The Country Wife by William Wycherley

In an effort to expand the horizon of literature lovers I wanted to add summaries of plays/novels written by other authors during the Renaissance. early modern period, and restoration. 

William Shakespeare is well known and many other websites have covered summary and analysis for most, if not all, of his plays. However, the are plenty of other great authors who wrote before or during the same time as Shakespeare who do not get enough attention. I adore Shakespeare's work and I want to keep providing easy to read summaries of his plays, but I also want to provide summaries of works by other authors that are not as well known. 

One issue with only teaching Shakespeare in high school is students get to college and are asked to read other works of literature and they have little to no background about the time period. Additionally, I've noticed that, in college, professors are moving away from the most commonly read works in favor of works. This might mean that it is more difficult for students to find an easy to read summary of the play/novel before they begin their studies. 

I find reading a summary prior to reading the text helps students, myself included when I was in school, better understand the text for a few reasons. 1. You get multiple exposures to the same information (I had a great teacher in high school who drilled this idea into our heads. It makes sense; the more times you see/hear something, the more likely you are to remember it.) Think about it as if you were trying to learn the lyrics to a new song. It takes more than one listen to memorize the words, beat, notes, etc. 2. Once you understand the basic plot you can move forward to analysis. What teachers/professors really want to see is a student's analysis of the literature being read in class. A basic understanding of the plot is crucial in order to analyze the work properly. When students write a literature based essay they do not just provide a plot summary. They must craft a thesis and use textual evidence from play/novel to support their thesis. This requires close reading skills that may be hindered if students get stuck on understanding the plot.

Without further ado, Je vous presente, William Wycherley a Restoration writer.

The Country Wife by William Wycherley

General overview

Get ready for a play with more sexual innuendos than you know what to do with. This play gets very racy very quickly, so if that’s not your sort of read then you probably want to steer clear. William Wycherley wrote this play; it was first published in quarto in 1675. I have the 1997 New Mermaids edition, which has been brilliantly edited by James Odgen and contains a wonderfully informative introduction by Tiffany Stern. Stern provides valuable information about the plot, genre, and characters, so if you are trying to decide which copy to purchase I would suggest this one.

The play contains one main plot and one subplot. In the main plot, Horner has struck a deal with the local doctor, Quack, to spread the rumor to all the men in town that he is impotent due to a sexual disease. Why would he do that? Because it makes the men in town not feel threatened by him at all. The men in town also believe him to lack any kind of sexual drive. The belief that he isn’t really a “man” since he cannot perform sexually coupled with their belief that he has no sexual drive allows Horner to be alone with the wives of the men in town and have sex with them without anyone suspecting foul play. The husbands seek out Horner to keep their wives company and engage in “female” activities, such as shopping and picking out china (huge sexual innuendo scene in the play), so they aren’t bothered with that. Of course, Horner is having sexual relations with these women.

In the subplot, Pinchwife marries a younger woman, Margery, from the country because he wants to marry a woman ignorant of things city women are savvy to, such as spending loads of money shopping and being sexually promiscuous. Pinchwife believes if he marries an ignorant woman then she will not cheat on him and turn him into a cuckold. He doesn’t even want the other men to know he has married for fear they will try to seduce her. Pinchwife verbally abuses Margery throughout the entire play because he believes she is too stupid to understand anything. The comedic irony comes from that fact that Margery is ignorant in some ways, but Pinchwife introduces her to the very things he wants to keep hidden from her. Chaos ensure when Margery falls in love with Horner and wants to run away with him. All the city women then try to explain to her why she can’t tell everyone she’s having sex with Horner. In the end, she seems to get it and goes on pretending to be ignorant about life and sex. Her sister, on the other hand, seems to be the only one to have a “happy” ending in the play because she decides not to marry someone who does not love her or treat her with respect. Instead, she marries into a loving relationship.

Let’s begin with the list of characters because they are some of the most telling about the character traits. This is just a brief overview of the main symbolic names.

Mr. Horner: As you may have guessed, it is related to horns. His name is a play on words, which references the word “cuckold.” You may be familiar with a cuckold from Shakespeare, but if not it means a man whose wife has cheated or is cheating on him. It may also be referred to as getting horns. However, Horner is not the cuckold, he is the man who makes other men cuckolds; the horn-er (the giver of horns, perhaps).

Quack: The residential doctor in town. His name alludes to a quack in a given field; in other words, a person who does not know anything about a particular subject. In this case, it refers to medicine.

Pinchwife: Literally translates to Pinch Wife because he threatens his wife with physical violence if she does not do what he tells her to do. While he does not hit her in the play, he threatens her with physical violence, and he verbally abuses in almost every interaction.

Sparkish: He is a spark in the play in several ways. He has a fiery attitude, he’s hotheaded, and he is the spark that drives portions of the plot throughout the play.

The Virtuous Gang: Not virtuous at all. These women, Lady Fidget, Dainty Fidget, and Mrs. Squeamish, are the women having secret sexual relations with Horner. In other words, they are committing adultery. There self-given group name is one of irony.

