Not everyone, however, believes that this was Wycherly’s motive. Some critics see Horner as an ‘Iago’ figure, from Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ – a man who preys on helpless and trusting friends for purely selfish reasons. Just as Iago was accused of ‘enmeshing’ his victims, Thomas Fujimura said in 1965 that ‘Horner is like a spider watching the antics of trapped flies’. Here, Horner is portrayed as a sadistic man, who enjoys watching the torment of others. In my opinion, there is one key difference between Horner and Iago, and that is that Iago preys on innocents. Horner never exploits anybody without a reason. Sir Jasper is ridiculed for his credulity, Lady Fidget and her ‘honourable’ gang are exposed for their hypocritical libertine, Pinchwife is punished for being ridiculously jealous, and Sparkish is exploited for being a ‘fop’. Mrs.Pinchwife is the only exception, but as she willingly submits to Horner’s desires, she has not really been harmed. As Mr. Bonamy Dobree, the author of ‘Restoration Comedy 1660-1720’ (1924) says, ‘Horner is a villain – a grim, nightmare figure, dominating the helpless, hopeless apes who call themselves civilised men’. He believes that Horner’s ultimate target is to cuckold all the men in society, and sleep with as many women as possible. He is a shameless and heartless creature who is not only clever and cynical, but also detached and sinister. In my opinion, the foolish men in this play are neither ‘helpless’ nor ‘hopeless’. I believe that their fates are just and deserved, and that they only have themselves to blame for the consequences of their foolish actions. Also, if Horner was really like Mr. Bonamy Dobree portrays him, would he not have pursued Alithea, even though Harcourt was clearly in love with her? Instead, Horner did his best to split up Alithea and Sparkish, to ensure that his friend was happy. Surely these are not the actions of a spiteful and twisted man?
A third view on Horner’s antics is that it is pure satire on Wycherly’s part, in order to provide entertainment for an audience. Nothing is done for any particular reason, and Wycherly is passing no views on the behaviour of his characters. Horner is merely ‘an ordinary man, pursuing the pleasures of drink, play, and love, with a complete disregard for the well-being of others’. I do not believe that this is very likely, or what Wycherly intended for his play. On one hand, the general tone of the play is light-hearted and carefree, but on the other hand, there is definite emphasis on what acceptable, and what is morally unacceptable. In order to be considered as a great playwright of the restoration period, Wycherly needed to create a plot that would not only amuse people, but make them think too. This is why I believe there is more to ‘A Country Wife’ than satire and ridicule.
Another view on Horner that I have managed to obtain is that he is Wycherly’s tool for allowing women to exert power over complacent men. By cheating on their jealous and incompetent husbands, they are asserting their power in one of the few ways available to them. Although they rarely discuss being ‘neglected’ by their husbands, each woman longs for an ‘honourable’ man to commit a crime against her ‘honour’. These women are both extremely lucky, and extremely unlucky at the same time. On one hand, they have plenty of money, and therefore plenty of time to do exactly what they want. They have no responsibilities or commitments, and can devote all their time guarding their ‘dear, dear honour’. However, due to their social status, they must follow strict social guidelines, and must refrain from behaving outlandishly, or causing a scandal. Most of the things that they should not do are very appealing to them, and much of their conversation centres around how to conceal their antics from the public eye, and more importantly, from their husbands. It seems unlikely, however, that Horner is in the slightest bit concerned for these women. He knows that they are more than capable of taking care of themselves, and sees them as farcical hypocrites to be taken advantage of. When looked at from this point of view, it is difficult to see Wycherly as a satirist at all. Horner gets what he wants from the whole affair, and the ‘honourable’ gang certainly get what they want. It seems that only the arrogant husbands are to be punished by Wycherly.
An unpopular but nevertheless perfectly valid view on Horner is that he is, overall, a good man. He understands the women in his society, knows exactly what they want, and realises what is important to them. He is extremely intelligent, and devises an impeccable plan to attract women and fool husbands at the same time. Horner proves to be a witty and amusing man, who satirises others to impress his friends. Joseph Krutch believed that Horner was ‘loyal to his friends, gentlemanly towards civil women, true to his word, and manly.’ Although he commits socially unacceptable crimes, he cannot be accused of anything to the contrary to what Krutch says. All these images of Horner as a good man contrast drastically with Dobree’s views on him. In my opinion. Dobree is speculating on Horner from a very masculine point of view. He fails to see how the men in the play could ever deserve to be cuckolded, despite their attitudes towards the women. Krutch, however, seems to have taken one step further back than Dobree, to look at the situation from all the characters’ points of view. It is not difficult to understand why the women were unsatisfied and miserable. Horner is undeniably an extremely charismatic person. He has sound judgement, a hatred of hypocrisy, a dislike of fools, and utter contempt for incompetent husbands, and these all make him a pleasurable and amusing person.
Horner’s main fault, other than lack of respect towards others, is his tendency to be greedy. Horner wants to sleep with all the women, and wants to punish and satirise all of the husbands. He cannot be content with the pretentious Lady Fidget and her two equally hypocritical friends – he takes great delight in attracting Margery too. The innocent and naive ‘country wife’ knows very little of the way of the town, and Horner shamelessly takes advantage of her. Greed is not necessarily a bad thing. Mandeville wrote that ‘personal greed, so far from being evil, creates general prosperity’. Maybe this fault of Horner’s is actually a good thing after all?
I have looked at Horner’s ‘good’ side, but there is also a darker side to him. He appears to be a nice enough man if you happen to be his friend. If Horner doesn’t like you, then the outlook isn’t very good. All through this play, Horner lies to different people for different reasons. The first and most obvious lie is that Horner is impotent. Every single person that Horner knows believes this ridiculous lie. The eunuch disgusts the women, and the men laugh at the irony of the once rampant Horner being reduced to half a man. Another of his bad points is that he encourages women to be unfaithful to their husbands. Any society relies on stable relationships between different people, and Horner is a great threat to this stability. He tears marriages apart, and destroys the sense of trust that holds a community together. Of course, the other people in the play must share the blame for this. If the husbands weren’t jealous and neglectful, and the women weren’t pretentious and hypocritical, then no amount of Horner’s lies and flirting could make a difference.
Horner is playing a very difficult game where many people could get hurt, so how is he so successful? Horner manages to fool people in to believing exactly what he wants, and only falters during the infamous ‘china scene’ where all of the characters come together in his house. I believe that the secret to his success lies in his ability to change. Horner is a chameleon-like character. His character can change from seductive with Lady Fidget, to business-like with the Quack, and then to toying with Sparkish, all in a matter of seconds. He plays the whole game of secrets and lies by ear; waiting to see how others will respond before planning his next move, and this takes a great amount of skill and concentration. The whole thing could fall apart at any moment, and this means Horner needs to be constantly alert. The fact that he’s surrounded by stupid, jealous, arrogant and ignorant men obviously makes Horner’s job a lot easier. When you combine Horner’s intelligence and skill with his good fortune, charisma, and wit, the outcome is obvious. He will win every time, at his brilliant and infinitely funny game of cat-and-mouse.