Town vs. Country Theme Analysis

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. This implies that people from the country are simple and uneducated compared with sophisticated and cosmopolitan town dwellers and relates to popular notions from the Restoration period that cities were places of sex and sin while the countryside remained unspoiled by modernity and corruption. Wycherly’s play, however, suggests that this notion is false and that people from the country are just as likely to be devious, sexual, and intelligent as those who live in the city. Ultimately, in The Country Wife, it is not people from the country who are shown to be foolish, but rather those who believe that they are better, more cultured, and more intelligent than others simply by being from the city who are fools.

There is an assumption made by several of the characters that country life is simple and innocent compared with the exciting, hedonistic lifestyle of the city. Pinchwife’s choice in marrying Margery reflects his belief that a good wife should be “ignorant” and illiterate. This shows that he thinks he is superior to Margery and that he will be able to manipulate her and control her behavior because she is from the country and, therefore, will be stupid and pliable. He intends to take advantage of what he views as her simplicity. He feels that her lack of life experience is symbolized by the fact that she is a “country wife” and that, if she gains experience in the town, she will be corrupted or spoiled in some way. This is implied when he says that “if she loves him she must hate the town,” which suggests that the town symbolizes sexuality, deviance, and hedonism; things he believes are impossible in the country, as the people there are too simple to think of them. This attitude is clearly shared by many of the city dwellers. Lucy, Alithea’s maid, says that the “country is as terrible” to young women “as a monastery to those abroad.” This suggests that life in the country is viewed as pure and sexless, deonstrating a romanticized view of country life in the minds of city dwellers.

In contrast to what the city dwellers believe, as the play goes on it becomes apparent that people from the country are much the same as people from the city in terms of their desires, intelligence, and ability to cheat and deceive others. Although Margery believes that the city is more exciting than the country, her behavior demonstrates that many of the things that Pinchwife believes makes the city so corrupt also go on in the country. For example, although Margery has never flirted with men at the theatre, in her love letter to Horner, she reveals that she knows how to flirt just as well as city women do and has flirted with young men at country parties. Margery also easily outwits Pinchwife on several occasions. She writes a duplicate letter to Horner under Pinchwife’s nose and tricks her husband again towards the end of the play when she pretends to be Alithea so that Pinchwife will lead her to Horner, whom she wants to have an affair with. Pinchwife blames Margery’s interest in city life on Alithea’s example. However, it is clear from Margery’s behavior that she understands more than Pinchwife realizes and the fact that she is from the country does not mean that she is simple, stupid, or has no life experience.

In the end, it is not where someone is from that defines their level of intelligence. Instead, Wycherly suggests that the world is made up of “wits” and fools, and that those fools are easily outsmarted by the “wits,” no matter where they come from. While Pinchwife tries to insist that he is worldly and that he “knows the town,” he is really an ignorant and foolish character who is easily outsmarted by Margery. Similarly, Sparkish, who prides himself on being a cosmopolitan and fashionable “wit” of the town, is obtuse and made to look foolish by Harcourt. Meanwhile, characters like Horner and Alithea, are truly wise because they understand that human nature is the same everywhere, town or country. Horner quite rightly believes that it is as easy to be cheated “by a friend in the country” as it is in the city and Alithea proves she is wise because she understands that honor and loyalty are choices which people can make rather than believing, as Pinchwife does, that they come from ignorance and lack of knowledge. The play does not punish clever characters like Margery and Horner for their acts of deception and infidelity. Instead, it is foolish characters, such as Sir Jasper, Pinchwife, and Sparkish, who continue to be outsmarted by the others. This suggests that, in Wycherly’s play, people are not divided into categories based on whether they come from the town or the country, but are divided into those who are clever, or “wits,” and those who are fools. This reinforces Wycherly’s Restoration worldview which values wit, intelligence, and self-awareness above honesty, innocence, or moralizing.