She Stoops to Conquer - Goldsmith, Oliver

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Résumé :
First performed in 1773, She Stoops to Conquer is the timeless comedic drama by Anglo-Irish author Oliver Goldsmith. The play depicts the story of Charles Marlow, a wealthy young man who is promised in marriage to a woman, Kate Hardcastle, that he has never met. While he is eager to meet her and is travelling to her home with his friend, George Hastings, Charles is quite shy in the company of women of wealth. He prefers those of a lower class and whenever in the company of such women he transforms into a bold and lecherous rogue. Learning of Charles' shyness before his arrival at her home, Kate pretends to be a serving-maid in order to win his affections. Kate succeeds at her ruse and soon Charles falls in love with her and is ready to elope until the sudden appearance of his father reveals Kate's artifice. Soon all is resolved and the young lovers are soon married. Charles' friend George also finds love in the Hardcastle home in this comedic gem. Full of bawdy dialogue and hilarious scenes, She Stoops to Conquer is a charming and light-hearted play that has entertained audiences for over two hundred years. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

Biographie:
Oliver Goldsmith was an Anglo-Irish author, playwright, dramatist, and poet who lived from 10 November 1728 to 4 April 1774. Goldsmith claimed to a biographer that he was born on November 10, 1728, yet his exact birthdate and year are unknown. He was either born in the Smith Hill House in the vicinity of Elphin, County Roscommon, or at Pallas, close to Ballymahon, County Longford, Ireland. His schooling seems to have mostly given him a liking for expensive clothing, card games, Irish tunes, and playing the flute. Goldsmith, a perpetual debtor and gambling addict, wrote a ton for London's publishers while working as a hack writer on Grub Street. To publish his 1758 translation of the memoirs of the Huguenot Jean Marteilhe, he assumed the alias James Willington at this time. His contemporaries regarded him as envious, impulsive, and disorganized, with a history of planning to immigrate to America but failing because he missed his ship. The incorrect diagnosis of his kidney ailment before his untimely death in 1774 may have contributed to it. Goldsmith was laid to rest in London's Temple Church. At the location of his interment, a memorial honoring him had previously been erected, but it had been destroyed in a 1941 air strike.