She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith


One-liner Study Materials

  • Oliver Goldsmith was born in > Ireland in about 1728
  • Goldsmith wrote seriously during > 1758-60
  • His poems > The Traveller, The Deserted Village, Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog.
  • His Drama > The Good Natured Man (1768), She Stoops to Conquer (1773)
  • His Novel > The Vicar of Wakefield (1766)

  • The Sub-title of the play > The Mistakes of a Night

  • The Prologue of the play was written by > David Garrick (actor and theatre magager)

  • The Epilogue was actually written by Goldsmith himself. The epilogue was modelled on the line of the melancholy Jacques of Shakespeare's comedy, As You Like It.

  • Plot > The plot of the play, simple and well-knit, is made up of two episodes - Kate-Marlow love episode and Hasting-Neville love episode.

  • Subplot > The subplot of the drama She Stoops to Conquer consists of the love story of Miss Neville and George Hastings. But the subplot is so integrally woven with the main plot that it is very hard to discuss it separately from the main plot.

  • Anti-Sentimental Comedy > She Stoops to Conquer is undoubtedly an anti-sentimental comedy. It displaces shallow emotions and sentiments, and brings to the stage a restricted wit and humour.

CHARACTERISATION:-

Mr. Hardcastle
• Father of heroine - Kate Hardcastle
• He is an old-fashioned country squire and despises the ways of the town.
• He lives in an old fashioned mansion.
• A person with fine sense of humour
• A person with the traits of hospitality and friendliness

Mrs. Hardcastle
• Matriarch of the Hardcastle family
• She is notable for her pronounced vanity.
• Coddles her son TONY, and wants him to marry her niece, Neville.
• Actually, TONY is her son by her ex-husband.
• Wants to get the possession of Neville's jewellery.

Sir Charles Marlow
• Father of Young MARLOW
• Friend of the Hardcastles
• A respectable and aristocratic person

Young Marlow
• Apparently the hero of the play
• He has strange aspects in his character-
• He feels shy and bashfulness in the presence of high born women but quite easy and even reckless with ordinary women.
• Mistakes Hardcastle's house to be an inn, Mr. Hardcastle to be the inn-keeper.

Hastings
• Young Marlow's friend
• Loves Constance Neville
• He is willing to marry Neville without her money
• Decent in nature

Tony Lumpkin
• Central figure of the drama
• Son of Mrs. Hardcastle by her ex-husband
• known for drinking and tomfoolery.
• Loves to play practical jokes.
• Mrs. Hardcastle wants Tony to marry Miss Neville, but he is against the idea.
• He has superficial disdain for everyone.
• Proves to be a good natured fellow.
• Helps in elopment of Hastings and Marlow.
• He loves Bet Bounce dearly.

Constance Neville
• "Miss Neville" in the play - a young charming girl
• She is an orphan and lives with her aunt Mrs. Hardcastle.
• Her only inheritance is a set of jewels in the care of her aunt.
• Mrs. Hardcastle wishes Neville to marry Tony Lumpkin but she is set against the idea.
• According to Tony -
• Neville has as many tricks as a hare in a thicket.
• She is tameless like a young mare on its first day of training.
• Her beauty is artificial because it is made up of cosmetics.
• Assesses her that she is not half so beautiful as Bet.

Kate Hardcastle
• "Miss Hardcastle" in the play, is the main character of the play.
• The heroine of the play
• Pretends to be a barmaid in order to judge Marlow's character and wins his heart.
• She stops to the hero of the play, Young Marlow who becomes her husband later in the end of the drama.


IMPORTANT Quotes :-

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