The country wife is widely considered to be the most studied and revived comedy from the restoration period. I have undone you forever with the women, and reported you throughout the whole town as a eunuch, with as much trouble as if i had made you one in earnest. Preliminaries omitted play details the country wife. Sir fidget is also oblivious to his wifes affair with horner and even brings her wife to him personally. The untenability of restoration marriage arrangements.
The theme at the forefront of this play is the idea of marriage. Procrastination paid off for willy, and now hes considered most of the important playwrights in restoration literature. This 45page guide for the country wife by william wycherley includes detailed chapter summaries and analysis covering 5 chapters, as well as several more indepth sections of expertwritten literary analysis. The country wife considered too obscene to be staged in its original form for nearly 200 years, william wycherleys restoration comedy tells the tale of mr horner, a notorious rake, who spreads the false rumour that he is impotent in. The country wife summary by william wycherley this story is about debauchery, extramarital affairs, and deception. William wycherley was a restoration playwright, best known for his comedies the country wife 16723 and the plain dealer 1675. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. His two most famous plays are the country wife and the plain dealer. Jack pinchwife cultivates his wife s ignorance in order to ensure her fidelity and submissiveness, and sir jasper fidget neglects his young wife and seeks to keep her mind off other men by occupying her with trivial pleasures and safe companions. The title itself contains a lewd pun with regard to the first syllable of country. Full text and introduction nhb drama classics kindle edition by wycherley, william, griffiths, trevor. It is classified in english literature as a restoration comedy. The oxford english dictionary also cites wycherley as the first user of the phrase happygolucky, in 1672. 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 1675 the country wife is restoration comedy at its most. Wycherley spends most of the play commenting on marriage and the relationship between men and women. He was born at clive near shrewsbury, shropshire and baptised on 8 april 1641 at whitchurch, hampshire, son of daniel wycherley 16171697 and his wife bethia, daughter of william shrimpton. The major themes of william wycherleys the country wife, according to prominent scholars of restoration comedy, are marriage, love, and sex. The country wife by wycherley william, coursework download. Macaulay, thomas babington macaulay, baron, 18001859. The title is a pun on the first syllable of the word country, implying that his purpose of finding any wife is to use her as an. Harcourt, his acquaintance, enamored of alithea mr. The country wife by william wycherley the questors. This 45page guide for the country wife by william wycherley includes detailed chapter. The country wife summary from litcharts the creators of.
Pinchwife, and his wife in mans clothes, alithea, lucy her maid. The country wife study guide contains a biography of william wycherly, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full. The themes of the play are money, love and marriage and sexual intrigue, which enlightens the feminist movement, expresses the awakening of womens sexual. Download william wycherley s the country wife for your kindle, tablet, ipad, pc or mobile. The perception of men and women and the aspect of misogyny in william wycherleys the country wife claudia wipprecht term paper english language and literature studies literature publish your bachelors or masters thesis, dissertation, term paper or essay. The country wifewilliam wycherleyfree downloadpdf epub. Vance, william wycherley and the comedy of fear 2000, 83. This lesson will explore william wycherleys the country wife. He perhaps succeeded best in the countrywife 1675, in which satiric comment on excessive jealousy and complacency was blended with a richly comic. Click below to download the full study guide for the country wife. William wycherley, the country wife theater was central to the culture of restoration london. A virtuous woman in william wycherleys the country wife, william wycherley enlightens the audience to capture several different ironical statements and questionable behaviors.
This lesson will explore william wycherley s the country wife. Need help on themes in william wycherlys the country wife. Feminist awareness in the country wife masters thesis. The social perception of innocence in the city versus in the country pinchwife imagines the country as a place of innocence and the city as one of wickedness. The play fits perfectly into greenwalds definition of a comedy of manners. William wycherley, the country wife the open anthology. For example, the dual meaning in pinchwifes name provides a basis for the discussion of an emerging lesson in the play. The country wife by william wycherley, tiffany stern. The country wife themes by william wycherly english summary.
