The Country Wife Summary

Act I.
The plays action begins with

Harry Horner explaining to The

Quackhis brilliant ruse for making a conquest of Londons upper-class

ladies. Horner has spread a rumor that a treatment for venereal disease
rendered him impotent, and his new status as a eunuch will allow him to gain
access to ladies whose husbands and families would otherwise consider him
dangerous. It will also allow the ladies to undertake liaisons with him and yet
preserve their honor in the eyes of the world.

Sir Jasper Fidget enters with his wife, Lady Fidget. Inferring from
Horners aversion to ladies that the rumors of his impotence are true, Sir
Jasper arranges for Horner to act as his wifes new chaperone and
companion. After the departure of the Fidgets, Horners two friends,Frank

Harcourt and Mr. Dorilant, enter and banter with him about women,
wine, and friendship. Soon the fatuous Mr. Sparkish arrives, bores the
three friends with his pretensions to wit, and is driven away.

Jack Pinchwife enters, and Horner correctly discerns that he has

recently gotten married. Pinchwife, who has not heard the rumors, privately
fears that Horner will cuckold him. The men then discuss Pinchwifes reasons
for marrying and his choice of a bride, and Pinchwifes contempt for women
becomes plain. When it comes out that Horner has seen the new Mrs.
Pinchwife, the day before at the theater, Pinchwife becomes uncomfortable
and departs.

Act II.
Margery Pinchwife complains to her sister-in-law, Alethea
Pinchwife, that her new husband has confined her indoors and will not let
her see the sights in London. The women discuss Pinchwifes jealousy, and
Margery expresses her admiration of the actors she saw at the theater
yesterday. Pinchwife enters and impresses both wife and sister with the
importance of Margerys remaining ignorant of the ways of the town. When
Margery inquires the reason for this, Pinchwife explains that a licentious man
at the theater has seen her and fallen in love with her; Margery is delighted,
and soon Pinchwife locks her away in another room.
Sparkish, who is to marry Alethea tomorrow, arrives with Harcourt to show
off his fiance to him. Harcourt falls in love with Alethea immediately upon
seeing her, and he cleverly makes advances to her under the nose of
Sparkish, who is too obtuse to comprehend the drift of Harcourts dialogue.
Alethea tries in vain to wind Sparkish up to some degree of indignation over

this behavior; Sparkish believes staunchly that sophisticated town wits are
immune to jealousy.
Once Sparkish, Harcourt, and Alethea have left, Pinchwife is surprised by the

Lady Fidget, Dainty Fidget, and Mistress

Squeamish. The ladies have come to see Margery, but Pinchwife invents
arrival of

excuses for why they cannot, then departs rudely. The ladies discuss
Pinchwifes jealousy and lament the mistreatment of upper-class wives by
their husbands. They also discuss adultery, which they agree injures no ones
honor as long as it goes on in secret.
Sir Jasper arrives with Horner, saying that he has business to attend to and
that the ladies must accept Horner as their chaperone. Lady Fidget rejects
the idea of spending time with a eunuch, but Sir Jasper wins her cooperation
by suggesting that she might win money off Horner at cards. Lady Fidget
and Horner then step aside, ostensibly to patch things up, and Horner tells
Lady Fidget in confidence that his impotence is a sham. She is delighted with
this news, and the pair establish an implicit intention to undertake a liaison.

Act III.
Margery and Alethea again discuss the restrictions Pinchwife has imposed on
Margery. Pinchwife then enters and, after accusing Alethea of being a
disreputable lady, says that he is looking forward to marrying Alethea off to
Sparkish and then returning with Margery to the country. Margery protests,
however, saying that she wants to stay in London and walk abroad. Pinchwife
finally gives in; he decides to disguise Margery as a young man and take her
out for an airing.
In the next scene, Horner, Harcourt, and Dorilant stand bantering in the New
Exchange. Harcourt confesses that he is in love with Alethea and needs a
way of preventing her marriage to Sparkish. Horner advises him to use
Sparkish himself as a cover for making advances to Alethea. Sparkish himself
then approaches, and soon Pinchwife enters with Alethea and the disguised
Margery.
Horner, recognizing Margery beneath her disguise, makes his move right
under Pinchwifes nose; Pinchwife cannot intervene without admitting to the
disguise and humiliating himself. Meanwhile, Harcourt gets Sparkish to plead
for him to Alethea, and in begging for reconciliation he covertly (but in terms
clear enough to Alethea) expresses his love for her. Alethea becomes
frustrated with Sparkish, who refuses to recognize that Harcourt is actually
trying to steal her away from him.
When Pinchwifes back is turned, Horner manages to make off with Margery.
Pinchwife searches in vain for his wife, who soon returns with her arms full of

