the Beaux Stratagem

The Beaux Stratagem: The Subject of Divorce The Beaux Stratagem is a play that places a pair of presentable yet impoverished London gentlemen, named Aimwell and Archer, in the English country inn at Lichfield. Due to the laws of this time Aimwell, as the younger son, has been denied his opportunity to share in the family fortune. His plan at the inn is to assume his older brother’s identity and improve his chances of …showed first 75 words of 510 total…

…showed last 75 words of 510 total…Beaux Stratagem ends with the divorce of Squire Sullen and his wife through mutual consent. Mrs. Sullen’s indignation at her treatment by Sullen seems very rebellious for its time and prescient of the modern woman’s assertion of her rights. In fact, Fraquhar wrote The Beaux Stratagem not as an early woman’s liberties but as a call for the liberalization of the divorce laws, this may be due to his own unhappy marriage.