Themes of The Way of the World

The question of a woman's role in society is brought to the foreground in some progressive (and some not so) in The Way of the World. Like baking cookies, we are introduced to the mixing of the two gendered factions of Restoration society, men and women, separately before they are mixed all together. The women, when we first meet them in early Act II, are discussing the need to find happiness in one another since men only provide a fickle, distrustful love that cannot be relied upon. However, the audience comes to realize that these women are not totally trusting of one another either; they love the same man and turn against each other in later schemes to ensure the romantic and monetary outcome they want. The freedoms a woman can have in and out of marriage are also shown and discussed in the play, from the famous "proviso scene" to Lady Wishfort's ability to overlook Waitwell's disguise for the chance to marry a man at an older age.