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Teachers' Resource Web Study Questions on Oliver Goldsmith She Stoops to Conquer Act One 1. Where is the play set? 2. How would you say Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle relate to each other? 3. Consider the same question with respect to Mr. Hardcastle and his daughter, Miss Hardcastle ("Kate"). Also, why do you think she's worried about the report of her expected suitor Marlow's bashfulness? 4. Why does Miss Neville keep stringing Mrs. Hardcastle along about her intentions towards Tony? 5. Why do you think Tony misleads Marlow and Hastings? What sort of a chap is Tony? Act Two 1. Observe Mr. Hardcastle's treatment of his servants at the beginning of the act. What do you make of this? 2. Notice how the two gentlemen behave towards Mr. Hardcastle while they believe he is an innkeeper. Work out what relations are being explored in this funny scene that turns on a misrecognition. 3. Why does Hastings want to keep Marlow in the dark even after the former finds out that he isn't staying at an inn? 4. Examine the dialogue between Marlow and Miss Hardcastle. What seems to be the status of females in this play? 5. How does the play "imagine" the outside world? Act Three 1. At the beginning of this act, Mr. Hardcastle and Kate air their antithetical opinions about Marlow's character. This is a good point at which to ask, whom is this play "about?" 2. Do you find any thematic significance in Tony's having had the key to his inheritance all along? (He has been pilfering his inheritance bit by bit.) 3. When Miss Neville asks for her jewels, Mrs. Hardcastle balks, and Tony advises the latter to pretend that they have disappeared--which they have. Tony then has a great time making a fool of his mother Mrs. Hardcastle. What do you make of his taking such delight in that phrase, "I can bear witness to that?" 4. What are Kate's multiple motives for continuing to deceive Marlow about her identity? Of what use to her is the aggressive exchange with Marlow? Act Four 1. What do you understand from the description of Kate (as a barmaid) that Marlow gives when he speaks to Hastings? 2. Well, Mr. Hardcastle, disgusted with Marlow and his drunken democratic servants, blows up at last and reveals that he is no innkeeper. Nonetheless, Miss Hardcastle still keeps Marlow guessing about her identity. How does Marlow react to Kate's new role--that of a "poor relation" to the Hardcastles--and what does Kate learn from this encounter? 3. If this comedy is a protest against sentimental dribble, how do you read the passionate sentiments that Marlow professes in the rest of the act? (He is moved by Miss Hardcastle's acting and by Miss Neville's plight.) Also--is Kate's own emotion sincere during her exchange (as a barmaid) with Marlow? 4. In what way, or ways, is Tony central to the latter half of Act Four? Act Five 1. I am going to leave it to you to make up two questions about this act and come up with responses of your own. A few of the main things upon which to concentrate, of course, are the wonderful trip that Mrs. Hardcastle is duped into taking and the resolution of all these mixups. It is also important to focus on Marlow--how far does he have to develop in this act in order to be a good match for Kate?
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