Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Man of Mode
In Act III scene ii, Harriet and Busy discuss female “powdering, painting, and patching,” sparked by Harriet’s refusal to let Busy fix her hair and Busy’s mention of a Lady Dapper who, by opposite, is obsessively particular about her looks. Busy admits that Dapper is “too pretending,” while Harriet compares a woman who pretends beauty to a man who pretends wit. Is there a female “fop” figure? And, if so, is Harriet touching on a typical aspect of that character?
Witty Title
Is Man of Mode typical of restoration drama? Is the superficial subjects, numerous characters of “ill-repute” and “whorish” nature standard? Just wondering…
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Man of Mode II
Man of Mode I
The Man of Mode
2. Early in the play, love/marriage and religion are repeatedly and critically compared. Medley states: “I confess I am but of an untoward constitution, apt to have doubts and scruples; and in love they are no less distracting than in religion. Were I so near marriage, I should cry out by fits as I ride in my coach, ‘Cuckold, cuckold!’ with no less fury than the mad fanatic does ‘Glory!’ in Bethlem” (1.1). Love/marriage and religion are presented as equal sources of anxiety, insecurity, and even madness. What does this interrogation of two such “sacred” institutions say for assumptions about love/marriage and religion? What is Etherege doing by presenting this seemingly sacrilegious comparison? How does the placement of this comparison early in the play set the mood and response of the audience to the following love/marriage plots? Meanwhile, religion is hardly mentioned again in later acts. What is it doing here?
Class Business
Also, I have a number of historical questions: How common would it be to see masked women on the street? What was the developing social understanding of male/male homosexuality? Or, what was the developing social understanding of male/male friendships? Everyone seems to be off to do some kind of 'business' all the time... what sort of 'business'? There seems to be this developing mystery surrounding what men do when out on 'business'. Why?
An attempt to make connections
Man of Mode
Harriet and Mrs. Loveit seem to be the only two characters who see through Dorimant's charades. Harriet concedes that Dorimant is "agreeable and pleasant," though insists he is false: "he does so much affect being so, he displeases me" (124). Mrs. L. recognizes D.'s contrived jealousy, which he uses to have reason to distance himself from her: "he is not jealous, but I will make him so, and be revenged a way he little thinks on" (129). What enables these womens' insights to D's true nature, while others have the wool pulled over their eyes?
Acts of physical, material, and verbal self creation -- represented as elaborate and necessary social deceptions -- abound in The Man of Mode. Is "honesty" even possible here, or is every representation/interaction simply part of an elaborate game of gaining cultural capital?
Dorimant {taking the peach} (I,i)
Fanning the Flame
Many in The Man of Mode relish vexing the opposite sex, and no object appears to signal the flurry that ensues more so than the fan. Dorimant introduces how this gadget functions early on, “I have not had the pleasure of making a woman so much as break her fan, to be sullen, or forswear herself, these three days.” (I,i). Next, Medley announces how this masque (vizard) serves the victim, “She could not have picked out a devil upon earth so proper to torment her. H’as made her break a dozen or two of fans already, tear half a score points to pieces and destroy hoods and knots without number.” (II,i) But fans are also used as tools for etiquette class, as in the scene between Young Bellair and Harriet where its uses are unlimited, “At one motion play your fan, roll your eyes, and then settle a kind look upon me,” and Now spread your fan, look down upon it, and tell the sticks with a finger.” Further on, the acting lesson continues, but this time the stunts are more physically challenging, “Clap your fan, then both in your hands, snatch it to your mouth, smile, and with a lively motion fling your body a little forwards. So! Now spread it, fall back on the sudden, cover your face with it, and break out into a loud laughter.—Take up! Look grave and fall a-fanning to yourself. Admirably well acted!” (III,ii) How are woman associated or compared with the kind of instrument they use for deception?
It’s Not About You, Sir!
