Deception and disguise, classic elements of comedy, are found in both William Wycherly's The Country Wife and Richard Steele's The Conscious Lovers. These devices rely on gaps of knowledge between different characters, or between characters and...

There are many texts that deal with the role of the individual male in society; their positions are discussed politically, socially and personally. However, in-depth discussion of the individual female role in society is often lacking during the...

In Wycherley’s The Country Wife and Aphra Behn’s The Rover, both authors explore masculine ideals through the legendary character of Don Juan, as respectively exemplified by Harry Horner and Willmore. By casting their heroes as embodiments of this...

As a Restoration Comedy humour is central to Wycherley's play. Like many other Restoration Comedies The Country Wife is characterised by farcical humour that runs throughout the whole play, generated through wit, sexual innuendo and a great deal...

Throughout Wycherley’s play The Country Wife, characters reverse the time period’s normal power dynamics of reputation and gender to create power from a state of powerlessness. While certain characters appear to be powerful due to their status,...

‘Ye who amid this feverish world would wear/ a body free of pain, of cares a mind,/ Fly the rank city, shun its turbid air’(JOHN ARMSTRONG) Trinity 2017.

Here, John Armstrong connects the Restoration city to ideas of suffering, evident in his...