OLIVER GOLDSMITH: SHE STOOPS to CONQUER (ABOUT THE PLAY)

OLIVER GOLDSMITH: SHE STOOPS to CONQUER

(ABOUT THE PLAY)

AUTHOR’S BACKGROUND

            Goldsmith was born in Ireland, in 1728 of Anglo-Irish parents. His father, Charles Goldsmith, was a poor clergyman. Oliver was not a handsome boy because he had a small-pox scarred face which was always an object of ridicule by his peer. This made his childhood altogether unhappy. He started school very early and by the age of sixteen, he entered Trinity College, Dublin, as a sizar – an undergraduate who receives assistance from the college for his maintenance    . He left Dublin in 1749 with a pass degree after a career that was not particularly smooth.

In spite of his poverty, Oliver was like his father, generous and kind almost to a fault. When his father died (1747), he managed to continue his studies through the help of his uncle. His father had wanted him to be a pastor like himself, but he was rejected by the church. He then spent the following two years virtually nothing worthwhile. He went round the town and villages, fishing and playing the flute, and amusing children along his way. He visited ale-houses and wasted the little money he had on him. In 1752, his uncle managed to send him to Edinburge to study medicine. He stayed there for just two years, abandoned his studies and went to Leyden in Holland.

From Leyden, he went to several places in Europe before returning to England in 1756 as a poor man. He started writing a few things which he sold to keep himself going. He claimed that he qualified abroad as a doctor, and thereafter called himself ‘Doctor Goldsmith’. At any rate, he was more known as a literary writer than a medical man. As from 1759, he produced a good number of writings on issues like education, travels, humour and critical review. In 1766, he published The Vicar of Wakefield, a gentle satire which succeeded as a novel.  The poem, ‘The Deserted Village’, came out in 1770.  His first play is The Good Natur’d Man, which was acted at the Convent Garden Theatre in 1768. Though not a complete failure, the play did not attract much success. His instant success came with the publication of She Stoops to Conquer in 1773. It was first acted at Convent Garden Theatre in London on 15^th March, 1773. He died at the age of 45 on 4^th April 1774.

TEXTUAL BACKGROUND

The play, She Stoops to Conquer, belongs to the literary age known as restoration period. It was written and first acted in 1773. The period is tagged restoration, in relation to the restoration of the monarchy in England 11 years after the death of Charles I, whose son, Charles II replaced. Besides, the banned stage performance was disbanded that same time.  

She Stoops to Conquer is a comedy of manners, that is, a social satire. The play satirizes the negative effects of social stratification created as a result of the industrial culture of the time. The wealthy and the educated formed the upper class, and the lower class comprised of the servants, ordinary fellows and the rustic people in the society. There was no socio-economic mobility.

The upper class considered travelling as part of its social development. Mrs. Hardcastle is a good example of this class. But to Mr. Hardcastle, travelling to cities pollutes good people of the countryside.

Goldsmith has successfully criticized the attitude of the upper as sentimental, and the love in marriage is artificial. Marriage is arranged between families in the upper class, and wealth is the only condition for marriage. Finally, the play reveals and condemns class system or class polarization in all its ramifications in the society.

PLOT

The plot of She Stoop to Conquer is rooted in the personal experience of the author while He was a student. He was returning from school with 21 shillings (N2.10K) on him when he checked into a country gent’s house mistaking it for an inn. The gent realizes his mistake, took adequate care of him without disclosing to him the true situation. The hospitality lavished on him was so much to the extent that the gent joined him at dinner, prepared his bedroom and adhered to strictly to his instructions on breakfast. It was on his last day when he was to pay his bill that he discovered his mistakes which of course caused him no regret.

It is this experience that is transformed and recreated in She Stoops to Conquer. Marlow and Hastings are on their way to the Hardcastles’, in the countryside. They miss their way and stop at The Three Pigeons to find their way or to have a stop-over till the next morning. It is from Tony Lumpking, Mr. Hardcastle’s stepson that they inquire about Hardcastle’s place. Tony deliberately misleads them by telling them to go into an inn because Hardcastle’s house, where they are going is far and that there is no vacant room at The Three Pigeons. Tony does this to punish his stepfather for the derogatory terms the latter uses to address him.

Mr. Hardcastle expects his would-be son-in-law, Marlow, son of his friend, to be respectful and well-cultured, though bashful young man and not just a lodger who behaves abnormally. The place being described as an inn does not allow Marlow to see Kate as his fiancé but as a barmaid. Courtesy is inadvertently missed in Marlow. This disturbs Mr. Hardcastle but he manages to tolerate him thinking perhaps it is the way young people now behave.