The Man of the Mode is meant not so much to satirize a type of character as to mirror the audience’s adjustment with the period by pointing out it “represents ye all.” In both the Prologue and the Epilogue, London’s manners and attitudes are being wrestled with, where on “the stage like you, will be more foppish grow.” This organic relationship of stage/audience/stage keeps renewing afresh, “’tis not so wise an age/But your own follies may supply the stage.” Scroope and Dryden are clear that neither make judgments upon the other because, like playwrights, “men grow dull when they begin to be particular.” (III,iii) Instead, this play reveals the time and place’s interest with itself, but not to the detriment of isolating the individual from the whole, “Yet every man is safe from what he feared,/For no one fool is hunted from the herd.”
The Man of Mode
Each of these characters seems to have ties to the country, or have strong knowledge of it. When the dances are played, the constantly refer to the music as the "country fiddle". I assume this was popular for the time, but is it popular for a group of people who lie on the fringe of the city? Was it more popular in the country? For people who seem to detest the country, it seems strange to me that the popular music seems to come from there.
Topicality and Ill-fashioned fellows
What is the purpose of the intrusion of "four ill-fashioned fellows" smelling of tobacco and coffee houses in III.iii? Are they merely meant to highlight the gentility of the play's main characters, particularly Sir Fopling who appears in the scene, or are they acting as a kind of parody of the men about town?
The Men of Mode
What does "of mode" mean? Is Old Bellair's use of it in Act V Scene 2 complentary of derogitory?
Women and Letters
Dorimant sends a number of letters throughout the play. For example, he sends Mrs. Loveit a letter, all the while setting her up for a fight and end to their relationship. Dorimant also receives a letter from Molly, who appears to be a prostitute. What are the roles of these letters in the larger scope of the play? Why does Etherege include such letters? What rhetorical and theatrical purposes do they serve?
Out with the old...
Sin as a means of social mobility
Is this perception of specific vices as belonging to specific classes a Restoration representation of "blue collar" and "white collar" immorality? (A fruitful comparison might be made to De Flores in "The Changeling".)
Monday, December 3, 2007
Commerce and Acting in A Man of Mode
In 3.2, Harriet and Young Bellair “instruct” each other’s “look and gestures” in order to pretend to be lovers. Bellair claims it was “admirably well acted!” (116). In 3.3, Harriet teases Dorimant, and “Acts him,” asking “is this not like you?” (126). It seems all the more self-referential to have the characters engage in this sort of play. How is this sort of “acting” different from what we’ve seen before? Is it more like "mimicking," which is a phrase that pops up occasionally in the play? What does it suggest about the society of A Man of Mode, and about those watching the play?
Selling Oranges, Selling Information
Within the first scene, we are thrust into a sort of “commerce of gossip” with the character of the (rather sassy) orange-woman. When Dorimant refuses her fruit, she provokes him with hints about Harriet’s arrival in town, and he in turn refuses to pay her until she divulges more information. In a play full of the romps and romances of the idle rich, I am intrigued by the role of this lower-class woman, as well as the various footmen, servants, etc. in the play. Is the gossip in this play truly like an economy on its own? What do we make of the orange-woman’s character and her place in this universe?
Rhetorically Drunk
After being chastised by Dorimant, the Shoemaker says something interesting; "You would engross the sins o' the nation" (I.i. p.96). Is he pointing out something like a trend of appropriation by dispossession? Or are the Shoemaker's lines indicative of a call for the end of an aristocratic moral hypocrisy?
Reputation; Fops a la Francaise
With all the pressure put on fops in this play (the staging of, debates over, commentaries on, etc.), how much are fops stand-ins for cultural dismissals of French style and fashion? Are fops just another body through which anti-French humor (an English theatrical staple) is transmitted?
Modes of malice and self-analysis
"Malice," "Malicious" and other forms of the word are used frequently in "Man of Mode," sometimes in ways that suggest the fun of being malicious. Is this an amoral world that delights in malice, and if so, is it in any way "redeemed" by the end of the play? (I'm thinking of Dorimant's surprising kindness to the women he's thrown over.)
