The play She Stoops to Conquer by the Irish author Oliver Goldsmith is a complicated plot based on mistaken identities and ridiculous life situations. She Stoops to Conquer tends to deride the traditions of the upper class of the eighteenth century. It is fun to watch people getting imprisoned with their own social customs and traditions. The multilayered plot attracts with its unexpected curves. The audience did not have a chance to take a short rest when the sudden events developed on a stage. Not to mention the farce used throughout the play which makes it even more compelling and leaves no time for yawning. The director Max Stafford-Clark was able to represent the ideals of the upper class of the eighteenth century’s Englishmen and at the same time satirize those. NAMELY, Goldsmith was able to show the outrageous contrast between upper and lower class, and between city and the countryside of the late 18th century in England. The first example one may think of right away is the main hero’s prejudice about the behavior of an inn lodger. His conduct is merely uncivilized when he thinks the house to be the inn and demands the best treatment since he is going to pay for the services. This is a nice representation of the relations between upper and lower class of the eighteenth century.
As per the style of the play it was compelling to watch, hence, it is to be noticed that the director used somewhat mocking style along with wittiness. However, unlike other satirical plays, this one can deservedly be called graceful. Meaning, the entire ply is so understandable and easy – but not unsophisticated – that almost everything can be pretty understandable for the contemporary audience except for some idioms of those times: “Stout horses and willing minds make short journeys”. The author along with the director represented the protagonists of the play as ludicrous or eccentric heroes. Subsequently, a viewer may mistakenly consider those incapable of reforming themselves.
As mentioned above, the play itself is very fluent and intriguing to watch. This effect is achieved due to rapidly developing events and scenes changing, for instance, from the Tony Lumpkin’s childhood flashbacks up to the resulting events. Also, the solos of the actor is presented vividly on the stage while he/she is unveiling own feelings and emotions to the audience. Here, it is necessary to outline that Goldsmith followed the classical unities of a play’s site and time – the single location; this time it is the countryside, the house of Hardcastles.
There were a number of techniques used by director to make people laugh. Nowadays the performance of this eighteenth century play requires the restrained and subtle play of actors; otherwise the humor may not be delivered to the audience to the full extent. Namely, the mentioned way of presentation is perfectly implemented in totally straight, unemotional faces of the main heroes in order to burst out laughing. In order to be more exact, some specific scene has to be extracted here: it is just extremely hilarious when the would-be son-in-law mistakenly considers the house to be the inn and demands supper; instead he gets an egg on his face.
She Stoops to Conquer is also deservedly called a sentimental comedy. The nice proof of that serves the behavior of the main heroine. She used to be shy an, romantic, and modest. The hero was courageous and straight-forward; in a word, along with comic surface the romance is seen everywhere and above everything.
The servants take a great deal of central play in She Stoops to Conquer. Since the play of 18th century origin did not allow a great performance of secondary parts, the contemporary director made it possible for the servants to show their utmost in extreme desire not to be servant-like. The sentimental comedies are supposed to arouse the sentimental, sad feelings when something disappointing or crucial is happening on stage. However, if we talk about She Stoops to Conquer this is what Marlow commented: Pardon me, madam. I was always willing to be amused. The folly of most people is rather an object of mirth than uneasiness.Moreover, why not also present here the evidence of this comedy being far from sentimental in modern interpretation. Namely, the scene when Mrs. Hardcastle refuses to take the sentimental talks: Pshaw, pshaw, this is all but the whining end of a modern novel, whereas the novels were all written in the sentimental style. Nevertheless, disregarding the style – either it is a sentimental comedy or not – the story line written more than two hundred years ago is a wonderful implementation of contemporary society problems. To be more exact, let me unearth the problem of social inequality and the way people percept each other’s social position in the first place through the appearance and ways of life. The play’s director showed perfectly how people treat each other according to the class they belong to. What is even more exciting is that the whole comedy of manners and people’s inner world and lessons they are taught is developed within one house at a countryside. The main characters are forced through life circumstances created by the comic errors purposely by another protagonist. It was so thrilling to watch how the character professionally performed by the actors lived through different lives and made the audience believe that they truly had secret love affair, did or did not want to give the daughter in marriage, etc.
It must be noticed that in the 18th century the Goldsmith’s play was considered somewhat risky due to its ribald humor. However, still, the director Max Stafford-Clark surely used this feature to the benefit of the play performed nowadays because the audience of the theatre was merely astounded. This definitely worked for the play drawing a wide response of public because more than an hour the audience was sincerely laughing at the human drawbacks.
In a word, the play being full of farce brings to the stage the most debatable topics that are truly unexpected to laugh at: the love affairs, jewels, and true affections. The mistaken identity is the major leitmotif of She Stoops to Conquer. There is no doubt that the actors made the best out of their professionalism to astonish audience with quick wit and at the same time surprise it with hilarious blunders. The play is certainly depicting the story that happened to heroes who will never forget that crucial night.
Of course, the success of the play is determined by the reaction of public. Throughout times and centuries the play by Goldsmith was numerously performed on the stage on behalf of different directors. The audience was truly thrilled with the play of actors and their professional implementation of the director’s ideas. Thereby, it can be claimed that Max Stafford-Clark did tremendous job unmasking people’s true intentions throughout the play. In a burst of inspiration the director created stage play that maintained the Goldsmith’s idea along with expressing Stafford-Clark’s own insight into the eighteenth century play. Namely, the comedy of manners with a plot created by an Englishman more than two hundred years ago still arouses roar of laughter among audience.
Works Cited
Max, Stafford-Clark. She Stoops to Conquer. Films For The Humanities & Sciences, 2003. 138:12 min.