A Virtuous Woman In The Country Wife by William Wycherley, William Wycherley enlightens the audience to capture several ironic statements and questionable behaviors. The play fits perfectly with Greenwald's definition of a comedy of manners: "[Critics] say that a comedy of manners and the people who inhabit it represent the ostentatiously idle upper class" (web "Social Heirarchy"). Wycherley also distinguishes several quirks in his characters not typically used to describe the upper class. For example, Mr. Pinchwife, a wealthy newlywed husband, is so afraid of becoming a cuckold that he does not allow his wife to leave the house (Wycherley Act II). One of Wycherley's goals in writing The Country Wife is to highlight society's flaws (web "questions and answers"). Wycherley understands that no one is perfect and that a person's virtues can be altered if external pressures and influences become important. This is exactly how Wycherley uses the character of Mrs. Margery Pinchwife. Mrs. Pinchwife, a virtuous woman, still succumbs to the immorality of the city of London. Wycherley develops characters that highlight Mrs. Pinchwife's flaws. Mrs Pinchwife runs the risk of public shame and loss of reputation for having an affair with Mr Horner. Horner is the protagonist of the play and Mrs. Pinchwife falls in love with him. Mr. Horner has enormous influence on Mrs. Pinchwife. Mr. Horner is a "handsome, energetic, dangerously exciting and reckless thief who is skeptical of society's code of honor" (web "Social Hierarchy"). Mr. Horner is self-indulgent. This self-indulgence stems from his lack of virtue and morality (Smith web). Mr Horner "shows a sceptical, libertine and natural attitude......center of paper......e-country-wife/.McNamara, Peter L. "The Witty Company: Wycherley's The Country Wife. " Np: np, days 60-72. Ariel.synergies.prairies.ca. Network. 18 March 2014. http://ariel.synergiesprairies.c/ariel/index.php/ariel.article/download/1038/1013. Smith, Victoria. “Real and Fictional Libertines in the Works of Rochester, Shadwell, Wycherley, and Boswell.” digital.library.unt.edu University of North Texas, n.d. Web. March 18, 2014. http://digital.library.unt. edu/ark:/67531/metadc6051/m2/1/high_res_d/dissertation.pdf.Wycherley, William. The Peasant Woman: [a play, performed at the Theater Royal, 1675]. London: University of Oxford, 1675. iBook file. Seventeenth-Century Social Hierarchy and Character Interpretation in The Country Wife." faculty.winthrop.edu. Np, nd Web March 18, 2014. http://faculty.winthrop.edu/vorderbruegg/winthropweb/current/CountryWifeinterpretiveessay—revised11Feb.pdf.