Pinchwife is a character in flux; a reformed wit/libertine/rover type who now staves off the advances of his former friends toward his wife. He is not credulous like Sparkish, but has a deep knowledge of the city, its habits, and vices. Why is he so inept and unable to convert this knowledge into power? Is it common in Restoration comedy to stage a figure like Pinchwife, too old to revel anymore and trying to settle down, shifting roles from libertine wit to witless cuckold?
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?
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