She Stoops to Conquer

1
She Stoops to Conquer

• By Oliver Goldsmith

2
Why Goldsmith?

• She Stoops to Conquer is a play
• Its set in Britain just prior to the American
  Revolution

3
Basic plots

• Three plots in one.
• Upper class man meets upper class girl thinking
  shes a barmaid.
• Upper class man meets father of upper class girl
  thinking hes the innkeeper of the inn.
• Woman with inherited jewels and man secretly love
  each other instead of woman loving son of upper
  class mans wife, keeping jewels out of the
  family.

4
What is the effect of an unexpected plot
development in this authors narrative?

• Upper class man meets father of upper class girl
  thinking hes the innkeeper of the inn.
• She Stoops to Conquer Page 18

5
Where does this play a role?

• Mr. Hardcastle sees his guest arriving and Marlow
  approaches the inn. Conflicts arise as each
  tries to understand the other person.
• Eventually Marlow sees Mr. Hardcastle as a nosy
  innkeeper who tries to be a gentlemen, forgetting
  hes the innkeeper.
• Mr. Hardcastle sees Marlow as a rude, impudent
  guest with no sense of manners.

6
How do they take it?

• Marlow gets mad.
• What kind of inn has the innkeeper and their
  family join in for dinner?
• Right after, Marlow meets miss Hardcastle.
• Since Marlow is in an inn, miss Hardcastle must
  be a barmaid.
• Since she is merely a barmaid, Marlow feels more
  comfortable speaking to her.

7
So how does the problem resolve itself?

• Marlow finds out through miss Hardcastle that he
  is not in an inn and, instead, is in the house of
  the person he was trying to reach in the first
  place.
• He finds out that miss Harcastle is not a
  barmaid, but an upper class woman whom he was
  arranged to be with.

8
Summarize

• Why is that an unexpected plot development?
• If you were to meet a very important person, get
  lost, stay at what you think is a hotel only to
  find out its the person you were to meet,
  wouldnt you find that strange and funny enough
  to tell stories about it?
• Marlow is uncomfortable speaking with upper class
  women. If he never believed e was in an inn, he
  would have never thought that miss Hardcastle was
  a barmaid and build up the courage to speak to
  her and evidently fall in love with her.