Background
William Wycherley was born in 1641 at Clive, near Shrewsbury, Shropshire, where his father, a royalist, owned a small estate.
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book
The Country Wife (New Mermaids)
( 'He's a fool that marries, but he's a greater fool that...)
'He's a fool that marries, but he's a greater fool that does not marry a fool.' This bawdy, hilarious, subversive and wickedly satirical drama pokes fun at the humourless, the jealous, and the adulterous alike. It features a country wife, Margery, whose husband believes she is too naïve to cuckold him; and an anti-hero, Horner, who pretends to be impotent in order to have unrestrained access to the women keen on 'the sport'. A number of licentious and hypocritical women request Horner's services the country wife among them. The Country Wife has provoked powerfully mixed reactions over the years. The seventeenth century libertine king Charles II saw it twice, and is said to have joined the 'dance of the cuckolds' at the end of one performance; the eighteenth century actor-playwright David Garrick declared it 'the most licentious play in the English language'; the Victorian Macaulay compared it to a skunk, because it was 'too filthy to handle and too noisome even to approach'. Twentieth century productions heralded it a Restoration masterpiece. Sexually frank, and as ready to criticise marriage as infidelity, the virtuosity, linguistic energy, brilliant wit, naughtiness and complexity of this ribald play have made it a staple of the modern stage. This student edition contains a lengthy, entirely new introduction, by leading scholar, Tiffany Stern, with a background on the author, structure, characters, genre, themes, original staging and performance history, as well as an updated bibliography and a fully annotated version of the playtext.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/140817989X/?tag=2022091-20
The Plain-Dealer : a Comedy ... / Written by Mr. Wycherley in 1674. Adapted by the Rt. Hon. William, Earl of Noriwch, for the Jacobite Club in 1940
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00100LE0E/?tag=2022091-20
William Wycherley
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also known as
"Manly Wycherley"
Education
Because the Puritans were in power, Wycherley was sent to France for his education. He spent several years there studying with the Duchesse de Montausier and her circle of intellectuals. Wycherley entered the Inner Temple to study law, but he was more inclined toward literature and later settled in Oxford at the provost's quarters of Queen's College to study at the Bodleian library. He left Oxford without taking a degree.
Career
Early in 1671 Wycherley's first play, Love in a Wood, was produced at the Theatre Royal, London. It attracted the attention of Charles II's mistress, the Duchess of Cleveland, who introduced Wycherley to court circles. His second play, The Gentleman Dancing Master, a comedy of intrigue based on a play by Pedro Calderón, was performed at Covent Garden late in 1671. It was not well received.
Later Wycherley probably served as a naval officer in the Dutch War.
The Country Wife, Wycherley's best-known play, was first performed in 1672 or 1673. This play was a great success and is still performed today. The next year The Plain Dealer was performed with equal success. In both plays he was much influenced by Molière, although his satire is fiercer than Molière's.
After The Plain Dealer Wycherley stopped writing for the stage. Wycherley fell ill in 1678, and Charles II sent him to France to recuperate. When he returned, the King entrusted the education of his illegitimate son, but he lost the appointment a year later because of Charles's displeasure at his absence from court. Litigation over his wife estate proved so expensive that Wycherley was imprisoned for debt. About 7 years later King James II secured his freedom, paid his debts, and gave him a pension.
In 1697 Wycherley succeeded to his father's estate. In 1704 he published Miscellany Poems, which caught the attention of young Alexander Pope, who later helped Wycherley to revise them.
He died on January 1, 1716.
Achievements
Works
book
-
The Country Wife (New Mermaids)
( 'He's a fool that marries, but he's a greater fool that...)
- The Plain-Dealer : a Comedy ... / Written by Mr. Wycherley in 1674. Adapted by the Rt. Hon. William, Earl of Noriwch, for the Jacobite Club in 1940
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The Country Wife (New Mermaids)
Religion
While studying, he was converted to Roman Catholicism. However, he reverted to Protestantism upon his return to England just before the Restoration.
Views
Personality
Wycherley was a loose liver. His nickname of "Manly Wycherley" seems to have been earned by his straightforward attitude to life.
Interests
Connections
At the age of seventy-five he married a young girl Countess of Drogheda, and is said to have done so in order to spite his nephew, the next in succession, knowing that he himself must shortly die and that the jointure would impoverish the estate. He had an illegitimate son, the Duke of Richmond.
References
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Born
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Died
January 1, 1716 (aged 76) -
Resting place
Covent Garden, London, England, United Kingdom -
Nationality
English