Introduction: Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) in his most celebrated drama “She stoops to Conquer” represents 18th century England. The pictorial quality of country life, fashion and taste of the people, class consciousness, manners and false appearance and truth is exposed in this iconic play. Goldsmith with his expert hands portrait these elements of 18th century England.
Picture of the polluted country life: She Stoops To Conquer gives us an inside look into the country life of 18th century England. The village of the time was first losing its glory, its simplicity and purity. The fashions of town life polluted the village life and made the people vain and affected. In social life from the conversation of Mr and Mrs Hardcastle, in the opening scenes we come to know that the rich village people, especially the women, used to lack dignity and take a trip to town now and then and bring back vanity and affection to corrupt the villagers. In country life cheap limitations of real jewels paste and marcasites were very popular items of ornamentation.
Inns of the village: In social life if the inn occupied an important place in 18th century life. The country youth, especially the sons of squires, gathered there and talked about village politics and religion over glasses of wine till night.
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Tradition of receiving the guests: In society formal social gathering was ackerman entertaining phenomenon, and it was customary for the host to receive the guests as found in the play. We see in the text Mr Hardcastle also welcome his guests Marlow and Hastings.
Condition of village roads: From the drama the condition of the country roads appeared very bad and their money and traveling on those roads were extremely difficult and risky especially at night. In the play Marlow and Hastings had many accidents on the way to Hardcastle. This is how country life or village life has been described in the play.
False Appearance and Truth: Throughout She Stoops to Conquer there is an underlying confusion between appearance and truth. Marlowe’s misunderstanding of the Hardcastle house drives the plot forward, and his mistaking Kate Hardcastle for a barmaid leads to their falling in love. Goldsmith eventually allowed false appearances to reveal the truth. Kate’s cheating on Marlowe doesn’t just fuel their relationship; It also reveals Marlowe’s true self. In the same vein, Tony’s lie about the mansion reveals the truth of Marlo and Kate’s affections. Throughout the play, Goldsmith blurs the lines between lie and truth, appearance and reality, to argue that the former can lead to the latter.
Fashions and tastes: As is typical of a comedy of manners, She Stoops to Conquer satirizes its characters’ rigid adherence to contemporary fashions by showing characters who exaggeratedly embody a number of different cultural trends. Marlow is a fashion-obsessed, travel-obsessed, mannerist type of young man often caricatured. Mrs. Hardcastle and Marlow are both too fixated on their clothing and the clothing of others to be able to see the truth about the characters around them. At the same time, Mr. Hardcastle’s stubborn insistence on dressing himself and his family in an old-fashioned style leads Marlow to easily mistake him for an innkeeper and his daughter for barmaid. The way the characters dress signal something about them, but far from everything. Thus, clothing comes to symbolize the often-superficial nature of first impressions and appearances.
Picture of 18th century London: She stoops to conquer reflects on 18th century London. The English people were so fond of fashion. St James Square was one of the fashionable places. To make fun, women have ladies clubs where young men are not allowed. The members of the club enjoyed themselves with wine, cards and old women. Here we find,
“Yes, as merry as cards, supper, wine and old woman can make us”
Class Consciousness: Class consciousness was so acute in 18th century England. In “She stoops to Conquer” Marlow and Hastings thought of Mr Hardcastle as an innkeeper. So they behave with him expressing their vanity. They think the innkeeper is a man of lower status. Marlow fell in love with Miss Hardcastle but he could not marry her for lower status in life.
Conclusion: To conclude, it is quite clear to us that Oliver Goldsmith vividly colored 18th century England throwing his power of literature. Actually, he satirizes 18th century England and English people throughout his masterpiece “She stoops to Conquer”.
