The Country Wife: Act 1 Summary & Analysis

The doctor clearly has a reputation as unscrupulous and willing to do whatever his clients pay him for. Therefore, Horner knows he can pay him to spread a false rumor—something a more scrupulous doctor would hopefully refuse to do. A “eunuch” is a term for a man who has been castrated. The Quack suggests that women cannot keep a secret and are more likely to pass something on if it is told in confidence. Gossiping was historically considered a primarily female habit and women were historically considered less reliable than men.

Horner implies that married women dislike and avoid their own husbands. This reflects common ideas about marriage in this period, which suggests that people forced to spend all their time together in marriage inevitably end up hating one another. In this period, British people considered France a seat of aristocratic decadence and sexuality, which Restoration culture emulated. It was assumed, therefore, that French doctors were familiar with venereal disease, although STIs would have been rife in both France and England in this period. Horner likely chooses a French surgeon for his alleged operation because, in London, everyone knows everyone else’s business, whereas a French surgeon would not be known, and, therefore, the truth of Horner’s story cannot be questioned.

Horner has hidden himself so that others will assume he is too ashamed to go out. As a well-known London “rake,” Horner’s reputation as a womanizer is assumed to be very important to him. The doctor points out that young men generally use rumors to make themselves sound more virile and successful with women, rather than less.

Horner believes that actions speak louder than words and that a reputation is meaningless if one cannot back it up with proof. This is contrary to the general trend in Restoration society: that reputation is everything and that the appearance of something is as good as the reality. Horner believes instead that people who boast a lot are often compensating for their lack of ability.

Horner has clearly had a formidable reputation as a womanizer if people will not believe the rumor of his impotence. It also suggests that news is unreliable in Restoration London. Sir Jasper says that his coach has broken down, but, really, he is interested in scandal and wants an excuse to visit Horner so he can verify the gossip he has heard.

Horner pretends to hate women and want nothing to do with them because, he implies, they are the cause of his impotence. He claims to have caught a venereal disease from a woman and, when being treated for this, was accidentally castrated. Therefore, he pretends to blame women for his condition.

Lady Fidget has a reputation for being a notoriously “virtuous” woman. She pretends to shun the company of “rakes” like Horner and pretends to be offended by any mention of sex. As French culture was notoriously lewd, British aristocrats, imitating French nobility, would buy risqué French art which contained nudes. L’Ecoles des Filles was a French pornographic novel, often cited as the first work of pornography. Lady Fidget pretends to be insulted but there is an innuendo implied when she asks how Horner intends to compromise “her honor;” it implies she wants to have sex with him.

Sir Jasper tells the ladies that Horner cannot have sex with them. Although the ladies pretend to be “virtuous” and, therefore, to be disgusted by sex, they seem more disgusted by the idea of a man who cannot have sex with them. The use of the innuendo “wrong their honor” to imply sex suggests that it is considered “wrong” or dishonorable for a woman to enjoy sex.

Sir Jasper believes that he has got one over on his wife and sister by getting them off his hands, and that he has used Horner to his advantage by persuading him to take the women off his hands. However, he has naively fallen straight into Horner’s trap and left the ladies with a man who wants to seduce them and whom they want to be seduced by.

As the ladies do not know that Horner’s impotence is an untrue rumor, they react with genuine disgust to a man who cannot have sex with them, and, therefore, cannot provide them with anything they want.

Horner believes that women who show an aversion to impotent men prove that they love sex. As friendship between the genders was not encouraged in this period, so the women in the play have no other use for a man and are only interested in men they can have sex with.

This shows what a small world Restoration London is. News travels fast and everyone has already heard of Horner’s impotence. The theatre is not just a place of entertainment but also an important social meeting place where news is spread and people go to be seen with other fashionable people. Horner is not at all interested in his reputation. He is only interested in bedding women and does not mind if, publicly, women are disgusted by him as long as privately he can seduce them. Harcourt’s comment about “sympathy” shows the “battle of sexes” mentally that is bred between men and women in Restoration society.

The use of the term “half-man” to denote impotence suggests that Restoration society valued virility and sexual prowess above all else in men. There was a celebration of macho culture in this period and men aspired to be rakish and promiscuous. It was common to look down on things considered feminine, which Horner demonstrates when he claims to despise female company. In this type of mindset, men only pursue women for sex and as conquests, rather than as companions.

A common misogynistic stereotype about women was that they were shallow and only interested in money and, therefore, would take advantage of men for their wealth. In the play this is undercut, however, as Sparkish tries to marry Alithea for her money.

It is ironic and hypocritical that Horner dislikes Sparkish because Sparkish pretends to be something he is not (Horner is pretending to be impotent, after all). Harcourt’s comment implies that almost everyone in Restoration society is a hypocrite because reputation is so important; people wish to be seen as better than they are.

Sparkish is a “false-wit;” a stock character on the Restoration stage. A “false-wit” wrongly believes he is funny and entertaining, but is actually pompous and stupid. He is usually outwitted by the “true-wits,” like Horner, who are genuinely intelligent and calculating. Sparkish is concerned with being a fashionable man and feels he must make an appearance at the theatre, as this is the height of Restoration social life.

Marriage is considered bad for men, as it robs them of their freedom. They are believed to be nagged and harangued by their wives. Like marriage, life in the country, compared to the hedonistic and fashionable life in the city, is believed to be dowdy and tiresome. Marriage is believed to be so lethal to romance and sexual attraction between a couple that it is seen as inevitable that they will cheat on each other.

Pinchwife is under the impression that a “country wife” is more likely to be faithful to him because, he thinks, people from the country are naïve and simple. He believes that a country girl will lack the intelligence needed to have an affair. However, Pinchwife is foolish to assume this and Horner, who is more intelligent than Pinchwife and cannier about human nature, knows that people are the same everywhere. Pinchwife tells the men his wife is stupid and plain so that they will not want to seduce her.

Pinchwife assumes that educating a woman will make her dishonest. He believes that withholding knowledge is the way to control people and make them behave, since, without knowledge, they will remain innocent and will not have the experience to choose for themselves whether to be good or bad. This is a parody of Puritanism, which was popular in Britain before the Restoration and which encouraged censorship of vice in society.

Although Pinchwife tries to hide his wife’s identity, his furious reaction gives him away. He would not be angry if they had seen him with another woman, because he does not care if people believe he cheats on his wife; only if they believe she cheats on him. This shows that Pinchwife does not really care about his wife—he cares only about his reputation. He is also a hypocrite, as he expects total purity from his wife but not from himself.