Portia Owusu
Explore Wycherley’s presentation of Lady Fidget as a 17th century woman.
Wycherley’s play The Country Wife, like many restoration literatures are often seen as a reflection of the writer’s outlook on society at the time of writing because it includes characters that denotes vulgarity, foppishness, sincerity and debauchery and thus mirroring everyday people. The presentation of the role of women in 17th century England in The Country Wife is particularly interesting as Wycherley is able to fully explore characters as they really are and character as they like to be seen. Lady Fidget is a prime example because on the surface she is presented as being the embodiment of the subordinate female; she is a wife who is loyal, supportive and obedient to her husband, however, covertly, she is a cunning, devious cheat who uses her sexuality to cover all that she is and to do what she wants.
Lady Fidget as her name suggests is someone who lacks control and is somewhere a busybody. In fact this is exactly what she is, but not how she would want to be perceived by people. She like the rest of the Virtuous Gang is obsessed with the idea of being perceived as virtuous, the words ‘honour’ and ‘virtuous’ are forever coming out of her mouth but in actual reality, she is anything but. This is because she desires for her husbands to feel secure in leaving her in the presence of men whom she can have affairs with without her husband becoming jealous. When Sir Jasper is taken in by Horner’s feigned impotence, it is almost as if her prayers have been answered because as Horner states ‘now I may have the reputation of a eunuch, the privileges of one; and be seen in a lady’s chamber in a morning as early as her husband…’ (1.1.169-172), she is now literally able to have an affair with him, without anyone, notably her ignorant husband, becoming suspicious.
