She makes her way through the dark treesdown to the lake to be alone. Studying the comedy of the country wife english literature essay. The country wife summary from litcharts the creators of sparknotes. 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. He recounts how, when pheidippides was born, he and his wife clashed. The country wife is a restoration comedy, that is, an english theatrical comedy written during the period 16601710.
The country wife summary from litcharts the creators of. It features a country wife, margery, whose husband believes she is too naive to cuckold him. Charles iis restoration ideas about art and drama played a significant role in affecting wycherleys. 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. Wycherleys the country wife, like many comedies of manners, focuses on sexual relations as its primary theme. She hit him on the ear, and she meant to hit him on the ear, because he messed up her china collection. 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.
The country husband new providence school district. Pdf the country wife 1675 a comedy pepa wellington. The clouds study guide important quotations explained contrast to his rich, urban wife, came from humble means, raised on a country farm among the bees sheep and olives i. 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 only thing original about wycherley, the only thing which he could furnish from his own mind in inexhaustible abundance, was profligacy.
The country wife pdf formatted for ereaders the country wife doc formatted for printing. Wycherleys the country wife and the don juan character anthony kaufman wvilliam wycherleys the country wife 1675 has received voluminous, yet curiously mixed, assessment. Deception in the country wife and the conscious lovers. This play has often been classed by theater historians as a. The title itself contains a lewd pun with regard to the first syllable of country. The restored monarch, charles ii, wanted to assert the centrality of the theater in english. Well look at the political and literary context of the play as well as the plot of the play itself. May 20, 2019 thank you for being a participant in country wife chronicles second annual wife on fire challenge. With startlingly frank explorations of gender dynamics, marital structures, female autonomy, misogyny, and seventeenthcentury societal obligations, as well as an infamous china scene positively dripping with innuendo, the country wife remains a classic of its genre that continues to invite fresh and exciting interpretations with each new. The country wife, while scathing in its observations of the lack of trust, honesty and fidelity between men and women, and supremely cynical in its consideration of the institution of marriage, is also, i believe, as timeless and funny as this passage promises. This lesson will explore william wycherleys the country wife. The country wife is a restoration comedy, that is, an english theatrical comedy written during the period 16601710, when theatrical performances resumed in london following their 18year spell of illegality under the reign of the puritan commonwealth.
The country wife project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the country wife. The country wife by william wycherley was published in 1675 and premiered the same year at the theatre royal in london. Nay, by this means you may be the more acquainted with the husbands, but the less with the wives. William wycherley, the country wife the open anthology of. Mar 30, 2020 the country wife, comedy of manners in five acts by restoration dramatist william wycherley, performed and published in 1675. The country wife essays are academic essays for citation. The country wife, act i the open anthology of literature. Oct 24, 2014 the country wife pdf formatted for ereaders the country wife doc formatted for printing. It is curious to observe how everything that he touched, however pure and noble, took in an instant the colour of his own mind. Popular for its lively characters and its double entendres, the bawdy comedy was. 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.
Id love to talk with you about it in depth if you decide to pursue the question. Agnes in the school for wives is a simple and amiable girl, whose heart is indeed full of love, but of love sanctioned by honour, morality, and religion. A satirical comedy focused on the vices and hypocrisies of restoration london, the country wife has been admired as a farce, condemned as immoral or. Like a good name is seldom got by giving it oneself. Hes a fool that marries, but hes a greater fool that does not marry a fool. Compare the ecole des femmes molieres school for wives with the country. Condemning hypocrisy, praising dissolution, and elevating innuendo into an art form, the play is titillating, disquieting and witty. Download william wycherleys the country wife for your kindle, tablet, ipad, pc or mobile. The country wife by wycherley william coursework sample. It was no doubt intended to register approval of liveliness or resiliency, and i will rely on this usage later.
Pdf language and honor in the country wife david b. When i read the man of mode, i was delighted by it. Then of necessity, madam, you think a man must carry his wife into the country, if he be wise. Full text and introduction nhb drama classics kindle edition by wycherley, william, griffiths, trevor. 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. The country wife new mermaids william wycherley, tiffany stern, james ogden on. Selected scenes from the country wife including video examples, context and character information.
As the story goes on, it is shown how he gains access to these ladies. The country wifewilliam wycherleyfree downloadpdf epub. A number of licentious and hypocritical women request horners services the country wife among them. Now that were all using the internet more frequently, the vast amount of choice can be a bit overwhelming and take up a lot of your time. For your reference, we provided these the country wife quotes with page numbers using the following version of the book. Discussion of themes and motifs in william wycherleys the country wife. It is classified in english literature as a restoration comedy. Only briefly and cryptically foreshadowed two scenes before by sir jaspers promise to horner to send in the banquet and the fiddles 1 and presented with a minor stage direction near the end of act 5 of the country wife 361, the dance of cuckolds is largely ignored by critics.