gifts from Horner. Pinchwife, suspecting that he has been cuckolded,

prepares to leave. Sir Jasper enters to fetch Horner to Lady Fidget.

Act IV.
Lucy finishes dressing her mistress for the wedding with
Sparkish. Lucy disapproves of the match, however, and continues to
Aletheas maid

advocate for Harcourt. The two women argue about the nature of honor and
whether it is prudent or just for Alethea to marry a man she does not love,
simply because she previously agreed to it. Alethea also reveals that
Sparkishs lack of jealousy is, to her, his most attractive quality.
Sparkish enters with Harcourt, who is disguised as his fictional brother Ned,
the parson, who is to officiate at the wedding. Alethea tries in vain to make
Sparkish see through the disguise; eventually she gives up and agrees to
submit to what she knows will be an invalid marriage ceremony.
In the next scene, Pinchwife interrogates Margery regarding her encounter
with Horner. Pinchwife is not yet a cuckold, but he sees that he will have to
take measures to ensure that Horner does not have any further success with
his wife. Pinchwife forces Margery to compose at his dictation a letter to
Horner expressing her disgust with him and renouncing any
further contact. Margery complies under threat of physical harm, but once
the letter is finished and Pinchwifes back is turned, she substitutes a loveletter for the harsh one Pinchwife dictated.
In the next scene, Horner gives The Quack a positive report on the success
of his impotence ruse. The Quack then conceals himself as Lady Fidget
enters, seeking her first sexual encounter with Horner. After some
preliminary fretting over her reputation, she embraces Horner just in time to
be caught in the act by Sir Jasper, who enters unexpectedly. Lady Fidgets
outrageous explanation, that she was merely determining whether Horner is
ticklish, satisfies her oblivious husband. Sir Jasper objects, however, that
Lady Fidget was supposed to be shopping for china. She explains that Horner
himself has some expertise in china and even possesses a few pieces that
she would like to obtain. With this excuse, she exits to another room, into
which Horner soon follows her on the pretense of protecting his china
collection. As Sir Jasper stands gleefully by, anticipating that his wife is about
to obtain a valuable piece of china, Lady Fidget and her new lover have a
liaison behind the locked door. Mistress Squeamishenters too late
and is disappointed to have missed her opportunity; when Horner and Lady
Fidget re-enter, they
physically depleted.

INDICATE

through double entendres that he is

Pinchwife enters, and Sir Jasper departs with the ladies. Pinchwife delivers
Margerys letter to Horner; Horner reads it on the spot and figures out that
Margery has substituted a love-letter for one that Pinchwife dictated to her.
Pinchwife warns Horner not to cuckold him, but Horner feigns surprise at
learning that the youth he kissed was not Margerys brother but Margery
herself. With another warning, Pinchwife departs.
After a brief discussion between Horner and The Quack, Pinchwife re-enters
with Sparkish. Pinchwife and Sparkish are discussing the latters marriage to
Alethea, which may be invalid, as the authenticity of the parson is now in
doubt. Horner expresses disappointment in Aletheas attachment to
Sparkish; he is thinking of Harcourts hopes, though Pinchwife takes him to
be disappointed for his own sake. Pinchwife exits, and Sparkish invites
Horner to dine with him and Pinchwife. Horner accepts, on the condition that
Margery will be invited.
In the next scene, Margery thinks longingly of Horner and sits down to write
another letter to him. Pinchwife enters, reads the letter she is composing,
and is about to commit a violent act upon her when Sparkish walks in and
puts a stop to it, leading Pinchwife off to dinner.