Self-Analysis
The characters take self-conscious pains to scrutinize their own and everyone else's behavior, going so far as to describe and enact gestural minutia. Does this tendency to "tell, not show" or to "narrate the action" seem like an effective use of a medium (the theater) that exists as a world of show? What does it show us beyond the "manners" being satirized?
Deep Play
Etherege's Senex
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Poor Mrs. Pinchwife
Would it have been possible for Mr. and Mrs. Pinchwife to get divorced? In V.iv, Mrs. Pinchwife notes that “every day, at London here, women leave their first husbands, and go and live with other men as their wives” (210-11). At the end of the scene, she laments, “I must be a country wife still too, I find, for I can’t, like a city one, be rid of my musty husband and do what I list” (389-91). Is this simply a sign of Mrs. Pinchwife’s “country” ignorance? Even Mr. Pinchwife states that he must be a husband “against [his] will, to a country wife”—what is keeping them together?
Jokes--I like jokes...
On the other hand, Pinchwife seems to be a bumbling idiot and that seems to be where satire fits in. Margery makes a fool of decorum, cits, and rules of sophistication. Is the plot with Pinchwife meant to counteract Horner’s situation? Or are the two supposed to play and affect the other (in a way that I’m missing)?
The Country Wife
Also, Horner notes "A foolish rival and a jealous husband assist their rival's designs." Does this hint at a judgment about who is the greater fool in the play - one who knows he is being cuckholded or one who doesn't? The play shows that neither blind trust nor extreme scrutiny are effective methods of assuring a wife's fidelity. Does it suggest there are any effective methods or are women presumed to always cheat regardless of their husbands' behavior?
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Publicity and Secrecy
Definitions of Feminity
Beasts and Baggage
2. Throughout the play, Pinchwife constantly refers to his wife as “baggage”: “Come, how was’t, baggage?” (4.2.49). She, on the other hand, constantly refers to him as “bud.” What effect does the use and repetition of these “pet names” have? How do they characterize Mr. and Mrs. Pinchwife, their motives, and their tactics for dealing with one another?
Country Wife
Also, is Horner wealthy? He seemed to have money and could afford oranges (which I assume were fairly expensive), but I didn't understand how he would come about this money. And, while he was a man of some prestige--what right would he have to claim the company of Pinchwife's "brother in-law"? Wouldn't Pinchwife have the right to the final say in that, or is he overruled because he is from the country?
Finally, how is the dictated letter that Mrs. Pinchwife wrote completely let go? By the end, everyone forgot about it--Poor Mr. Horner.
The Country Wife II
Does Alithea's concept of "honor" differ from that of the other women in the play? While Lady Fidget and company seem to value sign over substance insofar as "reputation" and "honor" are concerned, Alithea turns down Harcourt's sexual advances even though she could likely emerge from the liaison right under the nose of her unwitting husband-to-be -- and with society's perception of her honor intact. She also seems unusually earnest when she declares Sparkish a man "whom my justice will not suffer me to deceive or injure." Does Alithea ultimately hold herself to a standard of "honor" which values some internal code of ethics rather than others' perceptions of her sexual purity? How does this compare to other discussions of "honor" we've seen?
The Country Wife I
Suspect sexuality?
Flirting in the country
The Country Wife
The characters in The Country Wife and Wycherly (particularly in his stage directions) are particularly interested in physical location. Covent Garden, Russell Street, Cheapside, The New Exchange, Hampshire, Chateline's, and many other locations are being constantly referenced throughout the play. Is speaking the symbolic language of these places a form of cultural competence? Is Mrs. Pinchwife's lack of familiarity with London geography meant to portray her as 'ignorant' of culture? How does that relate to her husbands disconnect from the events of the city (as he returns from the country) that are highlighted in Harcourt's line, "He's come newly to town, it seems, and has not heard how things are with him [Horner]" (II.i)?
