Deception and disguise, classic elements of comedy, are found in both William Wycherly's The Country Wife and The Conscious Lovers by Richard Steele. These devices rely on gaps in knowledge of a person's true identity between different characters, or between the characters and the audience, but the true nature of the characters in the two plays is very different. The Country Wife is a typical stage comedy; Most of the characters, including the protagonist, are humorous and flawed people who wish to hide their flaws from others. The Conscious Lovers is a romantic comedy in which, according to Oliver Goldsmith, "the virtues of privacy are exhibited rather than the vices exposed" (491). Gentiles have no vices to expose or hide; they are without blemish or blemish, examples of virtue to the public and distancing themselves from deception, all aimed at marrying good couples. Each play treats disguise in a way consistent with the moral atmosphere; in The Country Wife, it is accepted as yet another human weakness, while The Conscious Lovers seeks to eliminate and condemn it. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Deception is rife in The Country Wife. Lady Fidget, Dainty Fidget, and Mrs. Squeamish enjoy their reputations as respectable women, but only because their reputations keep them from being suspected. While they sleep with Horner, they maintain their appearance as virtuous women to their husbands and the rest of the world. In public, they act as their name suggests, but in private, they party with Horner and even use "honor" as a euphemism for "sex." They even deceive the public; The first time we see these women, they're sniffy and refined, saying things like, "No, no, no!" Foh, foh, foh! (1.1, 7) in the face of incivility. Only a few scenes later do we see them admit that “the crime [of adultery] is less when it is not known” (2.1, 25). As the game progresses, they seem more and more filthy, not caring that Horner is going on with all three of them at the same time. These pretenders to honor turn out to be the most vulgar characters in the play. Their opposite, curiously, is Horner, who, in order to have access to women without suspicion, spreads the rumor that he is a eunuch. He endures the mockery of Sir Jasper Fidget, but receives praise and favor from Lady Fidget for his willingness to "suffer the greatest shame that can fall upon man, that none may fall upon us" (2.1, 28) . ), which is true, even if it makes him seem more altruistic than he is. Horner even risks his life later to protect Mrs. Pinchwife, who loves him, from her husband's wrath; he “must save [his] mistress... whatever happens” (5.4, 80). Not only does Horner deceive husbands by appearing helpless, but he is in some ways morally ambiguous, a more honest person than he first appears to us. Horner and his mistresses hide throughout the play, but other characters wear literal disguises. Mr. Pinchwife, for example, makes his wife sit with the prostitutes at the theater, so that no one will think she is married to him, and it is precisely at this moment that Horner sees her for the first time. Pinchwife then asks Margery to dress as a man when she goes out, to prevent men from seducing her, but Horner immediately sees through the disguise and takes the opportunity to kiss her without her husband being able to protest. This claim soon leads to another, inwhich Pinchwife leads his wife, whom he mistakes for his sister, to a meeting with Horner. All of Margery Pinchwife's disguises bring her closer to an affair, and the audience can't help but cheer and smile every time the tyrannical Mr. Pinchwife brings her closer to Horner. Not all of these tips lead to illicit affairs. Harcourt, hoping to marry Alithea, disguises himself as a priest to marry her to Sparkish, her fiancé?. He addresses Alithea in ostensibly religious but obviously loving speeches, such as "With all my soul, divine and celestial creature, whenever you wish" (4.1, 48) and, breaking with an ancient convention of stage disguise, she sees through the costume. but fails to convince Sparkish that Harcourt is the priest. Sparkish's stupidity helps Alithea later, when he tells her that he married her for money. The honest Alithéa is shocked by his pretension and the invalidity of the marriage allows her to marry Harcourt. The deception leads to a happy ending, but even though we know Sparkish is cowardly and stupid, we couldn't be sure until now that he didn't love Alithea. Harcourt's trick works because he is in a comedy, not because he knew (although he told Alithea) that he was saving her from a loveless marriage. The Conscious Lovers contains a similar deception; two characters pose as judges, confusing Cimberton and Mrs. Sealand with the complex legal absurdity that "under Sir Ralph's instructions he could not abandon the involvement and then create a new estate for the heirs-general" ( 3.1, 358) in order to confuse the marriage procedure between Lucinda and her crude and inhuman suitor. In this case, the deception is perfectly justified; Cimberton's motives are quite clear and his eventual rejection of Lucinda due to her lesser wealth surprises no one. The plot's executors are also different; the men involved are Myrtle, who loves Lucinda, and the servant Tom. Bevil Jr. himself, the main and most virtuous character in the play, is exempt from participating in the plot, although he invented it. Unlike that of Harcourt, this stratagem works perfectly, Cimberton has granted more wit than Sparkish and the judges have been less audacious than Harcourt in making fun of the fiancé? in the event of obvious breaches; Bevil Jr. considers it almost "immoral" (2.1, 341) to even make fun of Target's stuttering. Disguise and twisted language are necessary evils, barely allowed to be funny. The play's petty immoral pretension is frowned upon and reserved for minor characters. Humphrey criticizes Tom for putting on airs and acting like his master in the waiting rooms of Parliament; Indiana's servant fails to claim that his mistress is dead; an unruly man at a masquerade insults John Bevil, at which point Bevil Jr. removes his own mask, the better to defend his father's credit. Unmasking reveals one's true nature, and one's true nature is good; a mask doesn't fit Bevil Jr. He can wear the judge's robe on Myrtle, but whenever a secret seems dangerous, he reveals it. He keeps Lucinda's letter safe for less than one scene, showing it to Myrtle to "serve him and her by disobeying his article of secrecy" (4.1, 361) and avoid an impending duel with him . Horner, when a lady confided a secret to him, fought to keep it quiet. Each play presents the main character's decision as praiseworthy; The Conscious Lovers opposes deception. When important upper-class figures try to hide the truth, they do so out of respect for each other, not malice. John Bevil orders his son to marry Lucinda, even though the marriage will not take place,.