But horner is anything but impotent, and before long he is bedding a host of bored, foolish, and incredibly horny womenincluding the young, silly margery, an ignorant country girl recently wed to an elderly man. William wycherley lived from 1640 to 1715, and earned his reputation as one of the wittiest. The country wife is more neatly constructed than most restoration comedies, but is typical of its time and place in having three sources and three plots. One of the best and most vibrant examples of this is william wycherleys play the country wife. Robert south the country wife is a play about honor. It told of an aging salesman who sells nothing, is abused by the buyers, and borrows his.
Ha, ha, ha, gad, i am witty, i think, considering i was married today, by the. Take, for instance, the character of christina, in wycherleys love in a wood, or even that of alithea, in the country wife. The country wife is a very funny comedy about men, women and marriage. The country wife is the first in a season of productions to be performed by the newly established haymarket theatre company, which proposes to undertake a season of plays at the theatre each year under the supervision of different artistic directors.
The character of alithea in the country wife from litcharts the. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the country wife. A pox, keeping a cuckold company after you have had his wife, is as tiresome as the company of a country squire to a witty fellow of the town, when he has got all his mony. The plyantdiscourse of wyc herleys the country wife. Like many restoration comedies, it held an aristocratic and antipuritan ideology, and met with controversy due to its politics and its sexual explicitness. The fop a foolish man overly concerned with his appearance and clothes in 17th century england. The country is as terrible, i find, to our young english ladies as a monastery to those abroad. I tell her of the vanities of the town like a confessor. The country wife, based on a compilation of molieres the school for husbands 1661, the school for wives 1662, and terences the eunuch 161 bce, is about marriage, infidelity, and male friendship. The separate plots are interlinked but distinct, each projecting a sharply different mood. The country wife by wycherley william coursework sample. Harry horner, an infamous womanizer, enlists his doctor to spread the false rumor that horner has become impotent to convince other men to. Harcourt, his acquaintance, enamored of alithea tyler wells mr.
The character of alithea in the country wife from litcharts. In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content the amorous machiavellism of the country wife gorman beauchamp criticism of the country wife is agreed that the play repre sents wycherleys supreme dramatic achievement. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. A lithea as a name for girls is a greek name, and the meaning of the name alithea is verity, truth. For example, the dual meaning in pinchwifes name provides a basis for the discussion of an emerging lesson in the play. This study guide is intended for students taking examinations in english literature, drama or theatre arts at gce advanced a2 and advanced supplementary as level. The classic marital values of love, trust, and becoming one with ones partner in a bond of love are distorted by intense emotion. By the time david garrick adapted the country wife into the country girl, wycherleys play was considered too raunchy and scandalous to show in theaters. The country wife 1675 a comedy by wycherley, william 16401716 the persons mr. Pinchwife spends all his time making sure his wife doesnt hear about anything, and he isnt really a chum of the wits or sir jasper. The information below is intended to give you a brief guide to the show and highlight some of the other the mandy network members who have also been involved in this show. The country wife by wycherley, william 16401716 one of the key themes of country wife which come out quite clearly from the script is the failure of the restoration arrangement of the marriages in the society. The country wife by william wycherley may 5 21, 1994 directorproducer francine sackett set designer john gibson lighting designers rowena halpin, bill thomas costume designer jim alford harpsichord art wheeler production stage manager alice welsh assistant stage manager lila fenton. Full text and introduction nhb drama classics kindle edition by wycherley, william, griffiths, trevor.
The mythic archetype of don juan in the country wife. Tps audition listing the country wife closed theater. This lesson will explore william wycherleys the country wife. The country wife is a 1675 restoration comedy by english dramatist william wycherley. Unaccustomed to city ways, she is largely guileless and not overwhelmingly bright but perhaps not so incapable of intrigue as she first appears. My students cant get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the. William wycherley, the country wife flashcards quizlet. She is engaged to sparkish, whom she values because he appears incapable of jealousy. The country wife project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. The country wife is a romp and a farce and a classic of restoration comedy, very typical of the genre. We are seeking a diverse cast, and people of all gender identities, body types, ethnicities and sexual orientations will. The project gutenberg ebook of the plays of william. I am impatient that any work is censured, not because it is thought to be coarse or inelegant in style, but because it is modern, and that what is claimed for the ancients should be, not. They may be schematized as horners impotence trick, the married life of pinchwife and margery, and the courtship of harcourt and alithea.
