Monday, September 20, 2010

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1744)

She Stoops To Conquer


Characters:
  • Charles Marlow
  • the Hardcastles
  • Tony Lumpkin
  • Kate Hardcastle
Plot summary:
  • Charles Marlow is a wealthy young man forced by his family to consider a potential bride he has never met. Being very shy, he is anxious about meeting her, and he can only behave naturally with women of a lower class.
  • Charles sets out with a friend to travel to the home of his prospective in-laws, the Hardcastles, but they become lost on the road.
  • Charles's bride-to-be's half-brother, Tony Lumpkin, comes across the two riders. He realizes their identities and plays a practical joke by telling them they are a long way from their destination and will have to stay overnight at an inn. The "inn" he directs them to is in fact the home of his parents.
  • When Charles and his friend arrive, they are welcomed cordially, but the two men, who believe themselves to be in an inn, behave rudely.
  • Meanwhile, Kate, Charles's prospective bride, learns of the error. Being acquainted with her suitor's shyness, she masquerades as a serving-maid in order to get to know him better. Charles falls in love with him and plans to elope with her.
  • Everything becomes sorted in the end.

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