Definitions of Feminity

In II.i. when Pinchwife enters the play and is responding to the inquisition of Horner and company concerning his wife, we are given an intriguingly "new" (based on our readings so far this semester) slant on how best to value women.  First, Pinchwife insists that his country wife is better than any city wife because, "At least we are a little surer of the breed there, know what her keeping has been, whether foiled or unsound" (p. 13).  Harcourt responds by suggesting that Pinchwife bring her to the city "to be taught breeding."  Can we apply this argument to all of the women in the play?  Are they continually being defined first, by where they were born (and subsequently on the kind of "breeding" they were subject to) and, secondly, by the implied and somewhat more predictable category of how they will breed, that is, how they will choose to have children?

Shortly after the lines mentioned above, Horner and Pinchwife discuss female wit.  Horner asserts that, "wit is more necessary than beauty."  Pinchwife responds, "What is wit in a wife good for, but to make a man cuckold?"  Do these views express a larger social shift in the perception of women?  Can women really be considered when discussing "wits"?  How can this problematize or expand our earlier discussions of what and who a wit can be?  Furthermore, what does this definition of wit and woman (and the possibility of one being both) do for the construct of marriage?