Hello and welcome to the Discourse. She Stoops to Conquer was a comedy play written by Oliver Goldsmith that was first performed on 15 March 1773 at Covent Garden Theatre in London. It is considered a laughing comedy that can also be categorized as a comedy of manners. It is a play in 5 acts that tells about the conflict between parents who wish to arrange their children's marriages and children who have ideas of their own. The Prologue of the play was written by David Garrick, a student of Samuel Johnson who became a successful actor and play producer.
The original title of the play was Mistakes of a Night as it tells the story of one long night. However, it was changed to She Stoops to Conquer before it was first staged and it suggests the idea of the main female character pretending to be a barmaid to check if the potential suitor suggested for her is suitable for her or not.
This play is considered the origin of the popular English phrase “Ask me no question and I’ll tell you no lies.”
Characters of She Stoops to Conquer:
Young Charles Marlow is the protagonist of the play. He is the son of Sir Charles Marlow and belongs to a respectable and aristocratic family in the town. Marlow is a young, well-educated, sophisticated man with a strange contradictory character. While he is modest and shy around the women of upper-class society, he becomes lecherous, lively, and excitable in conversation with barmaids or other low-class women. Mr. Hardcastle is the patriarch of the Hardcastle family. He is a friend of Sir Charles Marlow who invites his son Young Marlow to meet his daughter Kate as a suitor and wishes them to marry. Mrs. Hardcastle is the wife of Mr. Hardcastle and an over-protective mother of Tony Lumpkin, her son from an early marriage. Constance Neville is an orphan whose only inheritance is a set of jewels in the care of her aunt Mrs. Hardcastle who treats her well but wishes her to marry Tony Lumpkin, but Constance wants to marry George Hastings.
George is a friend of Marlow who loves Constance and is willing to marry her even without her money. Kate Hardcastle is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs Hardcastle. She is the lead female character of the play who can maintain the simplicity of country life and the modern values of the town together.
Summary of She Stoops to Conquer:
She Stoops to Conquer is a Five Act play that begins with a Prologue in which a comedy actor Mr. Woodward appears on the stage and laments that comedy is supposedly dead. He hopes that Goldsmith’s play will make him laugh, thereby bringing the comic arts back to life.
Act 1:
Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle live in a grand old house. Their daughter Kate is a grown-up young girl who is of the age of marriage. The play begins as Mrs. Hardcastle complains to Mr. Hardcastle that he never takes her outside to see the modern developments happening in the city. Mr. Hardcastle says that he loves old things, like his wife. Mrs. Hardcastle retorts that she was a young woman at the time of the birth of Tony, her son from her first husband, who is not even twenty-one now. Mr. Hardcastle says that he is worried about Tony who is too immature and continues to indulge in pranks. Tony is preparing to visit a pub but her mother tries to stop him but he goes away.
Meanwhile, Kate appears on the stage and Mr. Hardcastle objects to her modern clothes. Kate reminds him about their deal. Kate dresses according to the wishes of her father in the evenings and in the mornings, she dresses for her friends. Mr. Hardcastle informs her that the son of his friend Charles Marlow, Young Marlow is visiting their home to meet her. He tells her that Marlow is handsome, well-educated, and modest. Kate doesn’t like modesty in men though. Constance is in the care of Mrs. Hardcastle who wishes her son Tony Lumpkin to marry Constance because she holds some valuable jewels as the inheritance of Constance that is meant for her dowry. Mrs. Hardcastle wishes to keep the family jewels within the family. However, Tony and Constance do not love each. Constance has a beloved and he is also expected to come along with Marlow. Kate discusses with Constance her father fixing a marriage with an awkwardly modest man. Constance too complains that Kate’s mother is insisting she marry Tony whom she doesn’t love.
Tony isn’t interested in money and inheritance and he prefers a simple low living, spending his time in pubs. At the pub, he meets two strangers who ask for a room for rent. Tony decides to play a prank and says that there is no free room available at the pub but the strangers may find lodging at the old inn down the road, which in fact, is the house of Mr. Hardcastle. These two strangers are Young Marlow and his friend George Hastings.
