Deception and disguise, classic elements of comedy, are found in both William Wycherly's The Country Wife and Richard's The Conscious Lovers Steele. These devices rely on knowledge gaps between different characters, or between characters and audience, of a person's true identity, but the true nature of the characters in the two plays is very different. The Country Wife is a typical stage comedy; most of the characters, including the protagonist, are funny, flawed people who wish to hide their flaws from others. The Conscious Lovers is a sentimental comedy, in which, according to Oliver Goldsmith, "the virtues of private life, rather than the vices, are exhibited" (491). Good guys have no vices to expose or hide; they are without flaws or blemishes, examples of virtue for the public and distance themselves from deception, all aimed at getting the right couples to marry. Each play treats cross-dressing in a manner consistent with the moral atmosphere; in The Country Wife, it is accepted as yet another human weakness, while The Conscious Lovers seeks to eliminate and condemn it. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Deception is prevalent in The Country Wife. Lady Fidget, Dainty Fidget, and Mrs. Squeamish value their reputations as respectable women, but only because reputations prevent them from being suspected. While sleeping with Horner, they maintain their appearances as virtuous women in the eyes of their husbands and the rest of the world. In public they behave as their names suggest, but in private they carouse with Horner and even use "honor" as a euphemism for "sex." They also deceive the public; the first time we see these women, they are disdainful and refined, saying things like, "No, no, no! Foh, foh, foh!" (1.1, 7) in the face of incivility. Only a few scenes later do we find them admitting that "the crime [of adultery] is less when it is not known" (2.1, 25). As the show progresses, they seem more and more disgusting, without caring that Horner is moving on with all three at the same time. These pretenders to honor turn out to be the most vulgar characters in the play. Their fictional opposite, strangely, is Horner, who, in order to gain access to women without suspicion, spreads the word that he is a eunuch. He endures Sir Jasper Fidget's teasing, but receives Lady Fidget's praise and favor for his willingness to "suffer the greatest shame that could fall on man, that none may fall on us" (2.1, 28) which is true, even if it makes him appear more altruistic than he is. Horner later even risks his life to protect Mrs. Pinchwife, who loves him, from her husband's wrath; he "must save [his] mistress... come what may" (5.4, 80). Not only does Horner deceive their husbands by appearing helpless, but in some respects he is morally ambiguous, a more respectable person than he first appears to us. Horner and his lovers hide throughout the play, but the other characters literally wear disguises. Mr. Pinchwife, for example, makes his wife sit with the prostitutes at the theater, so that no one will think she is married to him, and it is then that Horner sees her for the first time. Pinchwife then makes Margery dress up as a man when she goes out, to prevent men from seducing her, but Horner quickly sees through the disguise and uses it as an opportunity to kiss her without her husband being able to protest. This pretense soon leads to another, in which Pinchwife leads his wife, who he believes to be his sister, on a date with Horner. All of Margery Pinchwife's disguises bring her closer to a relationship, and the audience can't help itto encourage her and smile every time the tyrannical Mr. Pinchwife approaches her with Horner. Not all of these tricks lead to illicit affairs. Harcourt, hoping to marry Alithea, disguises himself as a priest to marry her to Sparkish, her fiancé?. She addresses Alithea with apparently religious but obviously amorous addresses, such as "With all my soul, divine and celestial creature, whenever you will" (4.1, 48) and in a departure from an ancient convention of stage disguise, she sees through the costume but fails to convince Sparkish that Harcourt is the priest. Sparkish's narrow-mindedness helps Alithea later, when he tells her he married her for money. Honest Alithea is shocked by his pretenses, and the invalidity of the marriage allows her to marry Harcourt. The deception leads to a happy ending, but although we know that Sparkish is cowardly and stupid, until now we couldn't be sure that he didn't love Alithea. Harcourt's trick works because he's in a play, not because he knew (though he tells Alithea) that he's saving her from a loveless marriage. The Conscious Lovers contains similar deception; two characters pretend to be judges, confusing Cimberton and Mrs. Sealand with the complex legal absurdity that "according to Sir Ralph's instructions, he could not reduce the lien and thus create a new estate for the heirs general" (3.1, 358) to tangle the marriage practices between Lucinda and her crass and inhuman suitor. In this case the deception is perfectly justified; Cimberton's motives are entirely clear, and his eventual rejection of Lucinda due to his diminishing fortunes surprises no one. The executors of the plot are also different; the men involved are Myrtle, who loves Lucinda, and the servant Tom. Bevil Jr. himself, the main and most virtuous character of the work, is exempted from taking part in the plot, although he invented it. Unlike Harcourt's, this scheme works perfectly, Cimberton allowing more wit than Sparkish and the judges less daring than Harcourt in teasing her boyfriend? in obvious gaps; Bevil Jr. also considers it almost "immoral" (2.1, 341) to make fun of Target's stutter. Cross-dressing and devious language are necessary evils, barely allowed to be funny. The small immoral pretense of comedy is frowned upon and relegated to minor characters. Humphrey chastises Tom for putting on airs and behaving like his master in the waiting rooms of Parliament; Indiana's servant misses the trick of stating that his mistress is out; a rebellious guy at a masquerade insults John Bevil, at which point Bevil Jr. takes off his mask, the better to defend his father's credit. Unmasking reveals his true nature, and his true nature is good; a mask doesn't suit Bevil Jr. He can bear the judge's robes on Myrtle, but whenever a secret appears dangerous, he reveals it. He keeps Lucinda's letter safe for less than one scene, showing it to Myrtle to "serve him and her by disobeying her article of secrecy" (4.1, 361) and avoid an imminent duel with him. Horner, when a lady entrusted him with a secret, fought to keep it quiet. Each play presents the main character's decision as laudable; The Conscious Lovers opposes deception. When important, upper-class people attempt to hide the truth, they do so out of mutual respect, not malice. John Bevil orders his son to marry Lucinda, even if the marriage does not take place, because he wants to ensure that Bevil Jr. has no dishonorable affections for Indiana. The son himself wishes to remain an anonymous Indiana benefactor because he simply delights "to be aware that by his superfluity an innocent and virtuous spirit is supported above temptation.