The Country Wife

In Act V of William Wycherley's "The Country Wife," the conflict between women and men is only partially resolved. Pinchwife and Margery come to a working arrangement for their marriage, which basically entails Pinchwife's willingness to deceive himself for the sake of peace in his marriage. Harcourt and Alithea's relationship is also resolved, when Alithea finally acknowledges her love for Harcourt. Despite these resolutions, Wycherley's Act V still shows the conflicting and tense nature of relations between men and women, for Horner admits that if a man is to win the love of a woman he must be willing to be hated by his fellow man.

The marriage between Pinchwife and Margery is one fraught with suspicion and infidelity. Pinchwife has married a much younger country girl, hoping she is too nanve to know how to cuckold him. Pinchwife believes his wife has cuckolded him with Horner. In Act V, Pinchwife actually shows he is the one who is too stupid to detect the truth. He does not realize Margery has written a letter in Ali

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