Act II:
Marlow and Hastings reach the old house and while Mr. Hardcastle recognizes Marlow, Marlow is unaware and believes that Mr. Hardcastle is the innkeeper and not his host. As a result, he treats him badly and chastises him for the old and outdated look and upkeeping of the inn, which in fact, is the house of Mr. Hardcastle. Mr. Hardcastle is shocked at the behavior of Marlow as he believed that Marlow is a polite and genteel young man.
Meanwhile, Kate and Constance come and meet the two young men. Since it is morning time, Kate is dressed in an expensive modern dress. Marlow has a peculiar tendency of being too shy and awkward in front of rich young ladies and thus he draws back. He feels so shy that he refuses to look at the faces of Kate and Constance. Constance on the other hand, recognizes Hastings. Hastings informs her that someone said that it is an inn. Constance realizes that it must be a prank of Tony. Hastings and Constance decide to keep the truth from Marlow because they think revealing it will upset him and ruin the trip.
Kate observes Marlow and finds him awkward but exciting and decides to explore his true character. Constance plans to elope with Hastings but before that, she wishes to take the jewels which are her inheritance. When Tony arrives, Hastings asks for his help and they decide that Tony will steal the jewels for Hastings so that he can be rid of his mother's pressure to marry Constance, whom he doesn't love.
Act III:
After meeting Marlow and observing his rude behavior, Mr. Hardcastle is disappointed and he tells Kate that he no more believes that Marlow can be a good match for her. Kate insists that Marlow appears to be much more than what her father and she have observed till now and asks her father for the chance to show him that Marlow is more than both beliefs.
Meanwhile, Tony steals the old jewels of Constance’s inheritance from his mother’s locker. However, neither Constance nor Mrs. Hardcastle are aware of that. Constance decides to ask her aunt to hand over the jewels to her but Mrs. Hardcastle is not willing to do so. When Tony sees Constance begging for the jewels he already stole to hand them over to Hastings, he conspires another prank. He suggests his mother pretend that the jewels have been misplaced, or stolen to dissuade Constance from her demand. Unaware of the jewels actually being stolen, Mrs. Hardcastle agrees to play the trick.
As the afternoon approaches, Kate decides to change her dress and wear some plain clothes of her father’s liking. When Marlow sees the girl in plain dress, he believes that she is a barmaid of the inn and as per his peculiar liking, he confidently confronts the barmaid and lecherously flirts with her. Mr. Hardcastle is observing all this and he gets angry. But before he may overreact, Kate stops them and takes them away. She asks her father to wait till the night and she will prove by then that Marlow can be both lively and moderate at the same time.
Act IV
Tony handover the stolen jewels to Hastings who decides to give them to Marlow for safekeeping. However, Marlow is unaware of their plan and he still believes that they are living in an inn. So he places the jewels in a basket and gives the basket to Mrs. Hardcastle for safekeeping. The servant of the house brings news that Sir Charles Marlow is visiting his friend Mr. Hardcastle’s home. When Hastings listens to this, he gets frightened as he thinks that Sir Charles Marlow will recognize him and that his plan to elope with Constance will be jeopardized. He decides to run away with Constance much before Sir Charles Marlow may arrive. He goes to Young Marlow and asks for the jewels. Marlow informs him that he has given them to the landlady of the inn for safekeeping. When Hastings learns this, he realizes his plan to elope with wealth is over, and decides he must convince Constance without the jewels as he is willing to marry her without any dowry.
Meanwhile, Marlow again treats Mr. Hardcastle with much more impertinence. Mr. Hardcastle gets too angry and kicks Marlow out of his house. Marlow gets confused about what is happening and gradually, he starts realizing that he has been tricked and has been made a fool of himself. Outside Mr. Hardcastle’s house, Marlow sees Kate who is now in simple plain clothes. Kate tells him that she is a poor relative of Mr. Hardcastle. Marlow feels that she is very attractive and he loves her but realizes that his father won’t allow him to marry her as she is of poor standing and cannot bring any dowry and thus he decides to let her go out of his mind.
