Write a note on the plot construction of Goldsmith in his play 'She Stoops to Conquer'
Plot construction of 'She Stoops to Conquer': It appears to be a very complicated play, but it is very skillfully constructed. Goldsmith attends carefully to the matter of exposition. The play opens with Mr Hardcastle and Mrs Hardcastle. There is Tony Lumpkin, Mrs Hardcastle's son by her former husband, and he seems to have been spoilt by her mother.
Hardcastle prepares to receive Marlow and instructs his servants accordingly. It has a comic purpose too. Then Marlow and Hastings are conducted to the house. Marlow makes no secret of his problem. When Hastings is left alone there, Miss Neville comes along. They are both surprised.
Miss Neville undeceives him at once; it is not an inn, but Mr Hardcastle's house, and she is living there with her aunt. Then there appears Tony and Miss Neville. Miss Neville makes a show of chasing Tony about, while Tony would have nothing to do with her. Hardcastle is disappointed that he finds Marlow anything but modest, so contrary to what his father led him to expect.
His daughter appears before him in very plain clothes. She has a better impression of Marlow than her father and tries to defend him against the charge of impudence, as she finds him very bashful. She hopes that their impressions will soon be reversed. Miss Neville meets Hastings again and tells him that Sir Charles Marlow will be here soon.
Hastings does not like that Sir Charles should find him here. Marlow now meets Miss Hardcastle again and learns that it is really the house of Mr Hardcastle and that she is not a barmaid, but a poor relation of the family.
Now let's see how Tony carries out his plan to rescue Miss Neville, for if he can hand over Neville to the safe custody of Hastings, Hastings will be satisfied. Tony's tavern life and the tricks the plays would be a little congenial to the atmosphere of sentimental comedy. She Stoops to Conquer is a revolt against the manner and tradition of sentimental comedy.
Read More-
- Plot construction of 'She Stoops to Conquer'
- English Comedy before Goldsmith
- Sentimental Comedy: Reaction of Goldsmith against it
- Character and role of Miss Neville
- Discuss She Stoops to Conquer as a Sentimental Comedy
- Discuss Goldsmith's View of Sentimental Comedy
- Give an estimate of Goldsmith as a dramatist
- Contribution of Goldsmith as a Dramatist