Act V.
After dinner, Pinchwife directs Margery to finish the letter to Horner as she
had intended. Margery cleverly finishes it in Aletheas name, suggesting that
Alethea, not she, is in love with Horner. Pinchwife warms to the idea of
marrying Alethea to Horner instead of Sparkish. Meanwhile, with Lucys help,
Margery concocts a plan to get to Horners lodging: she will impersonate
Alethea, who ostensibly wishes to meet Horner and discuss the matter with
him but who is so ashamed that she must wear a mask in order not to face
Pinchwife. Pinchwife falls for this ruse, and soon he and the disguised
Margery depart for Horners lodging.
In the next scene, Pinchwife delivers the disguised Margery to Horner and
then departs to find a parson who will marry Horner and Alethea. Sir Jasper
then enters to inform Horner that Lady Fidget and her friends will soon be
arriving.
In the next scene, Pinchwife, in Covent Garden, presents Sparkish with
evidence that Alethea has written to Horner and intends to marry him.
Sparkish is incensed over this insult. Soon Alethea enters, and Sparkish says
such nasty things to her, including an avowal that her only attraction for him
was her money, that Alethea concludes that she was deceived all along
about his good nature.
In the next and final scene, Lady Fidget, Dainty Fidget, and Mistress
Squeamish all carouse with Horner in his lodging. (Margery is concealed in a

nearby room.) The ladies speak openly of their frustrations with the upperclass men who neglect them and of the hollowness of reputation. Lady
Fidget then makes a reference to Horners being her lover; this admission
elicits surprise from the other two ladies, who apparently have also availed
themselves of Horners services. The three ladies quickly agree not to fight
over him, however, but rather to be sister sharers, all keeping each others
secrets.
Sir Jasper enters, and then the group receives notice that Pinchwife and
others are approaching. Horner sends his guests into another room, then
calls forth Margery and tries in vain to persuade her to go home before
Pinchwife finds her. Margery, however, has resolved to leave Pinchwife and
take Horner as her new husband. Horner sends her back into the other room
as Pinchwife and the others enter.
Pinchwife, accompanied by Alethea, Harcourt, Sparkish, Lucy, and a parson,
wants Horner to attest that Alethea has visited his lodging. Horner lies, in
order to protect Margery, and affirms this. Alethea, baffled and aware that
she is dishonored by this slander, avows that she regrets the loss of no ones
good opinion but Harcourts. Harcourt declares that he believes her; he then
tries in vain to get Horner to clear the matter up. The two men have reached
a stalemate when Margery pokes her head in.
Margery gives her opinion that the parson should marry Horner to her rather
than to Alethea. Pinchwife, suddenly undeceived, draws his sword on
Margery; Horner objects, and Pinchwife turns to threaten him instead, then is
restrained by Harcourt. Sir Jasper, entering, inquires what is going on and is
amused by the notion of Horners cuckolding anyone. Pinchwifes
seriousness, however, instills in him a fear that Horner may be virile after all.
Lucy intervenes, claiming that Margerys coming in disguise to Horners
lodging was not an INDICATION that Margery loves Horner but rather
part of Lucys plan to break up Sparkish and Alethea. Margery objects,
however, that her love for Horner is genuine. Pinchwife makes more threats.
Suddenly The Quack walks in, to the relief of Horner, who calls upon him to
attest to his impotence, which The Quack obligingly does. Sir Jasper readily
accepts this medical testimony. Pinchwife is more suspicious and requires to
be assured that all of London believes in Horners impotence before he will
accept the idea. Margery continues to dissent, but the ladies overwhelm her
testimony with expressions of their confidence in Horners deficiency.
Among the concluding remarks, Harcourt INDICATES his impatience to
be a husband, the Pinchwifes each indicate their distaste for their marriage,
and Lucy insists to Pinchwife that Margerys expression of love for Horner
was but the usual innocent revenge on a husbands jealousy. Margery

reluctantly confirms this lie, and Pinchwife resigns himself to accepting the
story, though it does not convince him: For my own sake fain I would all
believe; / Cuckolds, like lovers, should themselves deceive.