The Country Wife characters

Appears from the start

A London gentleman and practiced seducer who has recently returned from France. He asks a doctor to spread the false report that medical treatment has left him impotent, expecting jealous husbands to regard him as a safe companion for their wives.

Appears from the start

The physician who helps Horner circulate the invented story about his condition. He doubts that the scheme can remain secret but agrees to confirm it when questioned.

Appears from the start

A deeply jealous husband who has kept his new wife in the country to limit her knowledge of fashionable London life. Once in town, he tries to hide her from other men and treats ordinary curiosity as a threat to his control.

Also known as Mrs. Pinchwife

First appears in chapter 2

Pinchwife's young bride, recently brought from the country. Direct, curious, and unfamiliar with the evasions of London society, she wants to see plays and fashionable company despite her husband's efforts to confine her.

First appears in chapter 2

Pinchwife's sister, engaged to Sparkish. She values honesty and considers herself bound by her promise even when Sparkish's vanity and carelessness become obvious.

Appears from the start

Horner's friend, who falls in love with Alithea and openly challenges the wisdom of her engagement. His courtship is sincere, but Sparkish's complacency gives him unusual freedom to pursue it.

Appears from the start

Alithea's fashionable and self-satisfied fiancé. Certain that no friend would seriously compete with him, he interprets Harcourt's courtship as wit and prides himself on showing no jealousy.

Appears from the start

Lady Fidget's husband, preoccupied with public reputation and eager to have a supposedly harmless man escort the women of his household. Horner's false condition convinces him that such access carries no risk.

Appears from the start

Sir Jaspar's wife, who loudly insists upon her honor and initially treats Horner's reported condition with disgust. Her concern for appearances is central to the respectable identity she presents in public.

Also known as Mrs. Dainty Fidget

Appears from the start

Sir Jaspar's sister and a member of Lady Fidget's fashionable circle. She shares the group's insistence on public virtue while taking an interest in the freedoms Horner's reputation appears to permit.

First appears in chapter 3

A fashionable woman associated with Lady Fidget and Dainty. Her elderly relative guards her closely, but Horner's supposed harmlessness makes him an acceptable companion.

First appears in chapter 4

Alithea's resourceful maid. She observes the competing courtships around her mistress and is prepared to improvise when blunt truth threatens both Alithea's future and the household's reputation.