Women in Public

With a title like The Country Wife, one would expect much ado made about coming to town. Yet, the way the male characters carry on with worry about women entering a kind of ‘danger zone,’ I wonder how this place can cause such anxiety: “she and I’ll be rid of the town, and my dreadful apprehensions.” (III,ii) It seems that the connection between economic and sexual freedom is one cause: a husband “had better employ her (a wife) than let her employ herself.” (I,i) Advertising is another concern since it captures a woman’s attention and helps her navigate around town,

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)