Harcourt, his acquaintance, enamored of alithea mr. The theme at the forefront of this play is the idea of marriage. It was considered so rude that it wasnt performed from the 18thcentury until the 20thcentury. William wycherley became a courtier in the 1670s, and his plays are set in the world of fashionable london libertines like himself. Preliminaries omitted play details the country wife. The country wife 16751 by william wycherley indignor quicquam reprehendi, non quia crasse at first, or second blow, submit to you. About the play the country wife is a hilariously bawdy and subversive drama. Librivox recording of the country wife by william wycherley. The period which the play, the country wife belongs to in the english literature is the restoration period.
The country wife pdf adobe drm can be read on any device that can open pdf adobe drm files. A virtuous woman in william wycherleys the country wife, william wycherley enlightens the audience to capture several different ironical statements and questionable behaviors. The play fits perfectly into greenwalds definition of a comedy of manners. William wycherley lived from 1640 to 1715, and earned his reputation as one of the wittiest. The country wife, a comedy, acted at the theatre royal.
The country wife is a restoration comedy written in 1675 by william wycherley. Here we have horner, the trickster hero of the play, who is determined to sleep around with married women and thereby cuckold their husbands. One of the most notorious restoration comedies in existence, william wycherley s the country wife is a lively and riotous exploration of courtly and city life in the seventeenth century, which was rife with unremitting sexual intrigue and conquest. The country wife was written by william wycherley in 1675. With this original adaptation, morphic graffiti thrust william wycherleys the country wife into the excesses and seductions of late 1920s london.
Jamess park the gentleman dancingmaster the country wife. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the country wife. Libertines real and fictional in rochester, shadwell, wycherley, and boswell examines the restoration and eighteenthcentury libertine figure as it appears in john wilmot, second earl of rochesters satyr against mankind, the maimd debauchee, and upon his drinking a bowl, thomas shadwells the libertine, william wycherleys the country wife, and james boswells london journal. The country wife by william wycherley is a play in the restoration period that certainly develops many themes. Wycherleys the country wife and the don juan character. The aptly named horner is pretending to be a eunuch in order to gain access to women under their husbands noses. It was no doubt intended to register approval of liveliness or resiliency, and i will rely on this usage later. Kodi archive and support file vintage software community software apk msdos cdrom software cdrom software library console living room software sites tucows software library shareware cdroms software capsules compilation cdrom images zx spectrum doom level cd. Pray, sister, where are the best fields and woods to walk in. One of the best and most vibrant examples of this is william wycherleys play the country wife. The restored monarch, charles ii, wanted to assert the centrality of the theater in english culture as a way of harkening back to the glory days of the stuart dynasty in the early part of the century, when his grandfather. Jamess park the gentleman dancingmaster the country wife the plain dealer.
Page the countrywife, a comedy, acted at the theatre royal. Yetthat free play that the characters revel in, and that is so productive of the country wifes comedyleads to a serious question. The country wife by william wycherley was published in 1675 and premiered the same year at the. The country wife has provoked powerfully mixed reactions over the years. Read the country wife, by william wycherley on bookmate.
Popular for its lively characters and its double entendres, the bawdy comedy was occasionally vilified for immorality. Bibliographic details for the electronic file wycherley. William wycherleys the country wife for your kindle, tablet, ipad, pc or mobile. He was the son of a shropshire gentleman of old family, and of what was then accounted a good estate. The title itself contains a lewd pun with regard to the first syllable of country. Yes, his surname is of anglosaxon origin and comes from those who make musical instruments, but in wycherleys play horner is horner because it is, simply put, his nature. But the wit which lights up the plain dealer and the country wife is pale and. The project gutenberg ebook of the plays of william. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides for challenging works of literature. The country wife a comedy by william wycherley cast nathan rouse mr. I believe shes the worse for your towndocuments already. Poets like cudgeld bullys, never do at first, or second blow, submit to you. William wycherley, the country wife the open anthology.
It is remarkably modern, in that it offers no neat resolution, but rather leaves us to. The project gutenberg ebook of the plays of william wycherley. The word restoration in this context describes both actual restoration of king charles. But horner is anything but impotent, and before long he is bedding a host of bored, foolish, and incredibly horny womenincluding the young, silly margery, an ignorant country girl recently wed to an elderly man. Mar 30, 2020 the country wife, comedy of manners in five acts by restoration dramatist william wycherley, performed and published in 1675.
The country wife is one of many literary works from this period that probes this question. The country wife 1675 a comedy by wycherley, william 16401716 the persons mr. The fiction section has the complete, fully searchable texts of hundreds of novels the poetry section has world famous poems by everyone from blake to keats, together with the oxford collected english verse and collected french verse. The country wife project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Wycherley left oxford university and took up residence at the inner temple, but gave little attention to the study of law. For the basis of his plot, wycherley here borrows heavily from the work of moliere, but.
Mrs pinchwife pray, sister, where are the best fields and woods, to walk in in london. The restoration period falls between 1660 and 1700. Page the country wife, a comedy, acted at the theatre royal. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read the country wife. Critics assert that a comedy of manners and the people who inhabit it represent the. Wycherley spends most of the play commenting on marriage and the relationship between men and women. The country wife by william wycherley overdrive rakuten.
