Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Beaux Stratagem was a comedy written by George Farquhar and was first performed in the year 1707. It was one of the last restoration comedies that gained huge success. The drama touches on the difficult subject of the divorce of an incompatible couple while the divorce wasn’t legal in England during the restoration period. Even if a couple decided to separate during that time, the wife wasn’t offered any money or help from the husband. Farquhar developed this plot involving a divorce of a woman with her drunken, unsupportive, and unloving husband and then created a deceiving device to let her have her share of the money.
Characters: The main characters are the two young and handsome friends Archer and Aimwell who have lost all their fortune in their expensive lifestyle. They plan to go away from the city and entrap some rich girl in love, rob her and then move away. The very first town they visit is Lichfield where they meet Dorinda, the young daughter of a rich landlady Lady Bountiful who specializes in herbal medicines. Boniface is an inn owner of Lichfield where Archer and Aimwell stay. Cherry is the inn owner’s daughter who falls in love with Archer. Squire Sullen is the son of Lady Bountiful and the brother of Dorinda. He is a drunkard who doesn’t care for his wife at all, Scrub is his servant. Count Bellair is a french soldier. Kate Sullen is Lady Bountiful’s daughter-in-law, Sullen’s unhappy wife. She tries everything to get the attention of Squire Sullen but he remains indifferent. Gipsy is Kate’s maid. Gibbet is a robber who plans to rob Kate, Dorinda, and Lady Bountiful with the help of his associates Bagshot and Hounslow. Sir Charles Freeman is the brother of Kate Sullen who visits her. He is a past acquaintance of Archer and Aimwell.
Summary of The Beaux Stratagem
Archer and Aimwell are two young handsome gentleman richly spending their life and money in the extravagance of London. The two beaux are almost penniless now as they have got the last two hundred pounds left with them. While both are strong and able, none of them is willing to sell their swords for the wars and join the Military. The only other option left for them is to trap some rich girls in their love and get money from them. However, they cannot let their friends in London know that they are penniless. Archer suggests that they should leave London for the countryside and let fate decide their course for them. Aimwell agrees and suggests a shrewd plan that in the other towns they will visit, one of them will pretend to be a fine lord and the other will be his loyal servant. This will let them impress the country folk and deceive some rich landlord’s beautiful girl. Archer agrees and it is decided that they will play the part of rich lord one by one and the first turn will be of Aimwell while Archer will act as his servant.
The first town they visit is Lichfield. They visit the local inn and befriend the inn owner Will Boniface. Aimwell playing the part of lord invites Boniface to drink with him as he pays and tries to know about the rich people of the town. Boniface informs him about Lady Bountiful who is a widow and lives with her son, daughter, and daughter-in-law. Everyone in the town respects Lady Bountiful for her specialization in herbal medicines. Her daughter Dorinda is young and beautiful and Lady Bountiful is looking for a good suitor for her. Boniface further informs that Lady Bountiful’s son Squire Sullen is a lazy person who does nothing but sleeps, eat, and drink. He recently married a beautiful London girl but it seems she is not happy with Squire Sullen. At the inn, there are some French captive soldiers including Count Bellair, his assistant Foigard, and their priest.
Aimwell tries to win the trust of Boniface by giving him the bag of their 200 pounds to keep in safety that he will take when he leaves the town. Boniface has connections with the local robber Gibbet, Hounslow and Bagshot. He suspects that Aimwell and Archer are thieves and plan to rob their money. He tells his young daughter to tease the servant Archer to gather more information about them while he offers more alcohol to Aimwell trying to pry about him. However, Aimwell is too smart to spill his secrets and Boniface gets nothing. Cherry also tries her best but instead of gathering any information about her father’s interest, she finds herself attracted to Archer and feels she loves him.
Lady Bountiful, her daughter Dorinda, and daughter-in-law Kate Sullen also learn about the new visitors to their town and they are curious about them. Aimwell visits the local church to meet rich Dorinda and impresses her with his etiquette. Dorinda immediately falls in love with this handsome stranger while Kate Sullen finds Archer very attractive. She asks Scrub, her husband’s servant, to invite Archer to their home so that Dorinda may come to know more about Aimwell. Archer visits their home but Dorinda and Kate fail to get any information about Aimwell. However, Kate further falls into Archer’s charm.
Kate is recently married to Squire Sullen but he has no interest in his beautiful wife. Kate and Dorinda attempt to awaken him and make him take interest in Kate as a dutiful loving husband by pretending that Kate is having an extra-marital affair with someone. They chose the captive Count Bellair as a fake lover of Kate. Dorinda informs Sullen about Kate’s (fake) affair and to offer proof, she hides Sullen in a closet so that he may see Kate meeting some stranger with his own eyes. As Count Bellair is brought to their house, hands freed, Sullen rushes out of the closet with his sword in his hand. However, Kate stops him from attacking Bellair by showing him a pistol aimed at him. Sullen gets subdued by his wife but he makes a point that he doesn’t worry if she is having an affair as long as she is not falling for a Frenchman as he detests all Frenchman. Thus, the ruse of Kate and Dorinda fails as Sullen doesn’t care if Kate has an extra-marital affair. As he leaves, Kate informs Count Bellair that it was all a drama and she has no interest in him as she is loyal to her husband. Count Bellair says that even if she is a virtuous lady, she is not honest. He further says that she may call him at any time whenever she needs his help. As Dorinda and Kate’s stratagem proves to be a failure, she gets reckless.
