Hypocrisy And Ignorance

The Country Wife: Hypocrisy and Ignorance
Alike newborn babies first opening their eyes perceiving the world, Mrs. Pinchwife’s first visit to London means her initial experience of the sophisticated city. Wycherley’s The Country Wife (1675) presents the story of a country wife getting to fall in love with one of the appealing London men regardless of her having an extremely jealous husband. The two main triangular relationships introduced in the play, Margery, Pinchwife, Lady Fidget, Sir Jasper and Horner vividly projects the story of both a country wife and a city wife cheating on their husbands. While the central action of the play questions the tenability of marriage during restoration, the contrast between the country and the city plays
an important role. Due to Margery and Lady Fidget having different backgrounds, the way they develop a relation with Horner differs. They also desire different outcomes in their affairs. Margery on one hand, desires leaving her husband marrying Horner; where on the other hand, Lady Fidget just keeps her relationship with Horner underground. The Country Wife comedically demonstrates the crises in which the country breeds ignorant individuals, where on the other hand, the city engenders hypocrites. The class conflict between the city and the country is one of the most engaging comedic themes available back in the days. Lady Fidget, being the major hypocrite of the play, sufficiently illustrates the hypocrites that are created by the sophistication of cities.
As a typical upper class man, Sir Jasper gives limited attention to his wife Lady Fidget. He tries to keep Lady Fidget together with the eunuch, Horner, so as to prevent other men from approaching. Lady fidget, after being aware that Horner’s impotence is a fraud, decides to further an underground relationship with him. While complaining about the frustrations she encounters with her husband Sir Jasper, she mentioned: “Lord, why should you not think that we women make use of our reputation, as you men of yours, only to deceive the world with less suspicion? Our virtue is like … — but to cheat those that trust us.”(251).The dialogue shows explicitly that Lady Fidget is a hypocrite. As a member of the upper class women in the city, Lady Fidget cannot bear the consequence of cheating on her husband openly. Instead, pertaining to the worldliness of the city, she maintains her virtue in the public and does what she wants privately. The problem does not only exist in Lady Fidget. Dainty and Squeamish, who are also having secret relations with Horner; both display the same sign of hypocrisy. Though unwittingly, hypocrisy is developed among citizens. The Country Wife highlights some major events that could potentially occur concerning the prominent effect brought by a sophisticated city. The scenes are not only appropriate as a comedic
theme, but can also portray a sharp contrast between the problems of being from the country and from the city. Hence, the play thoroughly presents the idea which the city fosters hypocritical individuals.
Margery, the main character, similarly shows that the country gives birth to ignorant people during restoration. In the play, Margery happened to fall in love with Horner, after knowing that he was his secret admirer the first time he saw her. However, Mr. Pinchwife, the typical jealous husband, tries everything to stop them from seeing each other. At the end of the play, Mr. Pinchwife even threatens his wife with a sword as she confesses her love to Horner. “For I do love Mr. Horner with all my soul, and nobody shall say me nay.”(258). Margery simply ignores the potential of her husband attacking her with his sword and declares how much she loves Horner in front of him. This scene validates that despite being able to stay in the city for a short period, women from the country are not able to sense the potential violence that could happen in extreme situations. That being said, Margery would not believe that Pinchwife would try to harm her by any means. Moreover, the love letter Margery wrote to Horner was seen by Horner as the truest love letter ever. “And I say for the letter, ‘tis the first love-letter that ever was without flames, darts, fates, destinies, lying and dissembling in’t.” (236). Being a country wife, this may be Margery’s first time writing a true love letter. With Horner’s comments, we can confirm that Margery does not have a natural intention to dishonesty nor hypocrisy. That is, country wives are uneducated in the subject of deception. Briefly, through the mentioned scenes, the play fully depicts the crisis of ignorance that is derived by the country. Although Margery may potentially become the second Lady Fidget of the play, evidence near the end of the play reassures her guiltlessness.
As Margery continues her journey in the city, with the aid of Lucy, she starts to recognize different sophisticated patterns that happen in the city. Specifically, Lucy teaches her to lie and make stories. This indeed may be the first step of Margery turning into a hypocrite like Lady Fidget. However, at the end of the play while Lucy is trying to make excuses for her to get away from Pinchwife’s accusation, she unintentionally cracks it and restates her love to Horner in front of Pinchwife (258). In addition, at the end while Pinchwife and Margery are compromising to the story made up by Lucy, the dialogue of Margery shows her ignorance: “Since you’ll have me tell more lies —yes, indeed, bud.”(260). The way Margery compromises to the story shows her obliviousness, being hilarious at the same time. As a result, there is sufficient evidence proving her innocence. Even though she was taught by Lucy and getting to experience life in the city for some time, Margery remains ignorant to the fraudulent elements that persist in the
city.
The play deliberately argues that the country fosters ignorant individuals while the city gives birth to hypocrites for the reason which the topic was a popular social issue during restoration. Other than the tendency of unsound marriages, the difference in social class for people from the country and the city is also a prominent concern. While not directly showing class conflict, the play makes use of it as a medium so as to arouse the audience’s sympathy making it more audience friendly. After all, as information technology advances through time, the differences between countries and the cities will significantly decrease. People living in countries will be able to easily access the same information that citizens are consistently exposed to. In the future, Lady Fidget will not only exist in cities, but also in countries. Jealous husbands, at the same time, will find it harder to foster an ignorant wife like Margery. Bibliography
Wycherley, William. "The Country Wife." Introduction to Literature. Comp. Diana Solomon. 2014. 167-263. Print.