Marlow’s formal meeting with Kate is a terrible flop for him, as he is unable to discuss coherently with Kate.  He feels so shy that he lacks the courage to look at Kate’s face. He later mistakes her for a barmaid after she has changed into a simple dress. While Kate is in this simple dress, Marlow is able to woo her passionately considering her to be a maidservant.  Kate decides to play maidservant to keep the courtship going with him having realized that Marlow can continue with the love until he discovers his mistakes and then he made to adjust himself to her. In other words, Kate decides to ‘stoop’ low to the position of a maidservant to conquer the fear and lack of confidence in her suitor, which can deny her the opportunity of having a husband that her father has chosen for her.

There is a minor subplot of Hastings and Counstance love affair.  This complements Marlow-Kate love interaction. Hastings accompanies Marlow purposely to see Miss Counstance Neville and complete their elopement arrangement to France. The plan goes against the intention of Mrs. Hardcastle who is courting her niece for her son, Tony Lumpking, because of the girl’s inherited fortune in jewels. Tony and Counstance do not favour the marriage plan. They therefore play tricks on Mrs. Hardcastle to frustrate the arrangement.

The arrival of Sir Charles Marlow at Hardcastle’s place brings about the revelation of the actual truth of why young Marlow behaves abnormally. The love between Marlow and Kate is accepted and sealed by both parents. Nothing prevents Counstance Neville from marrying Hasting and Tony Lumpking gains his liberty to choose in future to marry any girl he likes.

The play ends well and with a happy mood for all the major characters except Mrs. Hardcastle who is disappointed because she falls to accomplish her selfish ambition.

SETTING

She Stoops to Conquer has it geographical or space setting in the countryside of England. The movement of the major character is either from London to the countryside or within the countryside, i.e. from Mr. Hardcastle’s place to The Three Pigeons. The period of time setting is the rustic age of the countryside of the eighteen century. The social setting depicts polarity in the society. There is the upper class which forms a close set and does not open to people of the lower class. The gap between the two classes prevents social and economic mobility. This exemplified by the relationship between Hardcastle, his wife, Kate, Marlow, Hastings, Neville as distinguished from that of the servants – Dig, Omnes and fellow.

The economic or occupational setting shows the people of the countryside as farmers, Mr. Hardcastle has servant working in his farm. With this rural setting, the author effectively contrasts the situation of the upper class with that of rustics.

THEME

She Stoops to Conquer has love as its major theme. The play presents love and marriage among the upper class as an artificial one as it is arranged by parents. The young sons and daughters of Goldsmith’ period as satirized in the play are deprived of individual rights to choose their partners. The choice is made by parents and restricted to the upper class. Love of vanity and craziness for material wealth is seen as a minor theme in this play. Mrs. Hardcastle is a good example of people who lust for vanity.

Another minor theme is that of bad upbringing, over-pampering, over-protection, and carefree attitude of the upper class members. Tony is over pampered by his mother and he becomes a nuisance to her. Girls are over pampered as seen in Kate’s experience.

CHARACTERERIZATION

The playwright, Oliver Goldsmith, allows us to see the weaknesses of the upper class through the appropriate characterization. He appoints flat characters to criticize the rigid nature of the upper class. All the characters can be predicted right from the beginning of the play.

·        Mr. Hardcastle                                                                                                                  

He is a typical country gentleman. He represents the upper class in the society. He is rich and lives a comfortable life with his people. He is contented with country life, but detests city life because he considers city life as polluting. He is conscious of his class, thus he chooses a husband and dresses for Kate, his daughter. He also teaches his servants how to wait on guests on table. He is very fond of old upper class jokes which give the impression of a life of the past noble connections. He gives Kate to Marlow in marriage to sustain continuity of material benefit and class perpetuation. Mr. Hardcastle, despite his social class, values and the way he preaches moral, is contemptuous of the waywardness of Tony Lumpking, his stepson.

·        Mr. Hardcastle

She symbolizes those upper class women who always crazy for vanities of city. She is a fashion addict, so she does not want herself to be restricted to the rustic: life of the countryside. She is a contrast to her husband who hates city life.

As a mother, over-protective of her son. She pampers her son, Tony Lumpking, by her first marriage. She courts her niece for her son because of the former’s inherited fortune in jewels. She is selfish and materialistic. She is punished by Tony and she regrets her actions when he renounces marrying Counstance and declares his interest to choose for himself. She laments: ‘My undutiful offspring’!

·        Marlow

He is initially presented to us as having ‘been bred a scholar’, a man of excellent; understanding, very generous; young and brave; and very handsome by Mr. Hardcastle. Because he is misdirected by Tony and he behaves abnormally. Mr. Hardcastle describes him as ‘a bashful and reserved young fellow in the world’.