Alithea: While this name is derived from the Ancient Greek name for “truth,” this character is not truthful. Her name is ironic as well.

Prologue

A stage direction tells us Mr. Hart, the name of the actor who portrayed Mr. Horner onstage, gives this monologue. However, he is speaking as actor, not as a character, and as he addresses the audience he provides commentary on plays and play-going. He makes a distinction between poets/authors and actors by claiming that poets will not alter their art of the audience, but actors happily will “submit” to please the audience. It was common for an actor to address the audience to ask for their forgiveness since the play they are about to see is not great. Henry V does it.

Act 1, Scene 1

Horner and Quack meet at Horner’s house. Quack informs Horner that he has spread the rumor of his impotence to all the women in town. He adds that he told them it was a secret so they would be more likely to gossip about the news and spread the word quicker because gossip is, of course, more interesting. It additionally implies all the women he told are women who gossip as if it were a job/competition. Quack claims Horner is now “as bad as an eunuch.” Eunuch is a term meaning castrated male. Horner, afraid the rumor will not be believed, had the doctor explain that he had contracted some sort of venereal disease (the “English-French disease” in the text) and instead of the medicine/operation curing his disease, it turned him into a eunuch.

Quack explains he finds Horner’s decision to spread this rumor quite odd because men usually ask him for the opposite. Horner explains that those men live by their reputation, but he would rather enjoy the sexual encounters he expects to follow. Horner figures that since women live by their actions they must maintain a certain disposition in the public eye and, therefore, cannot be seen with a man who is known for his sexual conquests because it will, in turn, damage their reputations. Horner also believes that new tricks need to be tested because the old way of seducing women won’t work because women need to protect their virtuous appearance.

A boy enters to inform Horner that some people have come to see him. Sir Jaspar Fidget, his wife, Lady Fidget, and his sister, Dainty Fidget, come to see if the rumors are true. Jaspar provides the lame excuse that his carriage broke down conveniently in front of Horner’s house. Horner knows the true reason they are there, so he continues with his charade and convinces all three of them of the truth of the rumor by refusing to kiss Lady Fidget’s hand, pretending sex doesn’t interest him, and readily admitting he is a eunuch. Jasper wants someone to occupy his wife’s time so he can focus on business and politics, and, satisfied that his wife and sister are safe, he leaves Lady and Dainty in Horner’s house. Horner takes this as a sign his plan is working. However, the two women leave shortly after because they are disgusted by his disease. Horner explains to Quack once more that women must avoid scandal and protect their reputations, so his reputation of being a eunuch will only ensure that he can successfully have sex with women without anyone else being the wiser.

Harcourt and Dorilant enter. Both men have heard and believe the rumors of Horner’s situation. While they give their condolences, Horner says he is quite ready to spend his free time with his males friends instead of romantic female relations. Harcourt agrees that women are boring if you are with them for too long. Dorilant talks of the benefits of keeping a mistress in the country. Then the men weigh the benefits of being to love versus drinking a fine wine. They all agree they would rather drink wine.

The Boy enters to announce Sparkish is there to visit them as well. Before Sparkish enters, the men agree they are not fond of his presence because he is irritating. In their opinion, Sparkish tries too hard to be witty and ends up making a fool of himself because a real wit wouldn’t act in such as way. However, by being around wits, others perceive him as one. Also, Horner makes a few comments about Sparkish that I see as applying to his situation as well. Horner says of Sparkish, “His company is as troublesome to us as a cuckold’s when you have a mind to his wife’s.” Horner still intends to cuckold men.

Sparkish enters and takes a long time to set up a joke about Horner’s inability to have sex. He calls Horner a “sign of a man” since he cannot perform anymore. The three men are not amused. Then Sparkish claims he has given up the company of a Duke so he may have lunch with them instead. Harcourt, Dorilant, and Horner know Sparkish is lying to them about there being a Duke (he’s a name dropper), so they try to persuade him to have lunch with the Duke instead. Sparkish, who is a self-proclaimed wit, says he would rather be with them at a bar or a theatre.

Pinchwife enters and Horner says he looks so awful and depressed that he must be married. Pinchwife glazes over Horner’s observation, but says in an aside that he is really upset Horner knows he’s married because he’s terribly afraid of being turned into a cuckold. Pinchwife says his sister, Alithea, is to marry Sparkish. Horner presses the subject and Pinchwife finally admits he has married. In order to make sure no other men are interested in his new wife, Margery, he says she is not beautiful and that he married her for her modesty. Horner tries to get Pinchwife to bring Margery to the city to introduce them to her, but Pinchwife keeps coming up with excuses for why he cannot. Horner, Dorilant, and Harcourt make fun of Pinchwife. Horner reveals that he saw Pinchwife at a play the other day with a very beautiful woman, so he knows Pinchwife lied to them.

[more will be added soon]

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