1. At the beginning
of Act 3, Kate and her father, Mr. Hardcastle, compare their
experiences with Mr. Marlow. Of course, Kate has found him, as
advertised by her father, bashful and modest (he hasn’t even looked
her in the eye) while Mr. Hardcastle – owing to Marlow’s
misunderstanding him to be an innkeeper – has found him to be the
opposite. This divided opinion on Marlow, though easy to explain,
can function in the play as a kind of window (even a symbol) of the
differences between how men judge other men and how women judge men.
Review the exchange between Kate and Mr. Hardcastle in Act 3, lines 1
– 83 (“What could my old friend Sir Charles…And depend on’t
I’m not much in the wrong”). What are the principal differences
in what qualities they admire in a young man who is a prospective
husband for Kate, and what insights do you have into the significance
of these differences?
2. Standing back
from the plot of She Stoops to Conquer, we see that it is
structured around two major deceptions (there are two other minor
ones conducted by Tony) which function ultimately to the advantage of
the four lovers. Tony has deceived Marlow and Hastings (Hastings
soon finds out the truth, but Marlow doesn’t) into thinking they
are staying at an inn when they are staying at Mr. Hardcastle’s
home. Without this deception, Marlow would never have shown Kate any
other side than his reserved, shy side. The second deception arises
on the back of the first. In a brief exchange with Kate early in Act
3, a maid in the house informs her that Marlow has spotted Kate
walking by (in the simple attire favoured by her father) and has
assumed she is the barmaid of the inn. Kate instantly seizes on this
error to begin a new deception of Marlow. Review the exchange
between Kate and the maid in Act 3, lines 224 – 256 (“What an
unaccountable creature is that brother of mine…It will do, madam.
But he’s here”). Focus on Kate’s language in this exchange.
What impression do you get about her character in this scene and her
purpose in deceiving Marlow? And how would you compare Kate’s
deception of Marlowe to the deceptions conducted by her half-brother,
Tony?
3. Marlow and Kate
have three more exchanges of significance from this point in the
play. In the first, in Act 3, Marlow makes bold advances on Kate
(probably qualifying as sexual harassment by modern standards) since
he takes her to be a barmaid – the kind of girl he assumes one can
treat like this. Mr. Hardcastle catches a glimpse of this and
denounces it to Kate as “impudence” (358) unbecoming of a young
man courting a gentlewoman. But Kate is not put off by Marlow’s
behavior. This exchange is followed by one between Marlow and
Hastings in which Marlow leaves no doubt that his goal with the
“barmaid” is non-committal sex. These two scenes together show
us clearly one side of Marlow’s psyche and are revealing about the
work Kate has at hand if she means to find “the art of reconciling
contradictions” – to quote Mr. Hardcastle (Act 3, line 79).
Review these two exchanges in Act 3, lines 272 – 350 (“Perhaps
the other gentleman called, sir…Such beauty fires beyond the power
of resistance”) and Act 4, lines 42 – 59 (“Didn’t you
see…that would attempt to corrupt it”). How would you compare
Marlow in these two exchanges with Dorimant in The Man of Mode?
Is Marlow a rake, or a variation on a rake? Or is he something else
entirely?
4. A case can be
made that the exchange between Kate and Marlow in Act 4 is the
crucial text in the play for our examining the psyche of Marlow and
determining whether he can be made whole by Kate’s trick and
thereby harmonize the tender and “sentimental” side of his nature
with his sensual, sexual side. The exchange begins when he picks up
a hint from a parting remark by Mr. Hardcastle that he may be
mistaken in thinking he is at an inn. Meeting Kate immediately
afterward, whom he still takes to be a barmaid, Marlow is immediately
told his error (though she lets him think she is only a “poor
relation” (188) of the family). Review the exchange between Kate
and Marlow in Act 4 at lines 181 – 246 (“Let it be short
then…laugh him out of his resolution”). Which sentences by
Marlow stand out to you here as evidence of a transformation at work
in him? How would you describe what you think is happening to him
here?
5. The final
exchange between Kate and Marlow is an arranged meeting that Kate
contrives to permit her father and Sir Charles Marlow (Marlow’s
father) to secretly witness the sincerity of Marlow’s interest in
her. When the scene begins, Marlow is still under the impression
that he is addressing a “poor relation” of Mr. Hardcastle and not
his daughter whom he has been sent down to the country to meet in the
first place. This deception is clearly what still permits him to
feel no reserve or shyness in her presence. The exchange begins with
the two older men out of the room (they sneak in later in the scene)
and, in his remarks to Kate, Marlow struggles with a dilemma –
whether to propose to a girl for whom he feels both tender love and
sexual desire who is, however, his social inferior and thus likely
unacceptable in his father’s eyes. Kate has “stooped to conquer”
him – meaning she has disguised herself as his social inferior to
win both his love and his desire. Marlow moves rapidly toward
proposing to her, but Kate does not make this easy for him and puts
more obstacles in his way. Review this final exchange between Kate
and Marlow in Act 5.3, lines 1 – 98 (“What a situation I am
in…Take courage, man”). What motivation do you see at work for
Kate that she protracts this scene as she does by putting off Marlow?
When the exchange ends, pay attention to the stage direction at line
98. What significance do you attach to this direction in terms of
any light it sheds on Kate’s stance toward Marlow in their future
marital state?
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