, Research Paper
The Way of the World is a comedy of manners in five acts by William Congreve.
Performed and published in 1700 the play ridicules the assumptions that governed
the society of his time, especially those concerning love and marriage. The plot
concerns the efforts of the lovers Millamant and Mirabell to obtain the
permission of Millamant’s aunt, Lady Wishfort, for their marriage. Despite a
scheme that goes wrong and after several misunderstandings are cleared up, the
two finally obtain her consent. This essay will discuss the actions of Mrs.
Marwood. Though she is a minor character, her motives in the play lead her to
help in the distruction of Mirabell?s scheme. In the second act we find that
Mrs. Fainall and Mrs. Marwood both hate men. As they begin to conspire, we see
Marwood’s manipulative abilities going to work, convincing Mrs. Fainall that she
should divorce her husband. In Public the Fainall’s seem to get along, they even
seem to be able to tolerate one another. However, following their short
interactions, both husband and wife go off with a lover, either past or present.
Fainall went off with Mrs. Marwood, the woman he loves, and Mrs. Fainall went
off with Mirabell, one of her long time lovers before her marriage. This pairing
off did not truly bother either of the Fainall’s in that since niether loved the
other, they did not feel loyal to each other. Their marrage was based solely on
image and in no way love. Therefore they did not feel guilty about being with
the person they loved most in the world. Through these conversations, the plot
to wed Mirabell and Millamant is revealed to the audience. This seems to be a
long and intricate plan with a lot of things depending on the reactions of Lady
Wishfort and the secrecy of the plot. Unfortunately, Mrs. Marwood sees Foible
conversing with Mirabell and for a moment, all seems lost, but Foible convinces
Lady Wishfort that she did not speak to Mirabell volutarily and that he coerced
her into speaking with him. She also told Lady Wishfort that Mirabell had
insulted her, which made Lady Wishfort extremely mad and so she desired to seek
revenge on such a bold and stubborn man. She was willing to do almost anything
to keep Mirabell from inheriting his uncle’s fortune, even go so far as to marry
the unknown uncle herself. Ironically, the plan is almost foiled again when Mrs.
Marwood overhears the entire plan as Mrs. Fainall speaks with Foible. In order
to work against the plot without directly coming out and uncovering it,
plants opposing thoughts into the mind of Lady Wishfort, and so in this way,
undermining the efforts of Mirabell and Foible. Mrs. Marwoods intention are to
help Fainall extort money out of Lady Wishfort. In addition to advising Lady
Wishfort, Marwood plans to use Fainall to get back at Lady Wishfort, Millamant,
and Mirabell. She writes a letter that reveals to Lady Wishfort the entire plan
including Waitwell’s impersonation of Sir Rowland, and even Millamants
involvement with the unapproved contract. However, during this time, Lady
Wishfort is encourageing Millamant to become involved with Sir Wilfull, but
Millamant is only interested in Mirabell. Finally, Lady Wishfort is courted by
Sir Rowland, all is going well until the letter arrives. When Lady Wishfort
reads the letter, she is confused and shocked at first. Waitwell tries to
justify the letter and so offers to prove his identity as Sir Rowland. However,
since Fainall knew about Marwood’s plan to use the letter, he was waiting to
arrest Waitwell. Lady Wishfort in turn was scolding Foible and proceeded to
basically throw her out of her home. Over the next few moments, all of the
inter-relationships that had been hidden throughout the play were uncovered as
Fainall attempted to legally pressure Lady Wishfort into turning over her
fortune to her daughter and therefore giving the money to him. Without fail,
Mirabell comes to the rescue with a legal document that turns over all moneys to
himself, signed and witnessed by persons who were present. So in the end,
Mirabell is allowed to marry Millamant as a reward for saving Lady Wishfort’s
fortunes. This play was very interesting and difficult to understand in the
beginning, but as the plot began to unfold and the relationships began to be
discovered, the story was a little more understandable. The characters
themselves were not necessarily deep, but the inter-relationships were important
to the overall storyline. The characters that worked together tended to have
some type of loyalty to the other character(s). For example, Fainall worked with
Mrs. Marwood because he loved her. These alliances seemed stronger because there
was a bond between them. Mrs. Marwoods action overall were not honorable. Her
chracter was not a likeable one because of her willingness to foil Mirabell?s
scheme. Her action were motivated by her love for Fainall.
The Way of the World, William Congreve Lynch, Kathleen M.(Ed.) (1965). The
Way of the World. Nebraska: University of Nebrask Press.