The Country Wife

by William Wycherley and Wycherley William 1640-1716

Book Overview

'He's a fool that marries, but he's a greater fool that does not marry a fool.'

This bawdy, hilarious, subversive and wickedly satirical drama pokes fun at the humourless, the jealous, and the adulterous alike. It features a country wife, Margery, whose husband believes she is too na ve to cuckold him; and an anti-hero, Horner, who pretends to be impotent in order to have unrestrained access to the women keen on 'the sport'. A number...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 140817989X
• ISBN13: 9781408179895
• Release Date: April 2014
• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

A Recovered Gem from the Restoration Period

The eighteen-year closure of the English stage under the Puritans ended in 1660 with the Restoration of the monarchy. The restored theatre was controversial from the beginning for its sexual content. William Wycherley's comedy, The Country Wife (1675), involves two intertwined plots: 1) Mr. Horner, a noted rake, pretends impotence to gain access more easily to married women and 2) a young, inexperienced wife from a rural area is immediately fascinated by London life, especially its more lewd aspects. Wycherley's plot is further complicated by another romance, one that is more conventional. Horner's friend, Harcourt, becomes enamored with a young woman engaged to a foppish, self-centered character. This romance is more virtuous, and perhaps functions as a counterbalance to the lewd and bawdy activities centered about Mr. Horner, the ladies of London, and the "inexperienced" country wife. As social attitudes again became more conservative, The Country Wife gradually lost favor. It disappeared from the stage in 1753, and was not again seen until 1924. It was first produced in the US in 1931. In recent decades The Country Wife has gained considerable popularity, and is now among the best known play from the Restoration period. Interestingly, women appeared on the English stage (rather than young boys dressed as women) for the first time in the Restoration period. When Mr. Pinchwife disguised his young country wife as a boy, the audience was treated to the scandalous view of a woman in tight fitting breeches. This, in addition to the offstage implied sexual activity, must have made The Country Wife a memorable event. The Country Wife compares favorably with the best comedies of the next hundred years, including The Man of Mode, The Way of the World, and The School for Scandal. All four plays "are comedies of about men and women who live in London, care for sex and money, and make fools of one another if not of themselves". This quote is from the Norton Critical edition, Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Comedy. The Country Wife is available in a New Mermaids edition as well as in various anthologies such as the Norton edition and the Oxford World Classics edition titled The Country Wife and Other Plays (all by Wycherley).

Wycherley: a man, a genius

Far from being a silly comedy, The Country Wife is a work aimed at lashing Seventeenth Century loose morals. We laugh, of course, but through the alluring yet disturbing character of Horner, we perceive that something must be done if Restoration society wants to survive.Wicherley presents us with unhappy wives and brutal or indifferent husbands who are utlimately fooled by Horner, the man who knows how to exploit the misery produced by mercenary unions. Poor Margery Pinchwife, the heroine of the piece, eventually brings tears in our eyes when we realize that she shall never be free from a violent man that considers marriage a cheaper substitute for keeping a mistress. Margery is the victim of both her husband and her careless lover. She is looking for love, but she keeps on coming across men who are interested in sex only. They can see her body; they can't see her delicate, naif soul.However, Whycherley (who, we must remember, was the spiritual son of the great moralists Graciàn, Larochefoucault and so on, whose maxims are easily detected in the whole bulk of Wycherley's works) is able to see a way out in the honest, disintrested love between Alithea, Margery's brilliant sister-in-law, and Harcourt, Horner's dashing best friend. (these characters' names symbolize the perfection of their union: her name means "truth", while his name is significantly "Frank".)This comedy is at its best when performed; however, it is well worth reading, especially if you have a lively imagination. don't miss the notorious "china scene": fifteen minutes of laughter that will make your sides ache.Be careful: The Country Wife merely "looks" like a stupid, shallow comedy, but it is in fact a deep reflection on society, marriage and, why not?, even the situation of Seventeenth-Century English women.

This is a brilliant Restoration Comedy.

I recently reread this play for the third time and taught it in a British Literature survey at the University of Texas. Not only do I find it more entertaining and more brilliant with every reading, but I was shocked to find that the vast majority of my students really enjoyed it and preferred Wycherley to Shakespeare. If you want a smart, hilarious, and dark comedy that plumbs the depths of jealousy and sexual possession, this is a must-read play. If you're easily offended or have a hard time following complicated plots and catching bawdy puns, you'll certainly want to avoid it.

A pointed satire -- well worth reading.

TCW is worth your effort, particularly if you enjoy a good laugh