Will Farquhar Ever Die?
Well, my guess is yes, because we finished talking about The Beaux’ Strategem in Stumpf’s class, so I promise I’ll stop posting about him.
Anyway, we had a lot of interesting things to talk about in class, but one thing I thought was really important that we didn’t mention in our discussion was the way in which money is injected in all kinds of conventional behavior. Note the conversation between Dorinda and Mrs. Sullen in Act IV, Scene I… particularly telling is the part where Dorinda has finished recounting her fantasy about being Lady Aimwell (about line 500), which upsets Mrs. Sullen:
Dor: The sharpest arrow in his quiver, my dear sister (i.e., his offer of marriage)!—Why, my ten thousand pounds may lie brooding here this seven years, and hatch nothing at last but some ill-natured clown like yours. Whereas, if I marry my Lord Aimwell, there will be title, place, and precedence, the Park, the play, and the drawing-room, splendor, equipage, noise, and flambeaux.—’Hey, my Lady Aimwell’s servants there!—Lights, lights to the stairs!—My Lady Aimwell’s coach put forward!—Stand by, make room for her ladyship!’—Are not these things moving?—What! melancholy of a sudden?
Mrs. Sullen: Happy, happy sister! your angel has been watchful for your happiness, whilst mine has slept regardless of his charge.—Long smiling years of circling joys for you, but not one hour for me! (Weeps.)
I recognize this scene of two ladies comparing their respective gallants from a number of plays (The Rover leaps immediately to mind), but what’s interesting here is that they’re comparing the lovers’ estates, and what’s more that all of this talk about estates moves Mrs. Sullen to tears (not, of course, the fact that she’s married an utter bastard).
You can also see this in the way that Archer always demands payment for his gallantry. He does a bunch of things that sound a bit like things a romantic hero would do (saving Mrs. Sullen, getting wounded in the fight with the robbers), but the way he acts after he does them isn’t very heroic (I think we referred to the “yes! I got wounded!” part during our discussion. I also wanted to look a bit more closely at what happens after he is wounded and Lady Bountiful instructs Mrs. Sullen to conduct him to a bedchamber:
Mrs. Sullen: How can you, after what is passed, have the confidence to ask me? (i.e., to sleep with him)
Archer: And if you go to that, how can you, after what is passed, have the confidence to deny me? Was not this blood shed in your defence, and my life exposed for your protection? Look ye, madam, I’m none of your romantic fools, that fight giants and monsters for nothing; my valor is downright Swiss; I’m a soldier of fortune, and must be paid.
Of course the reference to “Swiss valor” refers to the Swiss’ reputation as excellent mercenaries. However, the difference, of course, is that mercenaries are hired, whereas Mrs. Sullen didn’t really contract or (if I remember correctly) even solicit Acher’s action. I think what’s so interesting about this scene is the way that it takes these normal romantic conventions and shows how incompatible they are with the financially-centered modern world.
Well, it’s too bad I don’t have to write any undergraduate response papers about Farquhar (man, do I miss those!) because I think this idea would have made a good one, but it’s something interesting to think about it nonetheless. Also, I’m thinking it might be a good thing to reproduce passages from the texts occasionally, so that when we’re going through these things as exam notes we can read these little bits and get a flavor for the writing style of the text without having to actually go through the original looking for the really telling passages.
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