Reading The Country Wife | Alexandria
Read The Country Wife by William Wycherley. Exposing sexual hypocrisy and false virtue, The Country Wife gleefully skewers society's double standards through a faux-impotent rake who uses his "condition" to seduce married women. Wycherley's razor-sharp satire reveals how little has changed about reputation, desire, and deception since 1675 - while suggesting that apparent prudes often hide the wildest secrets.