She Stoops to Conquer

While the tricks and manipulations of the characters in She Stoops to Conquer have previously been amusing and effective, the fourth Act of the play reveals that The Deceptive Nature of Appearances will eventually fall apart and can result in harm. While Tony's trick and Constance's ruse were intended for amusement and for freedom respectively, they eventually cause damage to themselves and to others by continuing to promote falsehoods.

The fourth Act shows several occurrences in which characters trying to trick others end up the victims of their own pranks. For example, when Hastings gives Marlow the jewels for safekeeping, he forgets that Marlow still believes the house to be an inn. Assuming that he needs to keep his friend's casket safe, Marlow muses to a servant, “I wonder what Hastings could mean by sending me so valuable a thing as a casket to keep for him, when he knows the only place I have is the seat of a post-coach at an inn-door. Have you deposited the casket with the landlady, as I ordered you?” (59). Since Hastings never told Marlow that the house was not actually an inn, he suffers the consequences of losing the jewels because Marlow has accidentally returned them to Mrs. Hardcastle.

Similarly, Constance is harmed through her own deceit when Tony Lumpkin accidentally shares the secret letter from Hastings with his mother. At first, she blames Tony for his misunderstanding, angrily asking, “what better could be expected from being connected with such a stupid fool—and after all the nods and signs I made him?” (71). However, Constance is also partially responsible for the incident, as the lie she made up about the letter pertaining to cock fighting was too convincing and too tempting for Tony to resist. He reminds her, “by the laws, Miss, it was your own cleverness, and not my stupidity, that did your business” (71). Both Hastings and Constance find that the consequences of their tricks eventually damage their goal of eloping together with the jewels. Goldsmith suggests that trickery cannot be sustained infinitely, and that the more complex a lie becomes, the more dangerous it is to continue.

Additionally, the deceptions of Tony, Hastings, and Constance begin to have more harmful impacts upon other characters as well, while further deepening The Instability of Social Class Identity. Marlow is kicked out of Mr. Hardcastle's house after he continues to treat the place like an inn. While the confusion was initially amusing and tolerated by both Marlow and Mr. Hardcastle, they grow angry with one another over the servants' drinking. Mr. Hardcastle protests, “their manner of drinking is setting a very bad example in this house, I assure you” (62), meaning that a gentleman's servants should not get extremely drunk during a formal visit. However, Marlow thinks the house is an inn and so has instructed the servants to drink heavily, as this would provide the innkeeper with income and be seen as generous. He replies, “I protest, my very good sir, that is no fault of mine. If they don't drink as they ought, they are to blame. I ordered them not to spare the cellar, I did, I assure you” (62, emphasis added).

The contrast between the manners of the gentry and the manners of the inn results in Marlow being thrown out of the house, despite him believing he has behaved exactly as he ought to. When Kate finally informs him of his mistake, he is humiliated and angry with Hastings. He reminds his friend that, “what might be amusement to you, is here disappointment, and even distress” (74). Both comedy and tragedy often involve misunderstandings, and this Act signifies that there is a real danger that the schemes of these characters might end badly rather than happily. Without the eventual restoration of understanding, Goldsmith indicates, a positive conclusion will be impossible.