in marrying him in Act 2, Scene 6, and Mirabell laments the fact that straightforwardness hasn't won him romantic success. Millamant makes an allusion to King Solomon in the Bible:
Sententious Mirabell! Prithee, don’t look with that violent and inflexible wise face, like Solomon at the dividing of the child in an old tapestry hanging.
In the Bible, the story of King Solomon revolves around two women who go before him, each claiming that she is the mother of the same child. The women demand that King Solomon declare one of them the mother. Solomon tells the women to tear the child in half. One refuses, and he declares this one the real mother. A true mother, he says, would rather part with her child than see it torn in half.
Millamant is criticizing Mirabell for moralizing. He shouldn't take himself so seriously, she believes. After all, it's not as though he is tearing a child in half. He is only being broken up with. Millamant may be partially right that Mirabell is taking himself too seriously, but the allusion is ironic because she misses the point of the story. The child is not actually divided and was never going to be. Instead, King Solomon outwits the women. The allusion foreshadows the fact that Mirabell, too, is going to outwit Millamant and Wishfort to win Millamant's hand in marriage. His scheme is already unfolding. Mirabell might actually be a bit more like the clever King Solomon than Millamant gives him credit for.
In Act 5, Scene 6, Fainall blackmails Lady Wishfort. Some of his demands foreshadow the revelation in scenes 11 and 13 that he can be physically abusive toward Mrs. Fainall:
Next, my wife shall settle on me the remainder of her fortune not made over already, and for her maintenance depend entirely on my discretion.
Lady Wishfort notes that this level of control in a marriage is "inhumanly savage." This is telling criticism. A married woman in the 17th century was known as a "feme covert," or a "covered woman." This meant that legally, she existed under her husband's protection. In other words, her only legal rights were conferred on her via her husband, and she could not go to court without her husband's representation.
Lady Wishfort is more old-fashioned than many of the other characters. The fact that she is the one who call's Fainall "inhumanly savage" indicates that Fainall is seeking an almost unheard-of level of domination over his wife, even in the context of the 17th century. Fainall is after money when he marries Arabella, but the play makes clear here that he is after power and control at least as much as riches. This is why he also tells Wishfort that he will be the decider of any of her potential marriages. Fainall likes controlling situations, and it seems that he especially likes controlling women. Thus far, Arabella has shown her wit and insults to be a match for Fainall's, but this scene suggests that there might be more sinister things going on in their marriage than the sparring of wits.
Fainall's controlling nature comes into fuller view in Act 5, Scene 11, when he threatens Mrs. Fainall with physical violence. It finally comes into the fullest view in Act 5, Scene 13, when he charges at Mrs. Fainall out of anger that she and Mirabell have kept the deed to her property from him. Mirabell has been part of this scheme too, but Fainall seems most angry that his wife has made a fool of him, and he turns the full force of his anger on her. Wilfull intervenes:
SIR WILFULL: Hold, sir, now you may make your bear-garden flourish somewhere else, sir.
A bear-garden was an arena for bear baiting and other cruel animal sports. Wilfull is accusing Fainall of behaving like an animal, and he is not going to have it. Fainall's display of abuse confirms that Lady Wishfort was right when she called him "inhumanly savage." By having Wilfull admonish Fainall before everyone else for his animalistic behavior, Congreve takes a firm stance against physical violence as the exercise of unfair power in a relationship. By placing the deed to the house back in Arabella's possession, Mirabell gives her the means to even the terms of the relationship. Although modern readers may want Arabella to leave the marriage, this evening of terms seems to solve the problem of Fainall and Arabella's relationship for Congreve. Arabella now has more room to maneuver out from under Fainall's thumb.
In Act 5, Scene 6, Fainall blackmails Lady Wishfort. Some of his demands foreshadow the revelation in scenes 11 and 13 that he can be physically abusive toward Mrs. Fainall:
Next, my wife shall settle on me the remainder of her fortune not made over already, and for her maintenance depend entirely on my discretion.
Lady Wishfort notes that this level of control in a marriage is "inhumanly savage." This is telling criticism. A married woman in the 17th century was known as a "feme covert," or a "covered woman." This meant that legally, she existed under her husband's protection. In other words, her only legal rights were conferred on her via her husband, and she could not go to court without her husband's representation.
Lady Wishfort is more old-fashioned than many of the other characters. The fact that she is the one who call's Fainall "inhumanly savage" indicates that Fainall is seeking an almost unheard-of level of domination over his wife, even in the context of the 17th century. Fainall is after money when he marries Arabella, but the play makes clear here that he is after power and control at least as much as riches. This is why he also tells Wishfort that he will be the decider of any of her potential marriages. Fainall likes controlling situations, and it seems that he especially likes controlling women. Thus far, Arabella has shown her wit and insults to be a match for Fainall's, but this scene suggests that there might be more sinister things going on in their marriage than the sparring of wits.
Fainall's controlling nature comes into fuller view in Act 5, Scene 11, when he threatens Mrs. Fainall with physical violence. It finally comes into the fullest view in Act 5, Scene 13, when he charges at Mrs. Fainall out of anger that she and Mirabell have kept the deed to her property from him. Mirabell has been part of this scheme too, but Fainall seems most angry that his wife has made a fool of him, and he turns the full force of his anger on her. Wilfull intervenes:
SIR WILFULL: Hold, sir, now you may make your bear-garden flourish somewhere else, sir.
A bear-garden was an arena for bear baiting and other cruel animal sports. Wilfull is accusing Fainall of behaving like an animal, and he is not going to have it. Fainall's display of abuse confirms that Lady Wishfort was right when she called him "inhumanly savage." By having Wilfull admonish Fainall before everyone else for his animalistic behavior, Congreve takes a firm stance against physical violence as the exercise of unfair power in a relationship. By placing the deed to the house back in Arabella's possession, Mirabell gives her the means to even the terms of the relationship. Although modern readers may want Arabella to leave the marriage, this evening of terms seems to solve the problem of Fainall and Arabella's relationship for Congreve. Arabella now has more room to maneuver out from under Fainall's thumb.