Meanwhile, Archer knocks at Dorinda’s door and informs her that his master is ill as he is suffering a fit. He requests Lady Bountiful to check and cure him. Aimwell feigns a coma but as soon as Dorinda comes to see him, and caringly touches his hand, he regains consciousness and squeezes her beautiful hand. Archer is happy for his master gaining consciousness back but suggests that he is still unwell and must rest at Lady Bountiful’s house for a while. Dorinda and Kate invite them to a tour of their house. Aimwell takes Dorinda away while Kate Sullen finds herself alone with her attractive beau Archer. She is strongly attracted to him especially since her own husband has never touched her since their marriage. As she shows Archer the door of her bed chamber, he enters in and seducingly invites her into her own bed. However, she is determined to keep her conscience and saves herself from falling for Archer.
As Archer leaves, Scrub meets him who has become a friend of Archer a fellow servant. He says that he is worried about his master Squire Sullen as he overheard Foigard, the assistant of Count Bellair bribing Gipsy, the maid of Kate to conceal Beallair in Kate’s bed chamber at night so that he may sully the virtuous lady Kate Sullen. Meanwhile, Boniface connives with Gibbet, Hanslow, and Bagshot to rob the house of Lady Bountiful. After reaching the inn, Archer and Aimwell confront Foigard and the Priest and charge them of treason. They threaten them and in exchange for their silence, they demand that the priest will send Archer in place of Bellair to Kate’s bedroom.
Back at the home, Kate receives the information that her brother Sir Charles Freeman is visiting her to help her get rid of her obnoxious husband. Dorinda is still enjoying the memories of romantic moments she had spent with Aimwell as she dreams of her future as lord Aimwells wife in London. Kate is also thinking of how charming Archer is.
To avoid any struggle, Gibbet makes Squire Sullen tipsy with alcohol at the inn. When Freeman reaches the town, he meets Sullen and starts talking to him without knowing that Sullen is his brother-in-law as the two have never met before.
At night, Archer is shifted to Kate’s bedroom in place of Bellair. Cherry comes to know that the robbers have armed themselves to march and rob Lady Bountiful’s house. She informs Aimwell about their plan. Back at home, Kate is preparing to sleep as she dreams of Archer and moans. Archer notices her and realizes that she is weak for him. He jumps out of the closet in front of her and takes her in his arms. Kate gets frightened and her conscience and shame save her against Archer’s charm. At the same time, Scrub runs into the bedroom and informs that robbers have attacked the house. Archer takes out his sword and as Gibbet enters, he attacks them and subdues them. He calls for the help of Foigard who is hidden in Gipsy’s home to bind Gibbet. Hounslow and Bagshot were robbing Dorinda and Lady Bountiful in another room when Aimwell reached there. He subdues them and saves Dorinda and her mother. Soon Archer and Kate also appear and Archer suggests to Aimwell that it is the right time when he should ask for Dorinda’s hand from Lady Bountiful as she will feel grateful. At the same time, Freeman enters the house and greets his sister Kate. When Archer sees him, he gets frightened because Freeman is one of their friends from London. He thinks Freeman will tell the truth about their fraud. Aimwell, on the other hand, proposes to Dorinda at the same time and honestly tells her that he is no lord. He confesses that he is a fraud, falsely bearing his elder brother’s title. Dorinda accepts Aimwell as he is and soon gets good news from Freeman that the elder brother of Aimwell has suddenly died and now Aimwell is the only heir of his father and dead brother’s estate. Dorinda and Aimwell cherish the news as Lady Bountiful nods for their marriage.
Bellair arrives there and informs that the inn has also been robbed. He gives Archer a letter from Cherry in which she informed him how her father collaborated with robbers and ran away with lord Aimwell’s money. However, Aimwell isn’t worried about that money now when he is a true lord. Freeman reveals that he visited there to get his sister freed from the burden of a marriage where her husband is not at all interested in her. Archer finds the papers of Kate Sullen’s estate in the things that Gibbet robbed. He persuades Sullen to sign the papers of separation with Kate while offering all her estate that he got as dowry back to her. Sullen is still in the effect of alcohol and he signs the papers. Everyone is happy as Aimwell is a true lord now and he has got Dorinda as his wife. Archer is also happy because Aimwell offers all the estate of Dorinda to Archer. Freeman is happy because his sister is free now. Kate is also happy as now she can dream of marrying Archer as the play ends.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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