Provok'd Wife, The

The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature | 2003 | 629 words | Copyright

Provok'd Wife, The, a comedy by Vanbrugh, produced 1697, but possibly written before The Relapse.

Sir John Brute, a debauched man of quality, married his wife for love, but is now disillusioned with her and with matrimony, and rails against both. Lady Brute married for money, but has remained technically faithful; she is courted by Constant, whose cynical friend Heartfree falls in love with her niece Belinda. Various intrigues and encounters ensue, in which the affected Lady Fancyfull plays a malign and interfering part, but at the end of the play the Brutes are at least temporarily reconciled, and Heartfree wins Belinda.

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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Provok'd Wife, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Provok'd Wife, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-ProvokdWifeThe.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Provok'd Wife, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-ProvokdWifeThe.html

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