“God’s my life, I had almost forgot to tell you, there is a young

gentlewoman lately come to town with her mother that is so taken

with you.”

The orange-woman tries to sell her wares to the gentlemen, yet they are uninterested in making a purchase. Much more profitable is the gossip that she has heard in the market and may lead Dorimant to another romantic conquest. In this society, gossip is commodified and romantic rumors have become an industry that can be exploited by members of the working class. This gossip around love introduces the theme of Desire as a Social Game.

“If some malicious body

should betray you, this kind note would hardly make your peace

with her.”

Medley recognizes the vapidity of his friend’s love letter. There is little emotional weight to what Dorimant says to Mrs. Loveit, indicating the disaffection and lack of interest that now defines the relationship. Medley knows his friend well enough to understand the subtleties of his love letters, while also knowing that Dorimant’s only lingering interest in Mrs. Loveit will be turning their breakup into an amusement. Dorimant is not trying to make peace at all; he craves the drama of a chaotic situation at the expense of Mrs. Loveit’s emotional well-being, reflecting The Fragility of Women’s Social Standing.

“Whoring

and swearing are vices too genteel for a shoemaker.”

When brought before the gentlemen, the shoemaker is criticized for his behavior. His sexual proclivities are, the men joke, “too genteel” (1.1.249) for a working-class man, indicating a level of self awareness and the wit which they believe is essential to their understanding of The Performance of Masculinity. As gentlemen, sex and swearing are expected of them and any working-class man who demonstrates such behavior should be criticized as agitating against his social position.

“These young women apprehend loving as much as the young men

do fighting at first; but, once entered, like them too, they all turn

bullies straight.”

In the society depicted in the play, social expectations are gendered. Romance is for young women as fighting is for young men, Dorimant says. However, Dorimant himself shows more interested in romance than fighting—he is dismissive of women’s interest in romance as frivolous, while dedicating his whole life to romantic pursuits. His hypocrisy is evident and telling. Men have more freedom to pursue such romances without attracting comment than women due to the gendered social expectations of the society.

“But an idle town

flirt, with a painted face, a rotten reputation, and a crazy fortune,

adod, is the devil and all, and such a one I hear you are in league

with.”

The young rakes take a patronizing view of women, but this view is not limited to men of their age. Old Bellair criticizes women with painted faces and rotten reputations, yet he does not hold men to the same standards. His views show how the older generation mirrors the younger men: The divide is not across generations, but between genders, suggesting that The Fragility of Women’s Social Standing is a consequence of society itself.

“Then there is The Art of Affectation, written by a late

beauty of quality, teaching you how to draw up your breasts, stretch

up your neck, to thrust out your breech, to play with your head, to

toss up your nose, to bite your lips, to turn up your eyes, to speak in

a silly, soft tone of a voice, and use all the foolish French words that

will infallibly make your person and conversation charming.”

The availability of books such as The Art of Affection illustrates the extent to which the prevailing etiquette of the characters is found across the society. The book is a codified compendium of expected behaviors, governing how people should behave. The books illustrate how etiquette is more than simply a set of unwritten rules, but something which can be understood by everyone.

“I wait upon you, and I hope—though women are commonly

unreasonable—by the plenty of scandal I shall discover, to give you

very good content, ladies.”

The characters in the play treat scandal and gossip as a form of entertainment, as exemplified by Medley’s promise to bring the women “very good content” (2.1.158) in the form of the latest rumors. The explicit way Medley turns his friends’ romantic travails into entertainment suggests that this is a familiar activity for him. In this society, the same rumors that can be used to discredit women are also a form of entertainment among people who enjoy watching the suffering and the downfalls of others, reflecting Desire as a Social Game.

“I know he is a devil; but he has something of the angel

yet undefaced in him, which makes him so charming and agreeable,

that I must love him, be he never so wicked.”

Mrs. Loveit is caught in a difficult position with Dorimant. She knows that he is a notorious womanizer and that she should not invest herself emotionally in their relationship, as he will likely hurt her. However, she cannot help herself from believing that their romance may be different to every romance that came before. She “must love him” (2.2.16) despite his wickedness, creating a sense of tragic inevitability about the end of their relationship.

“When love grows diseased, the best thing we can do is to

put it to a violent death.”

Dorimant frames love as a fatal “disease” which should be avoided. His romantic encounters often end in suffering, but not for him. Despite the frequency of the pain he causes in others, Dorimant chooses his particular framing because love being a passively contracted disease allows him to excuse himself of any agency. Love is simply a disease, caught by other people; he has no responsibility for their pain.

“That women should set up for beauty as much in spite of

nature as some men have done for wit.”

Whereas other women are caught in a difficult game of desire, in which the rules are not equally applied to men and women, Harriet refuses to be bound by social expectations. She challenges the social expectations of women, speaking of how they “should” (3.1.17) be treated in contrast to how they are treated. Her refusal to be bound by social expectation has the ironic effect of making her as desirable to Dorimant as Dorimant was to Mrs. Loveit.

“Clap your fan then in both your hands, snatch it to your

mouth, smile, and with a lively motion fling your body a little

forwards.”

Young Bellair and Harriet perform the role of young lovers for the benefit of their watching guardians, reflecting the motif of deception in the text. This performance allows them to define what they want from a romantic partner in a safe setting, as they are able to tell one another how they would like to be seduced in a setting where seduction is explicitly not the goal. In this sense, the performance is also for their own benefit, as it allows them to delineate the nature of their desire in a safe environment.

