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The protagonists in The Country Wife exhibit skeptical, libertine, and natural attributes.

Harry Horner

A notorious London rake who, in order to gain sexual access to respectable women,spreads the rumor that venereal disease has rendered him impotent. In the course of the

pla he manages liaisons with several of the female characters. !orner is the mostinsightful of all the wits in the pla, often drawing out and commenting on the moral

failings of others, but in his sexual conduct he is the most depraved."cherle intends audiences to see !orner, for example, as a handsome, forceful,

dangerousl exciting, and reckless rogue who is skeptical of societ#s code of honor,

libertine in his pursuit of pleasure.

Pinchwife

A middle$aged London man, newl married to the rustic %arger. A rake before his

marriage, he is now the archetpal &ealous husband' he lives in fear of being cuckolded,

not because he loves his wife but because he believes that he owns her. !e is a latent

trant, potentiall violent.. (our, humorless, and exceedingl &ealous, he takes everprecaution to keep his wife from falling into the predator hands of !orner. )oolishl, he

is the ver instrument that brings about this event.. (our, humorless, and exceedingl

&ealous, he takes ever precaution to keep his wife from falling into the predator handsof !orner. )oolishl, he is the ver instrument that brings about this event. %r. *inchwife

and %arger *inchwife are the lackwits, easil manipulated b an and all.+ven though

%r. *inchwife possesses considerable wealth and has lived in the town, his recentmarriage and removal to his countr estate mark him and %arger as ignorant rubes. To

compound his gaucherie, %r. *inchwife onl comes to London for business in the cit

part of the metropolis, and he can onl talk about marriage with the vocabular ofbusiness.*inchwife becomes a smbol for the separation of spheres in eighteenth centur societ.*inchwife is far too concerned with the public space and sphere, ignoring the danger in his

private space and sphere. !e would rather have !orner kiss his wife in front of him thanbehind his back

Frank Harcourt

A rakish friend of !orner, !arcourt meets Alethea earl in the pla, flirts with her in

front of parkish, and soon falls in love with her. !is devotion to the meritorious Aletheabespeaks his basic good nature, and in the course of the pla he is converted to a vision of

marriage based on mutual love and esteem.The protagonists, !orner, Alithea and !arcout

are truewits-the aristocrats with libertine, skeptical

, naturalist manners. These characters outmaneuver, seduce, or dupe all the rest, and asthe label suggests, the possess wit-in the /0 meaning of the word.Harcourt goes on to describe his love in extravagant terms, with encouragementfrom Sparkish, until Sparkish invites Harcourt to close the deal by kissing Alethea.Harcourt contrasts strongly with Sparkish, being both more truly witty and moretruly gentleman-like, and he appears to value Alethea for the intelligence, virtue, andhonourthat make her so drastically overqualified as a mate for Sparkish. n runningverbal rings around Sparkish, Harcourt demonstrates Sparkish!s inferiority not only

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to Harcourt himself but also to Alethea, who understands, as her thick-headed fianc"does not

!arcourt is the first character who changes. In Act I he enters !orner#s lodging as one of thelibertine crowd. !e 1uips with !orner and snipes at parkish, displaing his wit as

effortlessl as !orner. %ost significantl, he &oins his fashionable bachelor$buddies inskeptical denigration of marriage, love, and women, throwing off witticism like, 2o,

mistresses are like books3 if ou pore upon them too much the do4e ou and make ou unfitfor compan, . . . 5"cherle 67. In Act II he meets Alithea, whose noble attributes awaken

his natural feelings of love. )rom that point until the conclusion of the comed he directs all

his energ towards winning Alithea#s affection awa from parkish. !e conspires with

!orner to outmaneuver his rival, and their masterful displa of wit is what brings !arcourt tofulfillment of his ambition.

