The Reform'd Wife

# The Reform'd Wife

A comedy printed in 1700 by Thomas Bennet. The play concerns itself with marital dynamics and social satire among London gentry. Sir Solomon Empty, a conceited would-be man-of-the-world recently involved in political faction, returns home to his wife Astrea, who manages him through studied indifference. Astrea discusses with her cousin Clarinda the art of ruling foolish husbands by appearing ruled by them, and the disappointments of matrimony. Sir Solomon purchases political pamphlets from a hawker, debates a standing army, and attempts to persuade the reluctant Astrea to attend the theatre, which she opposes on moral grounds. Freeman, a impoverished military captain recently returned from Flanders, encounters Sir Solomon, who offers unhelpful career advice—law or oratory—though Freeman lacks aptitude for either. The dialogue satirizes fashionable pretension, conjugal discord, and the follies of political posturing.