The country wife summary by william wycherley english. The seventeenth century libertine king charles ii saw it twice, and is said to have joined the dance of the cuckolds at the end of one performance. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides for challenging works of literature. Here we have horner, the trickster hero of the play, who is determined to sleep around with married women and thereby cuckold their husbands. The country wife study guide contains a biography of william wycherly, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. For the basis of his plot, wycherley here borrows heavily from the work of moliere, but. William wycherley synonyms, william wycherley antonyms.
Popular for its lively characters and its double entendres, the bawdy comedy was occasionally vilified for immorality. The country wife has provoked powerfully mixed reactions over the years. William wycherleys country wife offers a wealth of connotative meaning through the names of its characters. The country wife 1675 a comedy by wycherley, william 16401716 the persons mr. The country wife by william wycherley is a play in the restoration period that certainly develops many themes. Well look at the political and literary context of the play as well as the plot of the play itself. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the country wife. Wycherley left oxford university and took up residence at the inner temple, but gave little attention to the study of. Wycherleys the country wife, like many comedies of manners, focuses on sexual relations as its primary theme.
The thesis delves into the feminist awareness in william wycherleys the country wife written in 1675. Litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in the country wife, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. The country wife by william wycherley was published in 1675 and premiered the same year at the theatre royal in london. It takes a lot of planning and hard work to bring a questors production to the stage. The country wife themes from litcharts the creators of sparknotes. He persuades his doctor, a quack, to spread this story all over town, hoping that gullible men will leave. William wycherley was an english dramatist of the restoration period, best known for the plays the country wife and the plain dealer. Reputation, appearance, and hypocrisy william wycherlys the country wife criticizes restoration society late 17 th century england for its hypocrisy. Sparkish, engaged to alithea sir jaspar fidget, a noble gentleman mrs. The restored monarch, charles ii, wanted to assert the centrality of the theater in english culture as a way of harkening back to the glory days of the stuart dynasty in the early part of the century, when his grandfather.
Buy the country wife by william wycherley, tiffany stern from waterstones today. William wycherleys the country wife essay 1751 words. It satirizes the sexual duplicity of the aristocracy during the reign of charles ii. The major themes of william wycherley s the country wife, according to prominent scholars of restoration comedy, are marriage, love, and sex. Most of the characters in the story exhibit the vices associated with immoral conduct and debauchery. Wycherley moved in high society, and conducted several liaisons with aristocratic ladies, including the duchess of c. The country wife by william wycherley overdrive rakuten. Grin the perception of men and women and the aspect of. Ma talene william wycherleys great comedy, the countrywife 1675, remains popular with actors, readers, and teachers of english literature, 1 but its relationship to the high culture of the restoration, despite the increased interest of scholars and critics during the last three decades. William wycherley may have coined the expression nincompoop certainly, the word occurs in the plain dealer. Wycherley died on 1 january 1716, and was buried in the vault of the church in covent garden. One of the most notorious restoration comedies in existence, william wycherley s 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 countrywife, comedy of manners in five acts by restoration dramatist william wycherley, performed and published in 1675. 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.
William wycherley, 16401716 16411716 the countrywife, a comedy, acted at the theatre royal. The country wife is a restoration comedy written in 1675 by william wycherley. Download william wycherleys the country wife for your kindle, tablet, ipad, pc or mobile. Married women like margery and lady fidget harbor affection for men. 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. Harry horner, a notorious womanizer, spreads a rumor that he has contracted venereal disease and that, while being treated for this by a french surgeon, he has accidentally been made impotent. The country wife themes from litcharts the creators of. Wycherley presents two marriages that are sadly typical of the restoration period. Jamess park the gentleman dancingmaster the country wife the plain dealer. Critics assert that a comedy of manners and the people who inhabit it represent the. The country wife by william wycherley 970 words bartleby. Discussion of themes and motifs in william wycherleys the country wife.
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