These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of the country wife by william wycherly. The plyant discourse of wycherleys the country wife. Dont you see already, upon the report, and my carriage, this grave man of business leaves his wife in my lodgings, invites me to his house and wife, who before would not be acquainted with me out of jealousy. Presumably he is occupied with transacting business in the few moments when hes not haranguing his wife. Front matter indignor quicquam reprehendi, non quia crasse compositum illepideve putetur, sed quia nuper. Harcourt falls in love with alithea instantly and begins to court her, brazenly, in front of sparkish.
There are pessimistic remarks on honor, class, women, and love. Although alithea protests, sparkish does not notice and seems incapable of jealousy. The country wife 16751 by william wycherley the persons many ornaments, and spent upon you ounces mr. Restoration period and the country wife mtel flashcards quizlet. The country wife essaysthe country wife is a very funny comedy about men, women and marriage. Deception in the country wife and the conscious lovers. The country wife summary from litcharts the creators of. She tells alithea that she loved going to the theatre the night before and found the actors extremely handsome. Pdf downloads of all 1282 litcharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. It is classified in english literature as a restoration comedy. A product of the tolerant early restoration period, the play reflects an aristocratic and antipuritan ideology, and was controversial for its sexual explicitness even in its own time.
The country wife was written by william wycherley in 1675. The country wife a comedy by william wycherley cast nathan rouse mr. William wycherleys country wife offers a wealth of connotative meaning through the names of its characters. The country wife wikisource, the free online library. Inferring from horners aversion to ladies that the rumors of his impotence are true, sir jasper arranges for horner to act as his wifes new chaperone and companion. Pinchwife do not hear any of the rumors about horner being a eunuch.
Pdf language and honor in the country wife david b morris. Sir jasper fidget enters with his wife, lady fidget. Get everything you need to know about alithea in the country wife. Pinchwife, and his wife in mans cloaths, alithea, lucy her maid. Alithea sister, what ailes you, you are grown melancholy. The country wife by william wycherley was published in 1675 and premiered the same year at the theatre royal in london. The countrywife, a comedy, acted at the theatre royal. Most of the characters in the country wife have characternames.
The representation of marriage in the country wife william wycherly represents marriage in a peculiar way in the country wife. Just such a confessor as he that by forbidding a silly ostler to grease the horse. Complete 2020 information on the meaning of alithea, its origin, history, pronunciation, popularity, variants and more as a baby girl name. In a spirited defense of the excellences of restoration culture, john dryden praises king charles i1 for having awakened the dull and heavy spirits of the english, from their natural reservdness. Preliminaries omitted play details the country wife. As a genre, restoration comedy is notable for displaying a recrudescence of bawdiness, the public expression of which had been suppressed under the puritans, and for taking a satirical, or even cynical, view of marriage and sexuality. The attractive young country wife of the title, margery is newly married to jack pinchwife and is visiting london for the first time to see aletheas wedding. The country wife is a restoration comedy, that is, an english theatrical comedy written during the period 16601710. The country wife essays are academic essays for citation. Project muse the amorous machiavellism of the country wife. Horner, alithea and harcout are truewitsthe aristocrats with libertine, skeptical, naturalist manners. Harcourt, alithea, and sparkish head off to the theatre, alithea still protesting because sparkish plans to seat her with harcourt.
In the country girl the plot and characters of the country wife are reformed to exclude elements of the play which, at the time, were. As a genre, restoration comedy is notable for displaying a recrudescence of bawdiness, the public expression of which had been suppressed under the puritans, and for taking a satirical, or even cynical, view of marriage and. Your stingy country coxcomb keeps his wife from his friends as he does his little firkin of ale for his own drinking. South atlantic modern language association language and honor in the country wife authors. Quack and as at first a man makes a friend of the husband to get the wife, so at last you are faine to fall out with the wife. For the basis of his plot, wycherley here borrows heavily from the work of moliere, but. He mistakenly believes that alithea is in love with horner. Get the entire the country wife litchart as a printable pdf. Mrs pinchwife pray, sister, where are the best fields and woods, to walk in in london. The main plot follows the clever town rake horner, who feigns impotence in order to seduce women of quality and cuckold their unwitting. English restoration comedies stock characters the rake a fashionable or wealthy man of immoral or promiscuous habits. Harcourt, his acquaintance, enamored of alithea mr.
