The Role of the Clever Servant in William Wycherly's 'The Country Wife"

Throughout Wycherley's "The Country Wife" the possibilities of love and marriage for the wrong reasons are observed. Each character in the play has his or her own views of the opposite sex and how Love or, for some, merely money or physical attractions should be approached. The reasons for marriage as seen by most of the characters in The Country Wife are contradicted by Lucy, a simple servant with many opinions on the subject of …

…a character who voices what they might be feeling towards the characters as they consider the behaviors of the love triangles on the stage. Through Lucy a voice of logic and reason is brought into The Country Wife. This maid holds the values which her London employer and friends do not. She has values of virtue and fidelity which show a more realistic character, one not governed by the fashionable unfaithfulness to lovers and friends.