She Stoops to Conquer

Charles Marlow is Kate’s love interest in the play. He is the son of a wealthy aristocrat who is an old friend of Mr. Hardcastle. The two fathers have decided to encourage their children to marry one another, resulting in Marlow journeying to the Hardcastle's household.

Marlow is described as handsome and intelligent, with a good education and career ahead of him. However, he is known to be extremely shy and bashful around women of his own social class. His friend, Hastings, remarks upon this strange aspect of his character: “I'm surprised that one who is so warm a friend can be so cool a lover” (23). While Marlow is not at all shy around other wealthy men, he is almost unable to speak coherently to Kate when he first meets her. His speech is fragmented and repetitive due to his nervousness, notable when he stammers out, “I was observing, madam—I protest, madam, I forgot what I was going to observe” (35). Marlow's awkward mannerisms are completely at odds with his behavior around other classes of people, making them all the more noticeable.

Marlow eventually reveals that he is not always awkward around women and that his discomfort stems from a fear of being ridiculed by a woman he cannot as easily control. While he struggles to speak to Kate Hardcastle when she is dressed in fine clothing, he easily flirts with her when he mistakes her for a servant due to her simple outfit. He brags to her about his popularity with lower- class women, saying, “at the Ladies' Club in town I'm called their agreeable Rattle” (55). The reason for this disparate behavior is hinted at through his later dialogue. When he sees Kate, dressed as a servant, laughing, he begins to feel uncomfortable, disliking the knowing look he sees in her eye. However, when Kate claims that she was only laughing at the idea of being a cultured city lady, Marlow mutters in relief, “all's well; she don't laugh at me” (56). Domestic servants and lower-class women do not inspire the same anxiety in Marlow because he has more power over them and feels that he can easily impress them in conversation.

However, by the end of the play, he begins to feel comfortable around Kate because she has repeatedly shown him kindness and compassion. Once he realizes that she is not a servant, he rejects her, but she continues to show concern for his happiness. He realizes, “this is the first mark of tenderness I ever had from a modest woman, and it touches me“ (66), allowing him to fall in love with Kate despite his usual reservations about women of higher status. Even though Kate is also well-educated and has a noble family to rely on, Marlow finds himself able to relax around her once he realizes that she does not intend to mock him.

Constance Neville is a secondary character who acts as a foil to Kate and a love interest to Hastings in a parallel subplot about her own romantic trickery. Constance is Kate Hardcastle’s cousin, but she is an orphan after the death of her parents. Therefore, she lives in the Hardcastle household and will not have access to her own inherited wealth until she is married.

Constance has already fallen in love with Hastings, and her father approved of the match before his death. However, Mrs. Hardcastle encourages her to marry Tony Lumpkin so that the valuable jewelry that her uncle left her will remain in the family. Constance is Kate’s confidante, a clever trickster to Mrs. Hardcastle, and, eventually, a wise and prudent lover to Hastings. The beginning of the play establishes that she is a close friend to Kate and the two of them share their secrets. Constance tells Kate that she intends to marry Hastings and that her courtship with Tony is only a ruse to acquire access to her family jewelry. Tony dismissively remarks about Constance's sentimental side and her close friendship with Kate, exclaiming, “let her cry. It's the comfort of her heart. I have seen her and sister cry over a book for an hour together; and they said they liked the book the better the more it made them cry” (41). This characterizes Constance as a typical young woman who enjoys reading melodramatic romances and sharing secrets with her best friend.

However, Constance is also shown to be highly intelligent, pragmatic, and morally upstanding. Tony warns Hastings that she is cleverer than she might seem, telling him, “she has as many tricks as a hare in a thicket, or a colt the first day's breaking” (41). Her manipulation of Mrs. Hardcastle through a feigned courtship with Tony suggests her prowess with deception and trickery. Nevertheless, Constance eventually realizes that honesty and patience are better solutions to her problems than lies. Her name is a hint at her greatest virtue: When she is sent away to stay with her aunt, she reminds Hastings that she is willing to wait for him to ensure a happy marriage, telling him, “constancy, remember, constancy is the word” (73, emphasis added). Constance is not going to fall in love with another man; she is willing to wait for her marriage if it ensures that she and Hastings will be financially comfortable, happy, and approved of by her family. When Hastings asks her to elope to France with him, leaving behind the jewels, she reminds him, “two or three years' patience will at last crown us with happiness” (85).

In the end, her prudence and caution are rewarded: Mr. Hardcastle allows her to marry Hastings once Tony Lumpkin formally rejects her, giving Mrs. Hardcastle no hope that the jewelry will remain in her family.