The Macaroni Fashion vs. Bumpkin: masculinity in Oliver Goldsmith's she stoops to conquer

Abstract EN

She Stoops to Conquer was first produced for Covert Garden in London at 1773, and it was a great, immediate success.

The Londoner Marlow comes to propose to Kate, a daughter of Mr.

Hardcastle who is a rich countryman.

Marlowe and his friend Hastings follow the macaroni fashion that Goldsmith criticizes in this play.

He was making a point in this play about British masculinities in which this fashion was a distinctive and negative feature at the time.

This paper discusses Goldsmith’s point that he has put in a comic way in comparison to bumpkin behavior represented by the character of Tony.