The Country Wife: Act 3, Scene 2 Summary & Analysis

Horner pretends to be the opposite of what he is to hide his true intentions; he pretends to hate women when, really, he loves them. This demonstrates Horner’s hypocrisy and shows that Restoration society is easily taken in by reputation and appearance. Drunkenness was considered another vice, like promiscuity, which was publicly frowned upon but often privately practiced by “honorable” people.

Horner knows that Sparkish is so arrogant that he does not believe Alithea could cheat on him. Therefore, he will not suspect Harcourt of being able to woo her and will not notice if Harcourt does so right in front of him. Sparkish is very proud of his reputation as a “wit,” but he is not considered a “true wit” by clever “rakes” like Horner. Therefore, he would be recognized as a fool by Restoration audiences.

This shows Sparkish’s arrogance and disdain for the theatre and represents the attitude of many Restoration theatre goers. Restoration audiences would participate in the action on stage by shouting from the pit and Wycherly sees this as disrespectful and thinks it shows that the audience, like Sparkish, are pompous and pretentious and look down on the playwright’s work.

Wycherly explains the hatred leveled at playwrights by arrogant fools like Sparkish. They dislike it when playwrights portray them in unflattering ways onstage. Men like Sparkish expect to be respected because of their rank and position in society.

Sparkish wants all the adulation of a playwright with none of the risk. He will make jokes and witticisms when he is anonymous, among the crowd in the theatre, but is not brave enough to write his own plays for public scrutiny. He only wants to be seen in a flattering light and dislikes playwrights because they tell the truth and do not flatter. Wycherly suggests that it is a playwright’s job to portray the world as it is.

Sparkish is more concerned about his reputation at court, and impressing the King, than about spending time with Alithea. He does not really love her and is already casting her aside in the manner of a careless husband like Sir Jasper.

Harcourt follows Horner’s advice and uses his friendship with Sparkish to get close to Alithea. Harcourt is very mercenary and predatory in his approach—but, it is implied,  Sparkish brings this on himself because he is such a fool.

Pinchwife says that the signs are like the husbands because all city husbands are “cuckolds.” “Cuckold” is an old-fashioned term for a husband whose wife cheats on him and, in drama, literature, and folklore, cuckolds were often depicted as men with horns. In this sense, the husbands are like the horned animals painted on the shop signs.

Sparkish does not listen to Alithea or believe her when she says that Harcourt is flirting with her. He automatically takes Harcourt’s side and continues to push them together despite Alithea’s protests.

Sparkish misogynistically assumes that Alithea is exaggerating Harcourt’s advances because she is vain and convinced of her own beauty. Harcourt answers honestly because he really loves Alithea. Sparkish, however, cannot recognize real love because he is so self-involved and only thinks about what he can get from marriage; in this case, Alithea’s money. Marriage was widely assumed to be an obstacle to real love rather than a vehicle for it and adulterous love was often considered more genuine than marital love.

Alithea does believe that married couples can love each other and she believes that Sparkish does love her. Much of this interaction between Harcourt and Sparkish would be played for laughs, with Harcourt saying one thing and gesturing another behind Sparkish’s back.

Pinchwife, who sees infidelity in everything, immediately understands Harcourt’s real intentions. He interprets them as an insult to himself because Alithea is his sister and he sees her “honor” and reputation as an extension of his own. He does not want her to be tarnished by an affair with Harcourt, who is a “rake.”

Margery is dressed in her “little brother’s” clothes. It is implied that Margery’s disguise, like Pinchwife’s jealousy which has driven him to dress her like this, is ridiculous and that Horner sees right through it.

Horner plays along with and pretends he is taken in by Margery’s disguise to torment Pinchwife by kissing his wife in front of his face.

Pinchwife has got himself into this ridiculous situation, because of his irrational jealousy, and he has made it so that he cannot tell Horner that this is Margery, and therefore prevent Horner’s advances.

Lucy makes several sexual innuendos in this scene. Harcourt, although he truly loves Alithea, treats her like a conquest and is extremely rough and insistent with her. This shows misogynistic attitudes in the Restoration period: they believed that women should be pursued aggressively and that men should not take no for an answer. Pinchwife, equally misogynistically, blames Alithea for the men’s behavior.

Margery takes this gift from Horner innocently and does not interpret the sexual connotations behind it; she shows it off to Pinchwife without realizing how jealous it makes him. Sir Jasper is blind to his wife’s pretense at “honor.”

Pinchwife is so blinded by jealousy that he cannot see Margery’s innocence. She clearly takes Horner’s gifts in good faith and is simply pleased to have the presents. Pinchwife’s angry response rejects Margery’s simple kindness and makes her more likely to dislike him and, ultimately, to be unfaithful.