She Stoops to Conquer as a Comedy of Intrigue

She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith is a splendid comedy of intrigue. In such a comedy there are plots, designs, contrivances, even conspiracies of one character or a group of characters against the others. She Stoops to Conquer consists of intrigues or tricks of Tony against Marlow and Hastings and his mother, of Miss Hardcastle against Marlow, and of Mrs. Hardcastle against Tony. These tricks are the principal sources of wit and humour in the play.

Tony’s intrigue against Marlow and Hastings sets the action of the drama in motion. Marlow and Hastings come to the Three Pigeons losing their way to Mr. Hardcastle’s house. At that time Tony misdirects them in order to take revenge on his stepfather who always finds faults with him and calls him young dog and considers him to a worthless boy. So Tony misdirects them to the Hardcastle home as to an inn and Mr. Hardcastle as to an innkeeper. These tricks contribute to a lot to the comic impression of the play. Because of these tricks, Marlow mistakes his future father-in-law for an innkeeper and orders him for punch. They talk at cross purposes which amuse us most.

Miss Hardcastle’s tricks upon Marlow constitute the central episode of the play and bring about the happy ending of the main plot. In their first interview, Marlow does not look at her face. So she decides to play the barmaid in order to win his heart. When she appears before him in plain dress, Marlow mistakes her for a barmaid, looks at her face and tries to plan a kiss on her lips. Thus she captivates his heart by stooping to the level of a barmaid. She plays another trick upon him. When he asks her if she is a barmaid, she tells him that she is a poor relation of the family. Her tricks upon him are charged with irony.

The tricky of Tony and Miss Neville upon Mrs. Hardcastle is another amusing scene of the play. Tony is the son of Mrs. Hardcastle by her first husband. Miss Neville is an orphan who lives with her aunt, Mrs. Hardcastle. Mrs. Hardcastle wants his son to marry Miss Neville in order to retain her fortune in the family. But Tony does not like Miss Neville because his heart is foxed on a country girl, Bet Bouncer. Miss Neville, on the other hand, is in love with Hastings. But they pretend to make love each other with a view to satisfying Mrs. Hardcastle.

Tony again intrigues against his mother in order to help Hastings and Miss Neville to be united in wedlock. He steals the jewels of Miss Neville from his mother’s almirah and gives them to Hastings to assist the elopement of Hastings and Miss Neville. But the jewels go back to Mrs. Hardcastle for the idiocy of Marlow and Hastings and the plan of elopement is revealed to her. When she sends Miss Neville to aunt Pedigree’s house as a punishment, Tony harasses his mother by taking her round and round the house in a stage coach through the muddy paths, sloughs etc, and places her in the horse pond. She comes out of the pond being drenched. She is so frightened that when she mistakes her own husband for a highwayman and kneels down at his feet to spare her son’s life. This scene is highly comical.

Hasting and Miss Neville intrigue against Marlow by not telling him that the house to which they have come is Mr. Hardcastle’s and the owner of the house is not an inn-keeper.

Tony is himself intrigued by his mother and step-father who keep him under the illusion that he has not yet come of age, though he attained maturity three months earlier. When this trick is exposed, Tony declares that Miss Neville is free to marry anybody she likes. This declaration entitles her to marry Hastings with her fortune. As a result the play ends happily and it makes for the totality of comic impression in the play.

Thus, She Stoops to Conquer is a great comedy of intrigues and counter-intrigues, which are charged with irony and which enhance a lot the entertainment value of the comedy.