British Literature I: The Country Wife by Wycherley
“The Country Wife” is a comedy based on restoration drafted by Wycherley in 1676. It represents the time in history when marriage developed for social and material gain instead of love of one’s spouse or respect to religion. According to the series of events in Act one Scene 2, this act deploys the representation of marriage, such that the matrimonial vow is the penitent oath of a gamester and the intrusion of penalties bound to keep two individuals together in future. This act consequently makes Wycherley be more eager, he becomes unable to propose an act that makes him lose all his money, and eventually he surrenders. Wycherley develops as a wit through the social situations that he has observed and frequently participated in, this occurs in his persistent drama with marriage. During this time and his surrounding environment, the principles and ethics behind the matrimonial aspects are mostly mercenary and marriages are not concerned to the feelings of the individuals. According to Wycherley, The Country Wife is a play that remarks on the mortality of marriage and it focuses on the reality based on several couples who indicate the diverse perceptions of marriages. Wycherley asserts the encryption of the hypocrisy surrounding marriage deployed to hold back the victims comprised mostly of women. This prevents them from spending their lifetime of true love with someone else, for example, Althea’s Hartcourt. It is evident that Wycherley provocative play exposes the hypocritical abuse of the religious features of marriage through the negative attitudes of Aristocrats who are guilty of not considering their lifelong commitments.
Consequently, the amalgamation of marriage evident of Lady Fidget and Sir Jasper is a calm one as there is no violence or cruelty, it comprised of peace and expediency. They are together for finance, security, and status; however, love is clearly missing aspect in their relationship. Wycherley criticizes the principles of Sir Jasper, who claims that business is preferred at all times before love and the marriage based on the contrast of the acts condoned by a romantic man like Hartcourt. Consequently, Sir Jasper is not naïve, and he is aware of the continual abandonment of his wife, as this neglect is the very reason for his cuckolding. The role of maintaining a smile on Lady Fidget’s face and pleasing her is given to Horner due to the Eunuch and her attitude. This matrimonial relationship declines when Wycherley exposes the foolishness of Sir Jasper and Lady Fidget. The hypocrisy of this marriage is evident by the fact that Sir Jasper aims at avoiding cuckoldry while his wife is determined to satisfy her uncontrollable sexual appetite. “She says true, ’tis an errant shame Women of quality / shou’d be so slighted; methinks, birth, birth, shou’d go for something; / I have known Men admired, courted, and followed” (Act 2 Scene 2). Lady Fidget is purported to have prostituted her way into marriage for class and financial security resulting to her moral depravity. Sarcastically, she desires the title “woman of honor” and views the cuckolding of her husband as acceptable if maintained as a secret with an individual status that focuses on the reputation of the woman and aimed at maintaining respect with an individual privately. This issue of infidelity occurs as astonishing and it is evident that in the whole play, Wycherley does not criticize Lady Fidget’s infidelity with the exception of exposing her hypocrisy.
In addition the author sympathizes with Lady Fidget situation saying, “I wonder no more jealous exist, since the wives are so neglected.” According to Wycherley, he focuses on the recognition of other women oppressed in marriages by society and the church and their husbands who unapologetically engross later engross themselves in their own extramarital pleasure and businesses. It is sensible that their wives for example Margery and Lady Fidget have to find other interests and individuals who can satisfy their needs. During Wycherley’s time, men have the responsibility of contributing to equality in marriage based on their sexuality. Marriage develops as a negative aspect whereby Wycherley ironically terms Lady Fidget as a woman of honor and through her hypocrisy; readers are conditioned to dislike her instead of sympathizing with her due to the theme of feminism portrayed by Wycherley. The act presents a distinct example of how the mistreatment of women by their husbands can eventually lead to the worsening of the ethical society and the deprivation of the moral standards, as people tend to indulge in immoral behaviors with the aim of satisfying their sexual desires. In the whole play, men perceive women as objects of ownership and this makes them take advantage of marriage to control women. The significant act portrayed in the play is the aspect of the china scene found in Act 4, Scene 3 and 4. The scene develops one of the author’s most intrepid perceptions whereby, the extended sexual innuendo develops with the principal actors who develop at the off-stage as “audiences”. The author and the onstage audience perceive the action in through the development of their minds. The efforts of Lady Fidget intensify through the dialogue made by Lady Squeamish that Horner’s company was as harmless as that of “a snake with no teeth” disgust the audiences (Act IV, Scenes 3).