The countrywife, a comedy, acted at the theatre royal. The country wife by wycherley william coursework sample. The country wife by wycherley, william 16401716one of the key themes of country wife which come out quite clearly from the script is the failure of the restoration arrangement of the marriages in the society. Download william wycherleys the country wife for your kindle, tablet, ipad, pc or mobile. This 45page guide for the country wife by william wycherley includes detailed chapter summaries and analysis covering 5 chapters, as well as several more indepth sections of expertwritten literary analysis. This is the beginning of wycherleys the country wife, which is about a trickster horner out to seduce as many married women as he can. William wycherleys, the country wife, is a play reflective of a new erathe restorationwhich followed an elevenyear period of harsh puritanical rule under oliver cromwell. William wycherley four plays contents introduction william wycherley by t. It satirizes the sexual duplicity of the aristocracy during the reign of charles ii. William wycherley was an english dramatist of the restoration period, best known for the plays the country wife and the plain dealer. Wycherley became a courtier in the 1670s, and his plays are. Bateson suggested quite rightly that the sex jokes lie 12 lionel gossman, men and masks. One of the most notorious restoration comedies in existence, william wycherleys the country wife is a lively and riotous exploration of courtly and city life in the seventeenth century, which was rife with unremitting sexual intrigue and conquest.
The restoration period is defined by its obsession with wit and nature of the human variety, and wycherley harnesses both of these concepts within the country wife. I believe shes the worse for your town documents already. William wycherley was a restoration playwright, best known for his comedies the country wife 16723 and the plain dealer 1675. The countrywife, comedy of manners in five acts by restoration dramatist william wycherley, performed and published in 1675. The country wife southwark playhouse theatre and bar. The country wife, while scathing in its observations of the lack of trust, honesty and fidelity between men and women, and supremely cynical in its consideration of the institution of marriage, is also, i believe, as timeless and funny as this passage promises.
Harcourt, his acquaintance, enamored of alithea tyler wells mr. I want to make use of drydens term plyant in a couple of different ways. The country wife by wycherley william qualified writers. The country wifewilliam wycherleyfree downloadpdf epub.
Pinchwife has recently married an innocent country girl, who immediately falls for horner. William wycherleys the country wife essay 1751 words. He was born at clive near shrewsbury, shropshire and baptised on 8 april 1641 at whitchurch, hampshire, son of daniel wycherley 16171697 and his wife bethia. Output as pdf file has been powered by universal post manager plugin from. Pinchwifes plans to stop any liaison go badly awry. The restored monarch, charles ii, wanted to assert the centrality of the theater in english culture as a way of harkening back to the glory days of the stuart dynasty in the early part of. Feb 14, 2016 yes, his surname is of anglosaxon origin and comes from those who make musical instruments, but in wycherleys play horner is horner because it is, simply put, his nature. Libertines real and fictional in rochester, shadwell. Libertines real and fictional in rochester, shadwell, wycherley, and boswell examines the restoration and eighteenthcentury libertine figure as it appears in john wilmot, second earl of rochesters satyr against mankind, the maimd debauchee, and upon his drinking a bowl, thomas shadwells the libertine, william wycherleys the country wife, and james boswells london journal, 17621763. William wycherley, the country wife the open anthology of. The country wife by wycherley, william 16401716 one of the key themes of country wife which come out quite clearly from the script is the failure of the restoration arrangement of the marriages in the society.
Wycherley has almost certainly indeed put it there. For the basis of his plot, wycherley here borrows heavily from the work of moliere, but abandons the french masters unity and economy by introducing several interlocking storylines and characters, all of them clamoring for attention amidst. The country wife by william wycherley free book pdf. Introduction theater was central to the culture of restoration london. Wycherley s the country wife, like many comedies of manners, focuses on sexual relations as its primary theme.
Full text and introduction nhb drama classics kindle edition by wycherley, william, griffiths, trevor. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. In asking why william wycherley wrote the country wife or his purpose in writing it, in a sense, you are asking that we read the mind of a man who died over 200 years ago, something that is not. Pray, dine with me and play at cards with my wife after dinner. Sparkish, engaged to alithea sir jaspar fidget, a noble gentleman mrs.
Front matter indignor quicquam reprehendi, non quia crasse compositum illepideve putetur, sed quia nuper. Chapter prologue of the country wife by william wycherley page 1 sur 1. The country wife isbn 9781408179895 pdf epub james ogden. The country wife by william wycherley 970 words bartleby. Sex hostility is central to the english comedy of the 1670s and 1680s. William wycherley, painted around the time of the country wife, by peter lely. William wycherley baptised 8 april 1641 1 january 1716 was an english dramatist of the restoration period, best known for the plays the country wife and the plain dealer. The country wife by william wycherley the seventeenth. Wycherley moved in high society, and conducted several liaisons with aristocratic ladies, including the duchess of c. The country wife, if you think he see a dirty joke based on a doubleentendre, youre not mistaken. In the country wife, horner allows society to believe he is impotent, and as such husbands entrust him with their wives. Wycherleys the country wife and the don juan character, wycherley, and congreve 1959, 73. Aug 25, 2017 william wycherley four plays contents introduction william wycherley by t.