The Criticism about Capitalism by Wycherley in The Country Wife
The Country Wife is a play by William Wycherley, and it is a great example of comedy of manners. It is written in 1675, in the Restoration Period. In this era, marriages were because of financial issues, not because of love, leading marriages corrupt. These marriage types are mainly written in The Country Wife as a theme. The other themes of The Country Wife is about adultery because of the corruption of marriages on these days, and contrasts between country life and city life. There is also a theme, which is about money, and in these years, capitalism was spreading. Wycherley handled capitalism as a theme in The Country Wife, and criticized it with its characters, Sir Jasper Fidget, Mr. Sparkish, and their wives.
First, in The Country Wife, a character named Sir Jasper Fidget appears as the first character that is criticized about money issues. He is the bourgeois man of business in the play, meaning that in this era people were in high class not because of their noble family, but because of their money, which shows that money is a priority. Sir Jasper Fidget is a type of a man that makes business and money priority instead of his wife. For this reason, he entrusts his wife, Lady Fidget, to Horner. In this way, he can be in business more. He neglects his wife, and because of negligence of her husband, Lady Fidget is more likely to commit adultery. Wycherley criticized capitalism with Sir Jasper Fidget to show that money is more important than marriage in this era.
Mr. Sparkish is the second character in The Country Wife that is criticized about capitalism. Wycherley criticizes both capitalism and corruption of marriages with Mr. Sparkish. He is a character that is about to marry with Alethea. However, just like the marriages of that era, he wants to marry with Alethea because of business, not because of love. He wants to do business with her brother, so he uses marriage for business. First example of him being in a relationship with Alethea only for business is he is not bothered when Harcourt flirts with Alethea in front of his eyes, meaning that he completely does not love her. Another example is Mr. Sparkish gets mad when he learns his marriage with Alethea is fake, because he cannot do business with her brother. With these acts, Wycherley criticized marriage about being only for finance and being corrupted, and also criticized money is the most important element in their lives.
The last example of the criticism about capitalism is the wives. In The Country Wife, husbands ignore wives to make money more. Again, business is more important than wives and family. The idea is wives should be kept in ignorance and can safely be neglected. Ignorance of them leads men to do more business, making money a priority. However, wives are aware of the situation, and that ignorance leads them to adultery. As a result of these, marriage is corrupted because of business and money becoming a priority. Wycherley criticized capitalism also by the wives’ acts including adultery because of ignorance of their husbands.
In the end, Wycherley criticized capitalism and money with the characters. These characters show that in that era marriages are corrupted, and money becomes priority that they can even ignore their families. In addition to that, there are marriages that only for finance similar to Mr. Sparkish’s situation. Capitalism spreads and money becomes more important than before at that era, and Wycherley criticized them as themes in the play, The Country Wife. In my view, Wycherley shows that how money becomes important and corrupts marriages at that era, and reveals the desperateness of the situation.
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