Arguably, It Is Tony Lumpkin Rather Than Marlow Who Is the Comic Hero of ‘She Stoops to Conquer’

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Arguably, it is Tony Lumpkin rather than Marlow who is the comic hero of ‘She Stoops To Conquer’ by Alex Cummins, 12I Aristotle once described comedic characters as someone who ‘does mischief without knowing to whom they are doing harm’, and this statement formed an archetype of what a comedic character should be. So when Shakespeare came in, he added to the rule, having a mischievous character involved, but generally made this character of the lower class, or the uneducated. These rules stuck for the better part of 100 years, and became the normal and expected thing. So when we are introduced to Tony and Marlow, we believe that they are very archetypal characters, making us like them on different levels. For instance, after we have met them, we expect Tony to be the comic relief of the play, where we expect Marlow to be the hero of the play. As an audience it becomes clear to us that Marlow and Tony are exceedingly more important than any of the other characters in the play, due to them both getting a sort of pre-introduction, which none of the others get. Oliver Goldsmith most likely knew that these were his two most interesting characters so really made an effort to make them more fleshed out than anyone else. Act one is where we are introduced to them both. Within five minutes of the play beginning, Mr and Mrs Hardcastle are talking about Tony, setting him up for his entrance. Goldsmith uses repartee; with the two arguing over the boy, Mr. Hardcastle on the side of telling the truth about him, whereas Mrs. Hardcastle shows she is a defensive mother, seeing good in all the bad he does. ‘No, no; the alehouse and the stable are the only schools he’ll ever go to.’ This sets him up as a comedic character; traditionally lower class and/or the uneducated are there for comedic relief, to make the play lighter in tone. This makes us believe that he is going to
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