Women in Public
Said I, “I know where the best new sign is.” “Where?” says one of the ladies. “In Covent Garden,” I replied.” “Lord,” says another, “I’m sure there was ne’er a fine new sign there yesterday.” (I,i)
To further illustrate the contentious nature of the city, conflicting economic places are used to injure men and women’s relationships, “To beat his wife, he’s as jealous of her as a Cheapside husband of a Covent Garden wife.” (I,i) Immediately after this scene, Alithea lists the names of parks and shopping malls to educate Mrs. Pinchwife about where to go, which only aggravates her “passion for the town.” (V,ii) “Why sister, Mulberry Garden and St. James’s Park; and for close walks, the New Exchange.” (II,i) The act of stating specific places gets Pinchwife in such a tizzy as to anxiously call London “a frontier town.” (IV, ii) His only way out is to physically prevent his wife from going anywhere or seeing anyone, “but our wives, like their writings, never safe but in our closets under lock and key.” (V,ii) Yet, this kind of containment only ends up keeping the country wife ignorant of her surroundings and perhaps in more danger than if he had given her a street map, “I don’t know the way home, so I don’t.” (V,iv)
The Audience in the Play
Current Debates and the Town vs. Country
In William Wycherley’s The Country Wife, the characters often mention and/or go to fashionable locales, such as the theater and The New Exchange. This contrasts with the knowledge and experience of Mrs. Pinchwife, who is a naïve country woman with little experience in urban affairs. Mr. Pinchwife wants to prevent his wife from taking on any sophistication or habits of city life: he says, “Ay, my dear, you must love me only, and not be like the naughty town-women, who only hate their husbands and love every man else, love plays, visits, fine coaches, fine clothes, fiddles, balls, treats, and so lead a wicked town-life” (2.1.17). We later find that the town does corrupt Mrs. Pinchwife, in her love for Mr. Horner. But is this a simple case of country purity contrasted with town deviance? Why does Wycherley contrast the cultures of the two places? Which place, town or country, does he seem to support through his characters and their actions? Or, is he critiquing both cultures?
Class Warfare?
Collier and the Anti-Theatrical Tradition
Collier's inflammatory rhetoric seems to borrow a great deal from pre-war critics of the theatre (Puritan and otherwise); both use appeals to the authority of classical writers, both concede the argument that theatre could serve to properly edify the populace rather than corrupt it, both bring up the lewdness of the stage, and both decry in particular the effects of the theatre on the women of the city. But it seems that Collier -- and his opponents -- seem far less interested in the potential theological challenges that the theatre presents and instead take a heightened interest in its sexual license, especially the appearance of women in the audience and on the stage. Is this a reflection of the plays or the times or both? Is it possible to link Collier's perspective on the theatre to those of his early 1600s precursors?
Monday, November 26, 2007
The Country Wife
Throughout the play, city life in London is associated with passion, lust and love, posing great danger to a jealous husband. The country, on the other hand, represents safety from adultery. Have city and country spaces had the same symbolism in other plays we've read this semester?
Forcing Female Authorship, Forbidding Female Reading
A "Bellyful of Sights"
Playgoing and Fidelity in The Country Wife
Playing and Playgoing in The Country Wife
I was struck by how many references to playgoing there were in The Country Wife. Sparkish mentions seeing a new play and sitting in what he calls “the wit’s row” (1.1, p. 12). In 3.2, he explains this as the place where the “wits” sit and “are so often louder than the players because we think we speak more wit, and so become the poet’s rivals” (p. 33). Pinchwife takes his new bride to the theater, but sits in the “eighteen-penny place” rather than the choice seats so as to hide her beauty from his friends (2.1, p. 14). While there, Mrs. Pinchwife is obviously enamored of the actors, who are “the goodliest, properest men” (2.1, p. 16), causing a lengthy conversation about the dangers of the playhouses (she may lust after the players, and she may be lusted after by men in the audience). Mrs. Squeamish mentions men who keep “little playhouse creatures” (2.1, p. 23). Pinchwife says a mask is “as ridiculous a disguise as a stage-beard” (3.1, p. 31), and Mrs. Pinchwife tries to buy two plays (3.2, p. 35).