“In a word, y’ have made me hate you,

which I thought you never could have done.”

As with her friend, Mrs. Loveit, Belinda is painfully aware that Dorimant will likely hurt her, yet she cannot help herself from loving him. In her asides to the audience, she voices her concerns, demonstrating she is aware of what will happen, but also illustrating her inability to change her actions. She feels as though she has no agency over her desire, almost as though she is compelled to betray her friend, even as she is aware that she herself will likely be betrayed. She is surprised that she can come to hate Dorimant, even as she has seen the way he acts. Her dilemma invokes The Fragility of Women’s Social Standing.

“The plague is here, and you

should dread the infection.”

Lady Woodvill echoes Dorimant’s earlier use of plague and sickness as a metaphor for love. This time, however, the metaphor is turned against Dorimant, so that association with him is a sickness people should “dread” (3.3.115). She views Dorimant as a plague who has a sickening effect on the reputations of young women—a marked contrast to Dorimant’s use of the metaphor as a means of absolving himself of responsibility.

“There’s nothing so

barbarous as the names of our English servants. What countryman

are you, sirrah?”

Fopling is an exaggerated version of the masculine archetype as understood by other characters, satirizing The Performance of Masculinity. His absurdity is shown in the way that he takes offense at minor issues, such as the naming of English servants. These absurdities reframe the male archetype, pointing to the overly delicate feelings and the fragile sensibilities of Fopling and his ilk.

“The depraved appetite of this vicious age

Tastes nothing but green fruit, and loathes it when ‘tis kindly

ripened.”

Lady Woodvill has been critical of Dorimant, so his conversation with her while wearing a disguise uses dramatic irony as part of Dorimant’s games. Since other characters (and the audience) know that Dorimant is in disguise, his genial conversation with Lady Woodvill undermines her earlier criticisms of his character. Now, not knowing his true identity, she is charmed by the very man she criticized, making herself seem foolish in front of her peers.

“I love her, and dare not let her know it. I fear she

has an ascendant o’er me and may revenge the wrongs I have done

her sex.”

After embracing Desire as a Social Game, Dorimant is confounded by his sincere love for Harriet. Despite his many romances, he cannot understand how to interact with a woman whom he truly loves. He views this as an ironic punishment, confessing to the “wrongs” (4.1.140) while realizing the extent to which he is bound by the same social etiquette he once exploited. He cannot allow Harriet to feel as though she has any power over him, even though he acknowledges privately that she does.

“You have no more power to keep the secret than I had not

to trust you with it.”

Belinda schemes with Dorimant against Mrs. Loveit, yet she feels as though they are both trapped on a path of inevitability. She cannot trust him, she knows, but feels drawn to him. The same callousness he directs toward Mrs. Loveit (with her help) will inevitably be directed at her. Despite knowing this, Belinda speaks in a way that denies agency to either herself or Dorimant, as though their future actions are unstoppable.

“In a glass, a man may

entertain himself.”

Fopling’s constant desire to admire his own reflection is a satire of the narcissism of male archetypes such as the fop or the rake, once more reflecting The Performance of Masculinity. Fopling looking into a mirror is an entertainment for him, but also an amusement for the audience, which is encouraged to laugh at this spectacle of self-admiration.

“You gave us no directions, madam.”

Belinda forgets to issue instructions to the carriage driver, so finds herself somewhere she does not want to be. This physical dislocation mirrors her emotional dislocation, as her scheme with Dorimant has rapidly spun out of her control and she no longer understands what she is doing. She has gotten lost in her own plot and feels unable to extricate herself from the situation.

“Then I am betrayed indeed. H’ has broke his word,

and I love a man that does not care for me.”

Belinda realizes that she has been betrayed and—in a state of shock—she falls into a faint. The fainting is not caused by the betrayal, so much as the emotional clarity it provides. Belinda knew that this was the likely outcome, yet her feelings for Dorimant allowed her to delude herself long enough to make herself vulnerable. Now, that delusion is stripped away and Belinda must confront The Fragility of Women’s Social Standing.

“Death and eternal darkness! I shall never sleep again.

Raging fevers seize the world and make mankind as restless all as I

am.”

When she is cursing Dorimant and the other characters, Mrs. Loveit must invoke abstract concepts like death and darkness. Her apocalyptic condemnations are exaggerated and grandiose, but this speaks to the lack of agency she feels in her situation. Whereas Dorimant can hurt her with gossip and implication, she cannot do the same to him. Women are judged by different standards so, when she wants to lash out, she lacks the same weapons as her opponent. Her situation embodies The Fragility of Women’s Social Standing.

“To be with you, I could live there and never send one

thought to London.”

When he commits himself to Harriet, Dorimant claims to be willing to give up more than just his lifestyle. He is willing to give up London itself, as well as everything that the city represents. He is willing to abandon the urbane, refined society for life in the country, abandoning his status out of his love for Harriet. Dorimant’s willingness to leave London is a marker of his sincerity and abandonment of Desire as a Social Game.

“There’s music in the worst cry in

London, ‘My dill and cucumbers to pickle.’”

Just as Dorimant offers to leave London on Harriet’s behalf, Harriet herself begins to recognize the qualities of the city. She had previously craved a return to the country, but she has leaned to understand the musicality of the city and everything it has to offer. She is drawn to London right at the moment that she may quit the city, suggesting that her future with Dorimant may not be as simple as it seems. There is an uncertainty to their romance which is reflected in their changing feelings.