Johns Hopkins University Press Rice University Wives, Widows, and Writings in Restoration Comedy Author(s): Jon Lance Bacon Source: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 31, No. 3, Restoration and Eighteenth Century (Summer, 1991), pp. 427-443 Published by: Rice University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/450855 Accessed: 22-10-2015 10:51 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Johns Hopkins University Press and Rice University are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.184.220.23 on Thu, 22 Oct 2015 10:51:47 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SEl,31(1991) ISSN 0039-3657 Wives, Widows, and Writings in Restoration Comedy JON LANCE BACON When Harcourt likens mistresses to books in The Country Wife (1675), William Wycherley employs a common motif of Restoration comedy: the motif of woman as text. The comparison here is fairly innocuous, suggesting an experience of potential benefit to the male "reader" who wants social polish. Harcourt tells Horner, "if you pore upon them too much, they doze you, and make you unfit for Company; but if us'd discreetly, you are the fitter for conver- sation by'em" (I.i.197-99).l Later in the play, however, the motif indicates a power struggle within marriage.