The Role of Women Theme Analysis

In the late 18th century, when The Rivals was written, there were firm notions for how women should behave. Prior to marriage, a girl of noble birth was supposed to be pure and simple in her understanding of the world and to place her trust in her elders, who would select a man from the same class for her to marry.

The rigidness of these expectations for young girls is parodied in the portrayal of Lydia Languish’s guardian Mrs. Malaprop, who objects to practically everything that Lydia says and does by declaring it not proper behavior for a young woman. Yet while Mrs. Malaprop’s objections are so repetitive and indiscriminate as to seem ridiculous, her basic contention – that Lydia’s duty is to do as she is told – would have been accepted by 18th century audiences. Once married, a lady was expected to carry out her wifely duties without complaining about hardship, and to comfort her husband when he was in low spirits. If her husband became angry, she was supposed to calm and soothe him. If he was sad, she was supposed to be bright and merry to cheer him up. Julia in many ways epitomizes the 18th century’s ideal woman, then: although she gets frustrated with Faulkland’s distrust of her, she always tries to show him that she loves him, accepts his faults and will remain loyal to him no matter what.

Much of 18th century society considered such “womanly” behavior as critical, and so anything that threatened that behavior was the subject of much debate. And just as “upholders of culture” today might criticize certain music or movies or other media, there was heated debate in British newspapers and across society in the late 18th century about whether the rather new invention of “sentimental novels” perverted young girls and made them unfit to be good wives and mothers.

The sentimental novels that were popular at the time did not stress duty to one’s elders or portray young women as happy to have their fates chosen for them. Instead, this literature showed women motivated by love and passion to choose dangerous paths and forbidden lovers. Often the plots of these novels involved love across class boundaries.

The parents and husbands who saw it as their responsibility to supervise the women in their families worried that these books put ideas into women’s heads that were potentially disastrous. Girls were supposed to be virgins when they married, so if a girl inspired by novel-reading were to sneak off in search of her own romantic adventures and get pregnant out of wedlock, she (and her family) would become social outcasts (this is exactly the fate that threatens the Bennets of Pride and Prejudice after Lydia runs off at the climax of that novel, for instance).

In keeping with the general light tone of the comedy, The Rivals makes fun of everyone on both sides of the debate.Lydia, for example, rather ridiculously applies the plots of sentimental novels to her own life. She hopes to be like a heroine in a book, who has such a great love that she is willing to make a sacrifice for it. For Lydia this specifically means marrying a poor man, defying her aunt, and losing two-thirds of the inheritance she would otherwise receive. Lydia’s novel-reading has made her an easy target for someone able to manipulate her romantic impulse.

Sir Antony, not incorrectly, blames Lydia’s novel-reading for her determination to marry the penniless Ensign Beverley. His resulting position, though, is extreme to the point of parody: he declares that girls should not be allowed to learn to read at all. And yet even as Sir Antony seems ridiculously strict, the play does not suggest that learning or reading has much use for women,as once again Sheridan doesn’t really question the status quo.

As it turns out, in an ironic twist, Lydia is not seduced by a poor schemer hoping to take advantage of her. Instead she is forced to sacrifice her fantasy of a star-crossed love affair when it turns out she loves the very rich, suitable man – Captain Absolute – her guardians would choose for her and who had only been pretending to be penniless. The play is a comedy: no one in The Rivals will lose their life or fortune, however foolishly they flirt with disaster.

This outcome for Lydia does not only reflect the light comedy of the play, however. It also shows the play’s ultimately conservative view of social norms. Rather than critique the way his society perceived women or class (unlike, say, Pride and Prejudice), Sheridan portrays Lydia’s rebellion as a foolish caprice drawn straight from the pages of a book. Meanwhile, the play’s least ridiculed character, Julia, conforms perfectly to society’s expectations for a young woman, while its charming protagonist, Captain Absolute, is able to take advantage of Lydia’s desire to rebel against those norms.