The character of alithea in the country wife from litcharts the creators of sparknotes. Like charles ii, wycherley had spent some commonwealth years in france and become interested in french drama, and throughout his short playwriting career 16711676 he would borrow plotlines and techniques. Horner has earned a terrible reputation as a rake in london society. Margery woud it not make any one melancholy, to see you go every day fluttering about abroad, whilst i must stay at home like a poor lonely, sullen bird in a cage. Well look at the political and literary context of the play as well as the plot. Invited by sir jaspar fidget to play at cards with my wife after dinner 1. One of the most notorious restoration comedies in existence, william wycherleys the country wife is a lively and riotous exploration of courtly and city life in the seventeenth century, which was rife with unremitting sexual intrigue and conquest. The cuckold the character is the husband of a adulterous wife. In the country wife, horner allows society to believe he is impotent, and as such husbands entrust him with their wives. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets.
Margery, the country wife of the title, represents a state of rustic innocence that contrasts strongly with the sophistication of the town. She learns quickly and is smarter than she lets on. The country wife act iii act 3 scene i alithea, and mrs. Nay, by this means you may be the more acquainted with the husbands, but the less with the wives. Harry horner, an infamous womanizer, enlists his doctor to spread the false rumor that horner has become impotent to convince other men to trust him to be alone with their wives. Quack to spread the rumour that he is now, sadly, a eunuch. In 1675, at age 35, he created a sensation with the country wife, greeted as the bawdiest and wittiest play yet seen on the english stage.
It was considered so rude that it wasnt performed from the 18thcentury until the 20thcentury. The country wife, act i the open anthology of literature in. Poets like cudgeld bullys, never do at first, or second blow, submit to you. Nay, it may even be affirmed that if, among these shadowy.
She brings a rural innocence, horner an urbane cynicism. Almost the equal of sparkish in stupidity, he unsuspectingly begs horner to be an escort for lady fidget. Death of a salesman had its origins in a short story miller wrote at the age of seventeen approximately the age of the young biff loman, when he worked, brie. She wants to use her new role as a london wife to her advantage, to gain her freedom in the city. She has no natural inclination for deceit, and thus she composes what horner calls the first loveletter that ever was without flames, darts, fates, destinies. Pshaw, thats all one, that grave circumspection in marrying 375 a country wife, is like refusing a deceitful pamperd smithfield jade, to go and be cheated by a friend in the country. Horner the main character of the play who wants to find a way.
The country wife mcgill university school of computer. Theater schmeater is holding auditions for its spring production of the country wife, adapted by rachel atkins and directed by elizabeth wu. There is a continual joking of sexual suggestion and double meaning. Unaccustomed to city ways, she is largely guileless and not overwhelmingly bright but. Sparkish, engaged to alithea sir jaspar fidget, a noble gentleman mrs. Marked with the variations of the managers book, at the theatreroyal in drurylane see other formats co garrick, david the country wife the co u ntrt wife, a comedy, altered from wycherley by david g a r r i c k, e s c marked with tlie variations of the managers book. Her mask is an innocent, guileless, obedient country bumpkin, and she presents it to almost everyone except alithea. The country girl by david garrick is a derivative play adapted from the country wife by william wycherley. A product of the tolerant early restoration period, the play reflects an aristocratic and anti puritan ideology, and was controversial for its sexual explicitness even in its own time. Even when he is in the next room from the lovers, he is unaware that his wife and horner. The country wife is a restoration comedy written in 1675 by william wycherley. Review of the country wife at haymarket theatre london 2007. The country wife summary from litcharts the creators of sparknotes. Payne the only virtue which ever resulted from drunkenness, if such a state possesses a favorable end, is that of honesty, however evanescent those few hours of disclosure might be.
What is hard for me to understand about the country wife is why pinchwife and mrs. The country wife by william wycherley the seventeenth. The country wife alithea pinchwife the younger sister of jack pinchwife, who wants to marry her off for financial reasons. The country wife by william wycherley new bbc radio drama production considered too obscene to be staged in its original form for nearly 200 years, william wycherleys raunchy restoration comedy tells the tale of mr horner a notorious rake who spreads the false rumour that he is impotent in order to gain free access to other mens wives. The country wife 16751 by william wycherley indignor quicquam reprehendi, non quia crasse at first, or second blow, submit to you. After the departure of the fidgets, horners two friends, frank harcourt and mr. More specifically, various forms of madness actuate wycherleys great play. Then of necessity, madam, you think a man must carry his wife into the country, if he be wise.