Horner, a disreputable london rank who has recently returned from france, spreads the rumor that a venereal disease caused him to become impotent in order to win the favor of the ladies from upper class. About the play the country wife is a hilariously bawdy and subversive drama that pokes fun at the jealous and humourless. Indignor quicquam reprehendi, non quia crasse compositum illepideve putetur, sed quia nuper nec veniam antiquis, sed honorem et praemia posci. With this original adaptation, morphic graffiti thrust william wycherleys the country wife into the excesses and seductions of late 1920s london. Country wife chronicles savoring the stillness of a simple. In the country wife, pinchwife, an older man who is terrified of being cheated on and made a cuckold, marries a young woman, margery, from the country because he believes that she is less likely to cheat on him than a city wife. The mythic archetype of don juan in the country wife. I want to make use of drydens term plyant in a couple of different ways. Project muse the country wife, dance of the cuckolds.
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 countrywife, comedy of manners in five acts by restoration dramatist william wycherley, performed and published in 1675. The project gutenberg ebook of the plays of william wycherley. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of the country wife by william wycherly. Front matter indignor quicquam reprehendi, non quia crasse compositum illepideve putetur, sed quia nuper.
Get all the key plot points of william wycherlys the country wife on one page. Regardless of if youve breezed through the past four weeks or if youve struggled to get each weeks task accomplished, you have made it to the end. Introduction theater was central to the culture of restoration london. The country wife themes from litcharts the creators of. Librivox recording of the country wife by william wycherley. The dance, introduced by horner saying, the ladies troubles wel divert with a ballet, doctor. The country wife is a hilariously bawdy and subversive drama that pokes fun at the jealous and humourless. The country wife quotes showing 14 of 4 marrying to increase love is like gaming to become rich. The country wife by william wycherley librarything. Pdf downloads of all 1277 litcharts literature guides. The countrywife, a comedy, acted at the theatre royal. 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. Literary critics have agreed on the plays extraordinary dramatic power, but have been puzzled as to its final meaning.
So we do the research for you, finding stylish clothes and accessories that are flattering for the older body shape. But when margery the country wife comes to town, she arrives with strict handholding from her uptight husband and is promptly locked in a house. But then the door opens to horner, a reputed womanizer. In the country wife, the characters are obnoxious, and although the writing is clever, it lacks warmth. Harry horner, an infamous womanizer, enlists his doctor to spread the false rumor that horner has become impotent to convince other men to. It satirizes the sexual duplicity of the aristocracy during the reign of charles ii. The country wife is a restoration comedy written in 1675 by william wycherley. The country wife social historical context youtube. 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. Pdf language and honor in the country wife david b morris. Poets like cudgeld bullys, never do at first, or second blow, submit to you. Top 8 quotes from the country wife free book notes.
Aug 21, 2014 the country wife social historical context drama skills. Theater was central to the culture of restoration london. Download william wycherleys the country wife for your kindle, tablet, ipad, pc or. My problem with the country wife is that wycherleys writing has none of the charm of his contemporary, george etherege. The country wife, a comedy, acted at the theatre royal. Here we have horner, the trickster hero of the play, who is determined to sleep around with married women and thereby cuckold their husbands. This would be a good paper topic, the pursuit of which would unquestionably lead to lots of amazing discoveries about women, men, and marriage in the restoration and 18th century. William wycherley, painted around the time of the country wife, by peter lely wikimedia commons the country wife is one of the most powerful expressions of late seventeenth century culture, and it remained a popular play for decades in theaters throughout the englishspeaking world. For the basis of his plot, wycherley here borrows heavily from the work of moliere, but.
Studying the comedy of the country wife english literature. Behind the wheel his chest filled to have her with him, to be moving out into the country, to see the sun above the trees. Morris university of virginia honor is indeed a noble thing, and therefore. This implies that people from the country are simple and uneducated compared with sophisticated and. The country wife mcgill university school of computer. You have reached the final week of the wife on fire challenge. Francis turns to his son, but the boy has justification for the kickshe hit him first.
The writing was charming and funny, and the characters were likeable. The country wife southwark playhouse theatre and bar. The plyant discourse of wycherleys the country wife. Wycherleys the country wife and the don juan character.
459 1027 1352 388 1429 1337 701 236 785 73 1476 1094 866 1013 496 415 987 957 1528 1391 225 1567 36 169 972 151 172 1446 1440 1086 1449 1339