It is evident that Pinchwife also known as the ex-whore master has his name results to individual jealousy based on its aggressive nature and the fact that he is very insecure because of his wife’s beauty, youth and innocence. He managed to travel to the country to get his wife, Margery who he regarded as clean and pure. This was because in London, all the venereal diseases were widespread, but instead of focusing on the health and morality aspects, Pinchwife viewed his wife as an individual who was supposed to have his desired characteristics based on his own self-preserving perspectives. According to Wycherley, Pinchwife’s case illustrates how men behave during this transition period in their new marriage. One of the main rationales for matrimony is for the individual’s realization of the bloodline propagated with the change in hassle of working to avoid cuckolding. Marrying women, who resided at the countryside, would result in a man getting a wife assumed to be clean of the venereal diseases. This occurs by a great chance of producing heirs while simultaneously avoiding the burdens of promiscuous spouse conversant with immorality and corruption.
Wycherley represents the negative aspects of marriage regarding the relationship that Pinchwife has with his wife; it is through his jealous and cunning behavior towards his wife that the writer disapproves of his predominance. This incidence leads to imaginative foolishness and jealousy although Pinchwife is aware of the city and the threats it comprises. Pinchwife takes the initiative of teaching Margery the ways of the town and eventually delivers love letters for her “I think I have, there’s my Letter going to Mr. Horner; since he’ll needs have me send Letters to Folks”. Based on the aspects of hypocrisy, Pinchwife derides and condemns the blind jealousy. The tricks used by Pinchwife to hunt his wife backfire on him the moment Margery learns of it and she starts using the same aspect of jealousy as an initiative to trick him. The results of the relationship are violence, envy, and these shortcomings is evident in both spouses and it surrounds the institution of marriage in a hypocritical manner used to bind individuals to a life-long contract in order to benefit the economy, state, and the church, with only the minor benefits to the involved individuals. These benefits comprise of gaining access to real estates, security bloodline and financial security.
Nevertheless, the attitude of marriage develops in the case of Alithea and Sparkish; these characters have earned names that represent their individual characters. His ego results in his admiration for being envied and eventually he would marry a woman whom loved. The reality of the narrative develops self-centeredness, elevation of the social status, and the financial aspects whereby the motives of the matrimony during this period have an opposite affluent compared to the initial sacred institution. The marriage between these two characters lacks integrity because Alithea marries out of love, a depiction that for whatever reasons, the sacred institution is important on all marriages and not the hypocritical reasons such as the financial security, class or deceit used to oppress various groups within the society, for example women and the poor.
Concluding on the arguments of Wycherley, a satirical comedy develops in a comportment that centers on the vices, follies, and the hypocrisies of the Restoration of London through the main characters. These characters include the desperate Pinchwife and his naive wife Margery, the womanizing Horner, and the dishonorably self-serving Lady Fidget in conjunction with the virtuous gang that comprised the town women. The playwright depiction of the characters leaves the audience with the prospect of making their personal conclusions based on the marriage assumptions of the characters. The play remains to be very controversial and it develops its thesis because of its humor, condemned because of the levels of immorality, and appreciated based on the dramatic acknowledgement of equality among all the evident genders. Throughout the societies, history marriage has developed in a negative manner represented through diverse characters and their relationships leaving the audience in suspense of whether hypocrisy surrounds marriage during that period and how women become captives through this aspect although the negative aspects are not evident in the relationship between Pinchwife’s sister and Horner. This has been a result of marriage not being respected based on the religious institutions of the patriarchal society that has been abused since the introduction of the strictest centuries to the present moments.
Work cited
Wycherley, William, and Thomas H. Fujimura. The Country Wife. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965. Print.
