Long Essay – Option 5

She Stoops to Conquer: Conspicuous Consumption and Its Relation to Gender and Courtship

In Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer, the author addresses conspicuous consumption through Mrs. Dorothy Hardcastle and Miss Kate Hardcastle. Therefore, I will argue that the women’s gender determines the ways they conspicuously consume, express, and leisure via close readings of Mrs. Hardcastle’s desire to travel and her want of fashion, as well as Miss Hardcastle’s decision to put aside her class to achieve her three goals with Mr. Marlow.

RE: “Gender Roles in She Stoops to Conquer”

“Amy, Im curious to see what you would think regarding Neville and Hastings and Ms. Hardcastle? who would you consider in control of this situation? Because in my point of view I feel like Ms. Hardcastle is because she is the one who controls the jewels and Mr Hardcastle in the end is the now who actually gives away the fact that Tony actually is older than they think he is in Neville’s defense.. 

RE: “Culinary Dissonance at Mr Hardcastle’s House”

Hi Vicki – I enjoyed reading your insights about social hierarchy being identifiable in the “bill of fare” scene, especially your comment about the English’s mistrust of the French because I wonder if the suspicion can be correlated to gender.

Gender Roles in She Stoops to Conquer

Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer and Jonathan Swift’s “The Lady’s Dressing Room” address the common theme of gender roles although in somewhat different ways; specifically, the play is certainly patriarchal, meaning male-dominated, yet there are indications of reversed gender roles, while the poem is not only patriarchal but also sexist.