Although metatheatrical elements abound in 17th century drama, we haven’t seen such direct interaction with the processes of playgoing in anything we’ve read so far. In a play so concerned with seeing and being seen, how might we understand the social aspects of the playhouse in the Restoration? Is Wycherley making jokes at the expense of his audience by having Sparkish in particular believe himself a wit that might talk back to the actors? Pinchwife sees the theater as decidedly corrupting for a number of reasons, yet risks exposing his wife to the eyes of libertine men to see a play. How do these references function in the play? Is it just another fashionable thing to do (like going to restaurants, walking around parks, etc.), or might it be a self-referential joke?
Fidelity Testing and the Dangers of Display
The triangle of Sparkish, Alithea, and Harcourt was interesting to me because it reminded me of the fidelity tests we have seen in the past. I am particularly thinking of Shirley’s Hyde Park, where Trier insists Lord Bonville spend time with his fiancé Julietta to test her love, only to loose her to his rival. The main difference in The Country Wife is that Sparkish is so concerned with showing off his fiancé that has no idea he is testing Ailthea’s fidelity, and Ailthea continually insists that Harcourt is seducing her and is loyal to a fault. Indeed, Ailthea is the only woman who does not lie and plot in the entire play.
Why this inversion? At the simplest level it is quite amusing, as it sets up Sparkish against Pinchwife, and aligns him with Sir Jasper Fidget. Sparkish explains it thus: “That [Harcourt] makes love to you is a sign you are handsome; and that I am not jealous is a sign you are virtuous” (3.2, p. 36). Things become even more complicated with the letter business to Horner, causing Ailthea to see Sparkish as a jealous man (all through the machinations of the maid Lucy). Is this a warning for men to keep their wives under a watchful eye, and be aware of the dangers of displaying a wife? A suggestion that women assert themselves in their choice of husband? What do we make of the maid Lucy’s role in all this?
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Soldiering Women and the Limits of Wit
Like Tim, I was surprised at how many times Pinchwife says that he knows the city, "But I think I know the town" (III.ii. p.31), yet he does not make use of his knowledge for his own gain. Spurred on by his recounting of what city life is like, Mrs. Pinchwife develops a yearning for plays and other things that living in the city entails. If Pinchwife does know the city, he is a different type of wit than those of Jonson's Epicoene. Is he just less successful at navigating the social landscape? Or are there important changes in the social life of London that demand more than just wit? This play seems to imply that things like cuckoldry are inevitable; if it is not by one person, a man will be cuckolded by another. Wit enables a character like Horner to manipulate the senes, yet he still must sacrifice some power, both to the men and the women. I wonder does Pinchwife really know the town? Does anyone?
Aging Wits & Sexual Politics in The Country Wife
How much sexual power do women attain in The Country Wife? I would argue that it’s a significant amount. Though Horner willingly undergoes social humiliation to cover up his sexual conquest, scenes like 4.3 and 5.4 depict Horner’s subjugation to female sexual power. (What I want to emphasize is that the would-be sexual “hero,” like Behn’s Willmore, is as much a subject to sexual power as he is a commander of it). With her husband in the next room, Lady Fidget goes in to Horner for a “pretty piece of china,” and Mrs. Squeamish demands, “I’ll have some china too.” The ensuing dialogue complicates the typical trope of female acquisitiveness for commodities; Horner is made a willing sex item that women seize. In the final scene, Horner becomes exactly the kind of plaything for the women that he vowed he would only pretend to be. Moreover, female sexual honor is preserved/excused at play’s end, not just Horner’s. Is Wicherley taking a ploy originally devised for a privileged male and making it do more work for the female characters?