As a Restoration comedy, humor is central to Wycherley's work. Like many other Restoration comedies, The Country Wife features a slapstick humor that runs throughout the play, generated through wit, sexual innuendo, and a large dose of dramatic irony. However, Wycherley's use of humor serves much more than simply creating entertainment for the audience. Through the use of humor Wycherley addresses some of his major thematic concerns, ultimately providing a damning indictment of the state of this "sick" Restoration society. The social mores and values ​​of Wycherley's stereotypical characters are constantly mocked, so while Wycherley creates entertainment through this humor, he also forces his contemporary audience to evaluate the values ​​that were at the heart of their society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Wycherley's use of humor as a means to entertain and address key thematic issues can be seen through the character of Pinchwife. This is because Wycherley, by creating humor at Pinchwife's expense, is able to propose the idea that city husbands play an important role in their own cuckolding. This is a central idea in the play, as one of Wycherley's key themes is discussing why marriage as an institution had become so diseased. Wycherley uses humor as a tool to carry this idea forward in Scene II of Act V, where Pinchwife unwittingly delivers his wife to Horner, ensuring his cuckolding. Humor is created through the dramatic irony that Pinchwife believes she is handing over her sister and not his wife, yet the audience knows otherwise and knows that she is securing her own fate with this action. So when Pinchwife says to Horner "Last time, you know, sir, I brought you a love letter. Now you see a mistress." there is enormous dramatic irony that generates humor, particularly due to the fact that Pinchwife uses the word "mistress" to describe his wife. Yet Wycherley's humor does more than entertain. The fact that Pinchwife literally hands his wife over to Horner is extremely symbolic and develops Wycherley's idea that it is largely husbands who cause cuckolding. Therefore Wycherley uses the play as a tool to show the audience his ideas about the problems within Restoration Society marriages and to demonstrate his idea that in many ways the husbands are to blame. Humor through dramatic irony such as this is a key feature of the play, however, equally significant in generating humor throughout the play is Wycherley's use of sexual innuendo and double entenders. In many cases this humor appears to have the sole purpose of entertaining and generating laughter through the outrageous nature of the innuendos. Yet even some of Wycherley's crudest humor has deeper underlying thematic concerns that it is addressing. This can be seen for example in Scene III of Act IV between Horner and the "Virtuous Gang". After Horner has had an outrageous relationship with Lady Fidget under Sir Japer's nose without him realizing it, the audience sees China become a euphemism for such sexual relationships. Thus the audience sees the humor created through the use of this euphemism in front of Sir Jasper without him realizing it. This can be seen, for example, in Lady Fidget's statement that "we women of quality never think we have enough China." Humor is created as he openly talks about extramarital sexual relations right in front.