Estimated Reading Time: 17 min
The Country Wife MCQs
1. A quack is as fit for a pimp as a midwife for what profession?
A. A common cheat
B. A cunning bawd
C. A waiting woman
D. A dirty lawyer
2. Horner says he has been reported throughout the town as bad as what?
A. A known cheat
B. An old eunuch
C. A wicked pimp
D. A foreign spy
3. Horner is afraid that the report of his impotence will be compared to what disease?
A. The smallpox
B. The great ones
C. The French disease
D. A bad fever
4. Horner’s supposed “English-French disaster” occurred after his late journey, where?
A. The Low Countries
B. Into France
C. To the city
D. To the playhouse
5. Horner says the wisest lawyer never discovers the merits of his cause until when?
A. Before the bribe
B. Until the trial
C. During the argument
D. When he is honest
6. What specific action does Horner refuse to do for Lady Fidget’s husband?
A. Kiss her
B. Dance with her
C. Dine with her
D. Speak to her
7. Horner calls a woman a monster, and a greater monster than what other figure?
A. A wicked lawyer
B. A mere eunuch
C. A husband
D. A country fool
8. Lady Fidget criticises Horner, saying he is too much like a French fellow, hating women of what two qualities?
A. Wit and beauty
B. Quality and virtue
C. Age and sense
D. Love and honour
9. Lady Fidget accuses Horner of bringing over no bawdy pictures or the second part of which French book?
A. French grammar
B. École des Filles
C. Ovid’s Art
D. A famous lampoon
10. Sir Jaspar must depart because the Council will be sitting at a quarter and a half quarter past what hour?
A. Half past ten
B. Past eleven
C. Twelve midday
D. Nine o’clock
11. Sir Jaspar states that a husband’s prudence is to provide innocent diversion for a wife rather than let her do what?
A. Employ herself
B. Stay at home
C. Cheat him
D. Go to plays
12. Horner claims he will be rid of all his old acquaintances, calling them what “insatiable sorts of duns”?
A. Dull companions
B. Vain rogues
C. Old wives
D. Insatiable sorts of duns
13. Horner boasts he will have the privileges of an eunuch, becoming the what of the town?
A. The only honest man
B. The passe-partout
C. The new sign
D. The best lover
14. Harcourt compares mistresses to what items that “doze you” if you pore upon them too much?
A. Fine silks
B. Good wine
C. Little country retreat
D. Mistresses are like books
15. Dorilant compares a mistress to a little country retreat, meant not for constant dwelling, but for what action?
A. To grow old in
B. For a night and away
C. To hide your crimes
D. To taste nature
16. Dorilant concludes that love makes men beggars, while wine makes them what?
A. Witty sots
B. True friends
C. Princes
D. Drunkards
17. Sparkish is one of those nauseous offerers at wit, who run themselves into all companies, like what specific low-class musicians?
A. The worst fiddlers
B. Old singers
C. Street musicians
D. Comic dancers
18. Harcourt compares Sparkish’s contribution to conversation to Sir Martin Mar-all’s awkward what?
A. Singing badly
B. Thrumming upon the lute
C. Gaping and yawning
D. Telling poor jokes
19. Horner says that affective dullness is nature’s greatest what?
A. Monster
B. Virtue
C. Vice
D. Delight
20. Horner asserts that a jealous man is actually the greatest what?
A. Trustee
B. Cuckold
C. Atheist
D. Fool
21. Pinchwife’s reason for being in a bad humour and sloppy clothes is what major legal issue?
A. A debt
B. A suit of law
C. A bad wife
D. An empty purse
22. Pinchwife is forced to give Sparkish five thousand pounds to lie with whom?
A. His sister
B. His wife
C. His mistress
D. His lawyer
23. Horner compares marrying a country wife to being cheated by a friend in the country, instead of refusing what kind of dishonest horse?
A. A wild pony
B. A fat donkey
C. A. Smithfield jade
D. A French horse
24. Pinchwife claims his wife has no beauty but her youth, and no attraction but what specific virtue?
A. Honesty
B. Modesty
C. Silence
D. Wit
25. Pinchwife states that good wives and what military personnel should be ignorant?
A. Generals
B. Private soldiers
C. Captains
D. Drummers
26. Horner concludes that wit is more necessary than beauty, and no handsome woman is agreeable without what?
A. Good fortune
B. Wit
C. Modesty
D. Chastity
27. Horner claims a fool cannot contrive to make her husband a cuckold, but she will “club with a man that can,” and what else?
