Tony Lumpkin’s Role in the Drama She Stoops to Conquer

Tony Lumpkin is the most interesting character of the play ‘She Stoops to Conquer’ by Oliver Goldsmith. He is fond of eating and drinking. He is uneducated and wild in nature. He has been pampered and spoiled by his mother. He appears in the play to be a fool, but his role in the shows that he is a young man with fertile and inventive brain.

Tony shapes the action of the play. He sets the story in motion misdirecting Marlow and Hastings to Mr. Hardcastle’s house as an inn and Mr. Hardcastle as an inn-keeper. 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 be a worthless boy. Another cause of his misdirecting them is that Marlow described him as an awkward, spoiled child. His misdirection gives rise to a number of mistakes which form the central action of the play.

Tony plays a leading role in the sub-plot consisting of Hastings-Miss Neville love-story. Tony’s mother, Mrs. Hardcastle is the legal guardian of Miss Neville. She wants Neville’s jewels to retain in the family by marrying her to Tony. But Tony does not like her because he loves Bet Bouncer. Miss Neville is also in love with Hastings. But Tony and Miss Neville pretend to make love to each other in presence of Mrs. Hardcastle in order to keep her under the illusion. Tony’s mother wants him to marry Miss Neville but he wants to get rid of her. When he comes to know about Hastings’s plan of elopement with Miss Neville, he promises to help them in their elopement. As Miss Neville does not want to elope without her jewels which were in the custody of Mrs. Hardcastle, Tony steals them and gives them to Hastings. But because of the idiocy of Marlow, the jewels again fall into the hands of Mrs. Hardcastle. The plan of elopement is revealed to Mrs. Hardcastle through the letter sent by Hastings to Tony. She, then, decides to send Miss Neville to her cruel aunt Pedigree so that she might not attempt to run away again.

At this critical moment Tony comes forward to foil his mother’s wicked scheme. Instead of leading his mother and Miss Neville to aunt Pedigree’s house, Tony takes them round and round the house and places them in the horse pond. Tony rescues Miss Neville and brings her back. Mrs. Hardcastle gets stuck in the mud and comes out of the pond after being drenched. She is so terrified by the experience that she cannot recognize her own house and garden. When she sees her husband she mistakes him for highwayman and prays to him to take her money, even her life, but to spare her son’s life. Hence, because of her terrible experience, Mrs. Hardcastle has almost died of fear and forgets everything about her mercenary benefit and goes away from the course of Miss Neville’s Marriage to Hastings.

Tony is also a great source of comic in the play. He has often been likened to Shakespeare’s Falstaff. We roar with laughter when he befools his mother, mocking her over the lost jewels and frightening her in the dark night. The manner in which he discomfits his mother provides us with mirth and fun.

Thus Tony is the central figure of the play. He develops and grows, as no other character does. He is ‘the real author of the play’. The role he plays is more important than that of any of the characters of the play.