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    She Stoops to Conquer
    She Stoops to Conquer
    She Stoops to Conquer
    Ebook94 pages1 hour

    She Stoops to Conquer

    By Oliver Goldsmith

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Wealthy countryman Mr. Hardcastle arranges for his daughter Kate to meet Charles Marlow, the son of a wealthy Londoner, hoping the pair will marry. Unfortunately Marlow is nervous around upper-class women, yet the complete opposite around lower-class females. On his first acquaintance with Kate, the latter realises she will have to pretend to be common, or Marlow will not woo her. Thus Kate stoops to conquer, by posing as a maid, hoping to put Marlow at his ease so he falls for her.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWilder Publications, Inc.
    Release dateJul 4, 2014
    ISBN9781633841642

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    Reviews for She Stoops to Conquer

    3.5/5

    195 ratings12 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I had to check the dictionary more often compared to when reading regular books. And sometimes, the dictionary doesn't even contain the words from this 1700's comedy! Other than that, it was pretty funny. I bet that it's more hilarious when performed. (Got to check out if there's some on YouTube.)
    • 5/5
      *Review of LA Theatre Works Audiobook Edition*I went into this book with very little expectation. I mean, it's a supposed classic that I've never heard of, and drama isn't my particular favorite. However, it was a free audiobook download from Sync this summer, and it was the recording of a theater production that included James Marsters (eek!). It's also only a couple of hours long (not a huge commitment at all), so I decided to give it a go.Um, why haven't I heard of this play before? Because it's hilarious! 20 minutes in, I was laughing non-stop and having a thoroughly good time. The fact that this is recorded theatre gives it a huge advantage, since the performers give their lines with perfect emphasis and tone. She Stoops to Conquer is a typical comedy that centers around mistaken identities and misunderstood situations. All of the characters are funny and loveable, and the talent of the performers is unmistakable, even without being able to see them act it out.I'm so glad that I had the chance to discover this play, and that I was able to do so in an audio format. I think that most plays are meant to be heard and/or seen, and I would definitely recommend staying away from the print and going straight to a performance or this audio version for She Stoops to Conquer. Many of the jokes wouldn't be very funny without hearing the interaction between the characters and without hearing the inflections of the words.The plot is fairly predictable; however, because of its simplicity and some of the extremely ludicrous characters (like Mrs. Hardcastle), I believe this was written as a parody of the mistaken identities type of play that Shakespeare is so famous for.If you ever get the chance to listen to this, or see it performed, do so! It's one of the funniest plays I've come across.
    • 4/5
      We could all learn a lesson from Tony Lumpkin: life needs more tricks! Let's not dress it up, this is a romp, and one that takes a certain amount of charm from its enlightenment brittleness--the previous ages would not have dwelled so long on the reversal of social roles--but also from its enlinghtenment sap--the Victorians wouldn't have givne themselves over to the bawdy good times. The Enlightenment! It was a well-balanced time!
    • 5/5
      Goldsmith's aim was to knock the popular sentimental comedy off the stage and replace it with what he called "laughing comedy"--and he did it resoundingly with [She Stoops to Conquer]. The play features a cast of characters who, though flawed, are all likeable and human. Old-fashioned Mr. Hardcastle loves the simple country life, but his wife and daughter long for London. To appease him, daughter Kate has agreed to wear a plain housedress in the evenings if he will allow her to wear the latest fashions during the day. Hardcastle announces that the man he has chosen for Kate's husband is on his way to visit. Marlow sounds like the man of her dreams--rich, generous, well respected, young, and handsome--but he has one flaw that she can't abide: he gets tongue-tied and "reserved" in the company of respectable ladies of his class.Along the way, Goldsmith delights us with the antics of Kate's half-brother, the oafish and prank-loving Tony Lumpkin (who turns out to be a lot smarter than he seems) and a second pair of lovers, Marlowe's friend Hastings and Constance Neville, Mrs. Hardcastle's niece and ward. Not to mention a whole crew of hilarious servants!This has been on e of the most popular plays in the English language since its debut in 1773, and it's easy to understand just why.
    • 2/5
      This play was first performed in 1773 and has been often performed since. I decided one should see it rather than read it. I found it hard to follow on a perhaps too cursory reading, and drew little entertainment from it.
    • 2/5
      Time has not been kind to this play, though in its day it was quite the thing. Pranksters misdirect travelers to a private home which they believe is an inn and romantic mayhem ensues. I do think a talented screenwriter could bring it up to date and make a decent Romcom out of it.
    • 5/5
      Having seen this live at the Canadian Stratford, I can vouch that it is amazingly funny in performance
    • 3/5
      Kind of fun & funny; the language is so different, being written in 1773. I liked it. :)
    • 5/5
      Witty, clever, excellent. I'd love to see this performed.
    • 4/5
      L.A. Theatre Works audio presentation of the classic play full of mistaken identities and endless hijinks. Two friends end up at an estate where they're supposed to make a good impression and one of them is to woo the daughter of the lord of the manor. However, they are informed by the mischief-making son that it's an inn. Comedy ensues. A funny way to spend a couple hours and it definitely doesn't hurt that James Marsters plays one of the leading roles.
    • 5/5
      This full cast audiobook recording was a fun way to revisit one of my favorite Restoration comedies. However, I found that some of the humor didn't come across as well as it did in reading (of course, both of those pale in comparison to seeing the play performed!).
    • 3/5
      A bone-headed edition of a very good play.

    Book preview

    She Stoops to Conquer - Oliver Goldsmith

    Act the First.

    scene—a chamber in an old-fashioned house.