A. Get caught
B. Make him jealous
C. Steal his money
D. Lie to him
28. Horner says that marriage is like a penitent gamester’s oath to restrict himself to a small amount of what?
A. Small sum at play
B. Food or drink
C. Small debt
D. Small vice
29. Pinchwife admits he married because he could never keep what sexual figure to himself?
A. A young virgin
B. A whore
C. A friend’s wife
D. A maid
30. Horner advises his friends to keep a woman rather than marry, because women are made constant by what?
A. Good pay
B. True love
C. Strong oaths
D. Her husband
31. Horner tells Pinchwife he saw his wife in what specific low-priced location at the playhouse?
A. The vizard section
B. The eighteen-penny place
C. The crowded pit
D. The top gallery
32. Harcourt observes that men are now more ashamed to be seen with their wives in public than with whom?
A. Their mother
B. A wench
C. Their sisters
D. A drunkard
33. Pinchwife’s jealousy, Horner observes, is one of the worst diseases that love and wenching breed, like the gout which proceeds from what?
A. Old age
B. Pox in youth
C. Bad diet
D. Lack of wine
34. Mrs Pinchwife is depressed because she is kept at home like a poor, lonely, sullen bird in what?
A. A dark house
B. A small cage
C. A closed window
D. A safe room
35. Pinchwife confesses his town advice to his wife is like a confessor who taught a silly ostler to do what?
A. Steal grain
B. Cheat men
C. Grease the horse’s teeth
D. Lie often
36. Pinchwife suspects Horner will follow them into the country and break what specific item near their house for an excuse?
A. His leg
B. His chariot wheel
C. His watch
D. His sword
37. Pinchwife argues that a woman masked, like a covered dish, gives a man what two things?
A. Curiosity and appetite
B. Scorn and hatred
C. Love and lust
D. Suspicion and fear
38. Horner says he converses with women only to laugh at them and use them ill, just as his friends do with whom?
A. Rich fools
B. Young wits
C. Common cheats
D. Honest men
39. Harcourt tells Horner that a foolish rival and a jealous husband assist the rival’s designs by making women feel what emotion toward them?
A. Strong love
B. Extreme hate
C. Intense pity
D. Great fear
40. Sparkish claims he carries his own wit to a play, just as he carries his own what to a country treat?
A. Fine horse
B. Good food
C. Own wine
D. Sweet music
41. Pinchwife compares all the husbands’ “proper signs” at the Exchange to what single animal’s head?
A. Bulls’, stags’, and rams’ heads
B. The lion’s head
C. The fox’s head
D. The goat’s head
42. Harcourt tells Alithea that marrying Sparkish will cause her reputation to suffer because she will be thought to need what?
A. A good disguise
B. A faithful friend
C. A cloak
D. A lawyer
43. Sparkish says he has confidence in Alithea’s virtue because she is handsome, and he is not feeling what emotion?
A. Not jealous
B. Not loving
C. Not angry
D. Not fearful
44. Lucy observes that young English ladies find the country as terrible as what foreign institution?
A. A Paris school
B. A monastery
C. A distant war
D. A French court
45. Pinchwife attempts to repel Lady Fidget by claiming his wife has just broken out with what disease?
A. The smallpox
B. The gout
C. The French disease
D. A raging fever
46. Sir Jaspar states that Horner is a privileged man amongst virtuous ladies, implying he is what kind of joke figure?
A. A common cheat
B. A husband’s spy
C. My wife’s gallant
D. A mere eunuch
47. Lady Fidget claims she is willing to keep Horner company because she needs him to make up her droll pack of what?
A. Visiting guests
B. Ombre players
C. Card cheats
D. French wits
48. Mrs. Pinchwife told her husband that Horner put the tip of his tongue between her lips and did what?
A. Kissed her
B. Muzzled me
C. Talked sweetly
D. Embraced her
49. Pinchwife threatens to spoil his wife’s writing by stabbing out her eyes with what item?
A. His sharp dagger
B. The penknife
C. A sharp sword
D. His own finger
50. Pinchwife is convinced the figure is Alithea when she makes an additional strange request, asking him to put out what?
A. The candle
B. The torch
C. The fire
D. The light
Brief Overview
The Country Wife is a Restoration comedy by William Wycherley, published in 1675. The play is a sharp social satire that focuses on the hypocrisy and immorality of 17th-century London society, particularly among the wealthy elite.
The main character is Horner, a cynical rake who seeks to sleep with married women without their jealous husbands finding out. Horner and a Quack doctor spread a false report all over town that Horner is an eunuch and unfit for women. Horner hopes this rumor will give him “the privileges of one,” allowing him safe access to ladies’ private chambers.
Sir Jaspar Fidget, believing the report is true, leaves his wife, Lady Fidget, alone in Horner’s lodgings. Lady Fidget and her friends are called “women of honour,” but they secretly care only about their public reputation, not their virtue.
Another character, Pinchwife, married a simple “country wife,” Margery, because he wanted a fool who would be faithful. Pinchwife is extremely jealous, believing that “good wives and private soldiers should be ignorant.” When he brings Margery to town, he tries to hide her, but Horner sees her.
