The Way of the World: Act 1, Scene 9 Summary & Analysis

When Petulant arrives he tells Betty to send the coach away, even if the women inside snivel and cry. Mirabell and Fainall of course, begin to tease him about his ill treatment of the three unknown women. Petulant doesn’t seem to understand their subtle jokes, and talks about the women as if they were his former lovers. Witwoud periodically interrupts to clarify Petulant’s meaning and supply him with more elegant words to use. Petulant, then, jokes that the three women are Witwoud’s cousins and aunt: Mrs. Fainall, Millamant, and Wishfort, respectively. Rather than being offended, Witwoud laughs off Petulant’s insult toward his family.

Mirabell, however, half-jokingly, warns Petulant to stay away from Millamant. In response, Petulant suggests that he’s not the biggest threat to Mirabell’s courtship of Millamant. Mirabell presses Petulant for details. Petulant explains that at Wishfort’s “cabal” the night before, he learned that Mirabell’s uncle is coming to stay at Wishfort’s and is the favored contender for Millamant’s hand. He adds that Millamant’s marriage to this uncle, who already has a bad relationship with Mirabell, would lead to Mirabell’s disinheritance should the marriage produce a child.

Mirabell wants even more details, and tells Petulant that he will regard him as wittier than Witwoud, if Petulant reveals what he knows. Petulant demands that Mirabell admit, in public, that he, Petulant, has common sense. Mirabell promises to do what he can. Fainall, remarks that Mirabell seems worried about Petulant and Witwoud as competitors for Millamant’s affections.

Witwoud comforts Mirabell, though, explaining that Millamant laughs at Petulant’s advances and that his own interest in Millamant is not serious. Though he admires her beauty, he claims that he cannot love Millamant because she’s so inconsistent in her loyalties. For instance, she expressed interest in Mirabell’s uncle at the cabal. Witwoud also reveals that Wishfort knows that Mirabell and his uncle don’t get along and is planning to use this fact to develop a plot against Mirabell.

After Witwoud’s report, Mirabell invites Fainall to leave the chocolate house with him and go for a walk in the Mall. When Witwoud invites himself and Petulant along, Mirabell wonders aloud whether Witwoud should instead stay and wait for his half-brother. Witwoud responds that Wilfull is going to arrive at Wishfort’s house that evening, at which point Mirabell gets to the point: he doesn’t want to walk with Witwoud or Petulant at the Mall. He doesn’t approve of the way they try to make female passersby blush with their suggestive and rude remarks. Petulant defends himself, arguing that the women who blush are either guilty of knowing too much about sex or are ill-bred.