Young Marlow is the son of Sir Charles Marlow. He is young and handsome. He is brilliant in nature, which makes him snobbish. Marlow is shy and reserved especially in the company of civilized women. This seen when he is made to face Kate. He is timid to woo Kate but bold to court a barmaid as against his upbringing and social status – upper class.  Marlow, a strange suitor of Kate is very sensitive to ridicule and he says:

                        I shall be laughed at over the whole town.

                        I shall be stuck up in caricature in all print in shops. (Act IV)

In spite of this air of importance, exposure, and education, he is conquered by the love of a country girl – Miss Kate Hardcastle.

·        Kate

She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle. She is a pretty young girl, well-educated and exposed to city life. Kate is very sensitive to the culture and aspiration of the upper class that she belongs to by birth. She obeys and complies to every instruction from her father. She accepts the suitor chosen for her without question.

Kate, like her mother, admires expensive and gorgeous fashion to the extent that her father has cause to complain:

                        … Drest out as usual, my Kate. … (Act 1 Scene 1)

Her education helps her to discuss intelligently and handle Marlow brilliantly. She loves novel reading which brightens her horizons. Her exposure helps her to cure Marlow of his timidity, by being taught to be proud of his wife. Besides being brilliant, she condemns the system in her society as artificial.

She is very important in the play as she successfully handles the resolution of the mistake of the night which brings happiness to everyone except her mother, Mrs. Dorothy Hardcastle, as she plays the role of a barmaid to stoop to conquer young Marlow

·        Hastings

Hastings is an intimate friend of young Marlow. He accompanies him to Mr. Hardcastle’s place. His main role in the play is to uphold Marlow to accomplish his objective to marry Kate. Hastings makes use of the opportunity of the visit to effect his elopement plan with his lover, Counstance Neville, who lives with her aunt – Mrs. Hardcastle.

In contrast to his friend, Marlow, he is less educated, less exposed but bold. According to Marlow, Hastings has ‘talents and art to captivate any woman’. He is able to marry Counstance when Tony openly renounces marrying her. He is very happy for this achievement.

·        Tony Lumpking

He is the stepson of Mr. Hardcastle. He is an over-pampered and overprotected son of Mrs. Hardcastle by her first marriage. He is not given education due to various reasons given by his mother. These include ‘being sickly’, his mother does not believe in learning, but in fortune, etc.

Tony always leaves home for The Three Pigeon to drink and sing.  Any time he is at home he constitutes a nuisance to pets, maids, and even his mother as he always quarrels with them. Tony, according to his drinking mates, is a resemblance of his father, ‘O, he takes after his own father …’

He is, though carefree, but highly intelligent in dealing with people. He ridicules the poor upbringing given him by his mother. He repays Mr. Hardcastle who ‘calling me whelp and hounds for this half a year’, by intentionally confusing Mr. Marlow, Kate’s suitor, by presenting Hardcastle’s place as an inn. He also perfects the relationship between Hastings and Counstance Neville to the unhappiness of his mother. He loves freedom and he is trustworthy as he stands by his words. He is the only character in the play that relates cordially with low class society because all his drinking mates are of low class society – people like Disk,, Muggins, Jack Slang, and Aminadab.

·        Counstance Neville

She is a niece of Mrs. Hardcastle. She is also exposed, as she had stayed in the city with Kate. She is a clever girl with some tricks.  She has fortunes (jewels) in her aunt’s custody and she is ambitious to recover it. She knows and compromises to continue Marlow’s deceit to allow her to achieve the elopement objective to France with Hastings. She also joins Tony to deceive Mrs. Hardcastle in order for her to have her way out.

Like Kate, Miss Neville’s love for Hastings is based on her sense of duty – obedience to the societal norm her father had chosen Hastings as her husband before his death. She succeeds in marrying Hastings when Tony publicly renounces her.

·        The Servants and Fellows

The servants and fellows represent the low class in the society. They are drawn from the rural populace. They serve in the farm of Mr. Hardcastle or in his house. They represent flat characters, as one person can hardly be differentiated from the other. They love listening to rustic’s music, drinking local beer and they always criticize their local upper class nobles. They are easily identified by their local dialects e.g. ‘bekeays’ for because; ‘genteel’ for gentle,’unpossible’ for impossible, etc. they are also very fond of oath or swearing to emphasize their confused philosophy:

… May this be my poison if any bear ever dances but to the

genteelest of tunes …

Oliver Goldsmith in She Stoops to Conquer, being a comic play,  includes these rustic and low class characters to increase the comic effect of the play and also to bring into focus the evil effect of the polarity in the society where the poor become poorer and the rich becomes richer.

By:

Eguriase S. M. Okaka