General Plot and Thematic Elements

Basic storyline

The Country Wife has three different plot lines all occurring at once. They all have distinct characters and moods, but all end up tied together towards the end.

The first story being Horner tricking everyone in the town into thinking he's impotent, so he may safely socialize with everyone's wives. His name alone is a pun for the word cuckold, which means to "put horns on" someone else. His plan also allows him to find out which women are being neglected by their spouses, and are looking for extramarital sex, since they would be more likely to have sex with a man who cannot provide children. His plan works perfectly and is the basis for most of the jokes sprinkled throughout the play. While he never evolves as a character, it is assumed he continued his schemes after the play has ended.

The next plot is between Margery and Pinchwife and their dysfunctional/abusive marriage. Pinchwife, who is noted to have been a bit of a whore like Horner, has married a simple country girl in the hopes of not becoming a cuckold like many other men in town. Pinchwife physically keeps Margery locked away at home to keep her away from "scandalous city women," and especially Horner and his friends. His persistent jealously incites curiosity out of Margery, who is oblivious to the complexities of marriage and infidelity, and ends up leading her into the world and Horner's arms.

The final plot is the courtship between Harcourt and Alithea, who at first glance seem like tired stock character lovers from many works published during the Renaissance. Alithea is to be married to Sparkish, and while she dodges Harcourt's attempts to court her anyways, she seems to slowly fall in love with his wit and boldness. This is seen through her constant attempts at protecting him from harm, even though it was her comments to Sparkish that caused an issue in the first place. While she doesn't seem to be as concerned with honor and virtue as the other women in the play, she does still care about Sparkish thinking she's virtuous, even if she does think he's stupid. It isn't until she is caught in a very compromising situation with Horner, Pinchwife, and Margery, that the marriage is called off and she is free to be with Harcourt.

What is the play about?

The Country Wife is a story meant to represent the social chaos caused by the English Civil War in 1642 when the Puritans seized control over the government. Theatrical works and spaces were banned, and many destroyed, until the reign of Charles II in 1660. This lead to the development of "Restoration comedy," and was influenced by different works from Spain and France that would help mold the British stage. William Wycherley was very much influenced by plays like Tartuffe (Moliére, 1664), The School for Wives (Moliére, 1662), and Eunuchus (Terence, 161 BCE), along with many other works from previous generations.

The concept of honor and reputation are a huge driving force within the world of the play. While both the male and female characters in the play are involved in some sort of scandalous act, there's this underlying sense of entitlement amongst everyone. The women who swoon over Horner constantly speak ill of their husbands and the "city men" who neglect their needs as a wife. While on the other hand, the men who cheat on their wives, in the theatre no less, go on about how damaging it would be to become a cuckold. Wycherley uses this to comment on the hypocrisy within the Puritan belief system throughout the entire story, and discuss how certain aspects of human nature are unavoidable.

Message behind the story

There are many messages told through this story that are unfortunately very common issues within the Restoration Era in England. The main points having to do with baseless marriage arrangements, hypocrisy, and gender solidarity. While there are many other themes like loveless sex, country vs city life, and the power of money, I feel like these three help sum up Wycherley's main viewpoints.

• Marriage arrangements were very common throughout this period. The marriages of Jack Pinchwife and Jasper Fidget are two of the main focal points of the story. While Wycherley is making a comment that wives are to be kept in ignorance to keep them "safe," he also suggests that women have sexual desires as well and will find someone like Horner to satisfy them if neglected for too long. However, Wycherley never blames Horner for the downfall of these marriages. He is merely used as a catalyst for the husbands and wives to destroy their own lives.
• This leads into the theme of hypocrisy, which is prevalent throughout the play. Wycherley makes it clear how revolted he was by hypocrisy within his culture. Throughout the play, every character is constantly conflicted with the actions in the public and private lives, and contradict almost everything they do out of self interest.
• The theme of gender solidarity helps drive the themes of hypocrisy and unconvincing marriages. There is an obvious divide in genders throughout the story, with both sides trying to convince the audience who is more "honorable," and both of them failing horribly.

Similar themes in modern works

A similar theme in a modern piece of work would be in the movie The Little Hours. It's a movie about a covenant of emotionally unstable nuns who give into the temptations of man (e.g. sex, drugs, wealth), while still trying to maintain their spirituality from an outward perspective. Much like Wycherley, the writers and director are pointing out the hypocrisy within the Catholic church during the Middle Ages. While the cast is mostly women, there is also a sense of solidarity amongst them by keeping each others secrets, but eventually using them for their own personal gain.