First performed in 1773, She Stoops to Conquer is one of the great comedies of the English stage. When the bashful Charles Marlow is tricked into mistaking a country gentleman’s house for an inn, the household’s lively daughter Kate Hardcastle seizes the opportunity to break through his shyness by pretending to be a barmaid. The resulting comedy of class confusion and romantic manoeuvring has never left the repertoire.
Goldsmith wrote the play as a riposte to the sentimental comedies fashionable at the time — and it succeeds magnificently. This free EPUB is formatted for any e-reader.