NON AFRICAN DRAMA OLIVER GOLDSMITH: She Stoops to Conquer Examine the use of dramatic irony in the play.

Answer Details

Dramatic irony, the situation in which the audience knows more than the characters on stage, is the mainspring of comedy in Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer. Almost the whole plot turns on misunderstandings that the audience enjoys while the characters remain in the dark.

The house mistaken for an inn. The central dramatic irony arises from Tony Lumpkin's practical joke. He directs Marlow and Hastings to Mr Hardcastle's country house, telling them it is an inn. The audience, aware of the trick, watches with delight as the two young men behave as paying guests, ordering the household about, while Mr Hardcastle, ignorant of the deception, is baffled and offended by their rudeness in his own home.

Marlow's treatment of his host. Because Marlow believes Hardcastle to be an innkeeper, he addresses the dignified old gentleman with careless familiarity and condescension. Hardcastle, who expects the polite suitor his friend Sir Charles described, cannot understand the young man's insolence. The audience relishes the gap between the two men's perceptions, a gap that produces much of the play's laughter.

Kate's disguise as a barmaid. The richest irony surrounds Kate Hardcastle. Knowing that Marlow is bashful and tongue-tied before ladies of his own class but bold and easy with women he considers his inferiors, Kate stoops to pose as a barmaid. Marlow, unaware that this lively servant is in fact the refined lady he is supposed to court, woos her freely. The audience knows her true identity throughout, enjoying his ignorance and anticipating the moment of revelation.

Constance and the jewels. Further irony attends the sub-plot, as Hastings and Constance scheme under Mrs Hardcastle's nose, and Tony deceives his mother, notably in the night ride that convinces her she is far from home when she is in her own garden. The audience shares the schemers' secret knowledge while Mrs Hardcastle blunders on.

Effect and significance. This sustained dramatic irony generates continuous comic tension and laughter, exposes the characters' follies and snobberies, and gently satirises class distinctions, since Marlow's confidence depends entirely on his mistaken view of others' rank. The eventual clearing up of every misunderstanding brings the satisfying comic resolution.

In conclusion, Goldsmith builds his comedy almost entirely upon dramatic irony: the mistaken inn, Marlow's rudeness to his host, Kate's disguise and the deception of Mrs Hardcastle all depend on the audience's superior knowledge, making dramatic irony the chief source of the play's humour and meaning.