Meanwhile, Hastings writes a letter to Constance, urging her to arrive at the nearby park from where he plans to elope with her. Unfortunately, that letter reaches Mrs. Hastling’s hands and when she comes to know about the plan, she gets furious and decides to take Constance to the park by herself so that she may come to know who is trying to elope with her. Both Marlow and Hastings are deeply disappointed when they meet each other again and soon their disappointment turns into a heated altercation. However, Tony arrives at the scene and calms them down. He promises that he will solve Hasting’s problems.
Act V:
Sir Charles Marlow arrives at Mr. Hardcastle's house and finds Hastings there. Mr. Hardcastle informs him about the bad behavior of his son. Hastings reveals how Marlow was fooled to believe that Mr. Hardcastle is an innkeeper and that his old home is an inn. When Sir Charles Marlow comes to know about this, he and Hastings laugh at how Marlow was fooled while he thinks too smart of himself. However, Mr. Hardcastle is still angry at Young Marlow’s misbehavior. Young Marlow arrives at his house and apologizes for his misbehavior and says that he hasn’t even seen Kate yet. Mr. Hardcastle says that he is a liar because he saw him flirting and trying to embrace Kate in a lecherous manner. Marlow gets confused again and goes outside, wondering what is happening.
Meanwhile, Kate arrives at the scene and convinces her father and Sir Charles Marlow to let her interview Young Marlow while they may observe her meeting with Young Marlow hidden behind a screen. She calls Marlow in and as it is evening time, she is wearing her plain clothes. However, she doesn’t pretend to be a barmaid this time, rather she talks in her normal voice. She expresses her affection for Marlow and asks him to marry her. Marlow too expresses that he likes her and would love to spend his life with her but says that he cannot marry her nor wishes to pursue her romantically because he does not think his family will allow him to marry a poor girl. He does not wish to disappoint his father. Kate then says that he should not worry about it because she belongs to the same class as the girl belongs to whom he came to meet. When Marlow listens to this, he bows down on his knees and proposes to Kate, without yet knowing that she is Kate. At this point, Mr. Hardcastle and Sir Charles Marlow remove the screen behind which they were hiding and burst out in loud laughs. Sir Charles Marlow questions Young Marlow why he lied about his feelings for Kate and said that he hasn’t seen her yet while now he is confessing his love to her? Marlow then realizes that he has been fooled twice and feels embarrassed again, yet he is happy that he is about to marry the same girl he actually loves.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Hardcastle takes Constantine to the park where Hastings is waiting for her. However, in place of Hastings, they see another man who is Tony in disguise. Disguised as a supposed lover of Constance, Tony teases Mrs. Hardcastle and makes her and Constance run behind him in rough circles of the park. After some time, Mrs. Hardcastle gets too much tired and feels that they have come far away from the park. Tony then goes inside the park and informs Hastings that her mother is too tired now and he can easily elope with Constance. Hastings goes to take Constance but after meeting her, decides that they should not elope but ask Mr. Hardcastle’s blessings for their marriage.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Hardcastle sees a man coming towards them from the highway. Since it is getting dark, she fails to recognize him and gets frightened that he must be some highwayman and runs back home. At home, she informs that Constance has eloped with her lover but she is happy that now she will keep the old jewels in her own custody. Constance and Hastings return home at the same time and ask Mr. Hardcastle to let them marry as they love each other. Constance tells him that she and Tony do not love each other and they do not wish to marry. Sir Charles Marlow convinces Mr. Hardcastle that Hastings is a good and honest young man. Mr. Hardcastle calls Tony and asks him if he really doesn’t wish to marry Constance to which Tony says that he doesn’t love her but since he is underage, he cannot decide by himself. Mr. Hardcastle then says that Mrs. Hardcastle is hiding the fact that Tony is already twenty-one years old and can take his decisions by himself. Tony then confirms that he doesn’t wish to marry Constance and frees her to marry Hastings. Everyone is happy then as Marlow is engaged to marry Kate while Constance and Hastings get the blessings of Mr. Hardcastle and Sir Charles Marlow for their marriage. However, Mrs. Hardcastle is a bit sad that now she will have to offer the old jewels of her family to Hastings, as the dowry of Constance.
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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