In “Country Wife,” the Pinchwife …show more content…
(Wycherley 50)
Pinchwife, despite his failure at concealment, wants his wife to remain an idiot so that she cannot deceive him. However, even in her observable virtuousness, he does not believe she is innocent. For him, every woman who arrives in the world “out of nature’s hands, [come] plain, open, silly, and fit for slaves, as she [Nature] and Heaven intended ‘em” (Wycherley 50). Nonetheless, he says, in another aside, “Why should women have more invention in love than men? It can only be because they have more desires, more soliciting passions, more lust and more of the devil.” (Wycherley …show more content…
Millamant and Mirabell, in Act IV, agree to ground rules before they marry. Immediately, Millamant acts eager to marry her cousin, Sir Willful, so that she can keep her money. However, Millamant and Mirabell are truly in love, as their bargaining proves to one another that they are compatible. While this sharp act of bargaining is amusing, a hint of seriousness hides behind their clever words. After their negotiation, Mirabell says, “These provisos admitted, in other things I may prove a tractable and complying husband.” When Millamant expresses hatred for these provisions, Mirabell says, “Then we’re agreed. Shall I kiss your hand upon the contract?” (Congreve 298). Love ties their bond, but their bond is antiseptic, lacking the romance expected in a courtship. Mirabell and Millamant are two wits who are perfect for one another, but the encompassing unfruitfulness and insatiability, which is, as the title says, the way of the world, resounds as their relationship becomes bewildering to