Mr. Sparkish

A shallow and foolish plabo who considers himself, wrongl, a wit. !e is engaged toAlethea, attracted primaril b her mone. !e appears to Alethea incapable of &ealous,

but this is true onl insofar as the env of other men increases the value of hisprospective wife, whom he thinks he owns.He is imperturbable, however, not because of his great sophistication, but ratherbecause he is too self-centered to imagine that other people could have intereststhat conflict with his.#ith Act , #ycherley begins to show Sparkish to be not merely frivolous butalmost pathologically self-centered, as Sparkish!s feeble emulation of the $ondonwits underscores the morally subversive nature of the wits! libertine tenets. %ne ofthe conventional poses of the town wit is the misogynistic denigration of women andmarriage, and the corresponding praise of male friendship. &Horner, Harcourt, and'orilant gave voice to these attitudes at some length in Act .(Accordingly, Sparkishin an unguarded moment reveals his opinion that )matrimonial love* is not the )best

and truest love in the world.*His immunity to +ealousy, which shocks Alethea, derives not &as he unctuouslysuggests( from his confidence in her virtue but rather from his total lack of anyemotional investment in her

Sir Jasper Fidget

A man of business from the burgeoning financial district of central London. who derives

no end of amusement from the rumor of !orner#s impotence. !e is happ to entrust his

wife, Lad )idget, to !orner#s compan, on the theor that the presence of the supposed

eunuch will keep her occupied and discourage the advances of other, more potent men.

ir 8aspar, parkish are witwouds. Their +90+I:+ concern for social conventions

marks them as inferior beings.

Sir asper takes all his )pleasure* in )business* and none in his wife, though he isconsiderate enough &after a fashion( to provide her with a non-threatening malechaperone who will give the illusion of compensating for Sir asper!s neglect of her.otwithstanding some superficial differences, then, Sir asper and inchwife have, atbottom, comparable views of women. Sir asper is neglectful and apathetic towardhis wife, while inchwife is vigilant and possessive toward his/what the husbands

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have in common is a view of their spouses as inferior beings with whom sexualbonds are the only desirable form of intimacy.nsofar as Sir asper has anything at all in common with $ady 0idget, their affinitywould seem to depend on their mutual love of money.f the husband is eager to goto )1his2 pleasure, business,* the wife is equally eager to capitali3e, literally, on herown pleasures, namely casual entertainments. nitially averse to spending any time

with the eunuch Horner, she suddenly warms to the prospect when Sir aspersuggests that she might win money from him at cards4 with remarkable crudenessshe then remarks, )money makes up in a measure all other wants in men.*

The women of the pla understand the power of those reputations, as we see at the end ofthe pla, their secrets have been revealed, and !orner is discovered. The wives consider

the situation, with )iget saing ;"ell then, there

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she misplaces her ideals on a man whom she does not love and who lacks her virtueand substance is patently foolish, and even more foolish is her tenacious hold ontoan ideal strictly for the sake of appearances.

Lady Fidget

5he wife of Sir asper 0idget, she is much younger than her husband and a leading

figure in )the virtuous gang.* 8tterly hypocritical, she piques herself on her virtue inpublic and avails herself of Horner!s physical charms in private. $ate in the play shearticulates a defense of the hypocrisy of high-born ladies.

Dainty Fidget5he unmarried sister of Sir asper 0idget. $ike $ady 0idget, she is a member of )thevirtuous gang* and secretly a conquest of Horner!s.

Mistress SqueamishA young unmarried woman related to the 0idgets. $ike $ady 0idget, she is a memberof )the virtuous gang* and secretly a conquest of Horner!s.

Old Lady Squeamish5he grandmother of 7istress Squeamish4 she strives in vain to preserve her

granddaughter!s purity.

The uack

5he doctor whom Horner enlists to spread the rumor of his impotence.

LucyAlethea!s clever and sensible maidservant. She is skeptical of her mistress!s plans tomarry the vapid Sparkish, and she is resourceful in coming up with schemes toencourage a match with Harcourt.#hen $ucy retorts that there cannot )be a greater cheat or wrong done to a man,than to give him your person without your heart,*