    Enter Mrs. Hardcastle and Mr. Hardcastle.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. I vow, Mr. Hardcastle, you’re very particular. Is there a creature in the whole country but ourselves, that does not take a trip to town now and then, to rub off the rust a little? There’s the two Miss Hoggs, and our neighbour Mrs. Grigsby, go to take a month’s polishing every winter.

    Hardcastle. Ay, and bring back vanity and affectation to last them the whole year. I wonder why London cannot keep its own fools at home! In my time, the follies of the town crept slowly among us, but now they travel faster than a stage-coach. Its fopperies come down not only as inside passengers, but in the very basket.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. Ay, your times were fine times indeed; you have been telling us of them for many a long year. Here we live in an old rumbling mansion, that looks for all the world like an inn, but that we never see company. Our best visitors are old Mrs. Oddfish, the curate’s wife, and little Cripplegate, the lame dancing-master; and all our entertainment your old stories of Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough. I hate such old-fashioned trumpery.

    Hardcastle. And I love it. I love everything that’s old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine; and I believe, Dorothy (taking her hand), you’ll own I have been pretty fond of an old wife.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. Lord, Mr. Hardcastle, you’re for ever at your Dorothys and your old wifes. You may be a Darby, but I’ll be no Joan, I promise you. I’m not so old as you’d make me, by more than one good year. Add twenty to twenty, and make money of that.

    Hardcastle. Let me see; twenty added to twenty makes just fifty and seven.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. It’s false, Mr. Hardcastle; I was but twenty when I was brought to bed of Tony, that I had by Mr. Lumpkin, my first husband; and he’s not come to years of discretion yet.

    Hardcastle. Nor ever will, I dare answer for him. Ay, you have taught him finely.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. No matter. Tony Lumpkin has a good fortune. My son is not to live by his learning. I don’t think a boy wants much learning to spend fifteen hundred a year.

    Hardcastle. Learning, quotha! a mere composition of tricks and mischief.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. Humour, my dear; nothing but humour. Come, Mr. Hardcastle, you must allow the boy a little humour.

    Hardcastle. I’d sooner allow him a horse-pond. If burning the footmen’s shoes, frightening the maids, and worrying the kittens be humour, he has it. It was but yesterday he fastened my wig to the back of my chair, and when I went to make a bow, I popt my bald head in Mrs. Frizzle’s face.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. And am I to blame? The poor boy was always too sickly to do any good. A school would be his death. When he comes to be a little stronger, who knows what a year or two’s Latin may do for him?

    Hardcastle. Latin for him! A cat and fiddle. No, no; the alehouse and the stable are the only schools he’ll ever go to.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. Well, we must not snub the poor boy now, for I believe we shan’t have him long among us. Anybody that looks in his face may see he’s consumptive.

    Hardcastle. Ay, if growing too fat be one of the symptoms.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. He coughs sometimes.

    Hardcastle. Yes, when his liquor goes the wrong way.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. I’m actually afraid of his lungs.

    Hardcastle. And truly so am I; for he sometimes whoops like a speaking trumpet—(Tony hallooing behind the scenes)—O, there he goes—a very consumptive figure, truly.

    Enter Tony, crossing the stage.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. Tony, where are you going, my charmer? Won’t you give papa and I a little of your company, lovee?

    Tony. I’m in haste, mother; I cannot stay.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. You shan’t venture out this raw evening, my dear; you look most shockingly.

    Tony. I can’t stay, I tell you. The Three Pigeons expects me down every moment. There’s some fun going forward.

    Hardcastle. Ay; the alehouse, the old place: I thought so.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. A low, paltry set of fellows.

    Tony. Not so low, neither. There’s Dick Muggins the exciseman, Jack Slang the horse doctor, Little Aminadab that grinds the music box, and Tom Twist that spins the pewter platter.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. Pray, my dear, disappoint them for one night at least.

    Tony. As for disappointing them, I should not so much mind; but I can’t abide to disappoint myself.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. (detaining him.) You shan’t go.

    Tony. I will, I tell you.

    Mrs. Hardcastle. I say you shan’t.

    Tony. We’ll see which is strongest, you or I.

    [Exit, hauling her out.]

    Hardcastle. (solus.)

    Ay, there goes a pair that only spoil each other. But is not the whole age in a combination to drive sense and discretion out of doors? There’s my pretty darling Kate! the fashions of the times have almost infected her too. By living a year or two in town, she is as fond of gauze and French frippery as the best of them.

    Enter Miss Hardcastle.

    Hardcastle. Blessings on my pretty innocence! drest out as usual, my Kate. Goodness! What a quantity of superfluous silk hast thou got about thee, girl! I could never teach the fools of this age, that the indigent world could be clothed out of the trimmings of the vain.

    Miss Hardcastle. You know our agreement, sir. You allow me the morning to receive and pay visits, and to dress in my own manner; and in the evening I put on my housewife’s dress to please you.

    Hardcastle. Well, remember, I insist on the terms of our agreement; and, by the bye, I believe I shall have occasion to try your obedience this very evening.

    Miss Hardcastle. I protest, sir, I don’t comprehend your meaning.

    Hardcastle. Then to be plain with you, Kate, I expect the young gentleman I have chosen to be your husband from town this very day. I have his father’s letter, in which he informs me his son is set out, and that he intends to follow himself shortly after.

    Miss Hardcastle. Indeed! I wish I had known something of this before. Bless me, how shall I behave? It’s a thousand to one I shan’t like him; our meeting will be so formal, and so like a thing of business, that I shall find no room for friendship or esteem.

    Hardcastle. Depend upon it, child, I’ll never control your choice; but Mr. Marlow, whom I have pitched upon, is the son of my old friend, Sir Charles Marlow, of whom you have heard me talk so often. The young

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