Student Question
Why is Kate considered the most important character in She Stoops to Conquer?
Quick answer:
Kate is the most important character in She Stoops to Conquer because she stoops to a lower social class to “conquer” Marlow. Goldsmith uses this act to explore the theme of appearance versus reality and show how Britain’s rigid social structure negatively impacts relationships.
If for no other reason, Kate Hardcastle in Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer is the most important character in the play because she is the titular "She" (who "stoops to conquer").
A young Mr. Marlow has been invited to the Hardcastle home by Mr. Hardcastle, who has chosen Mr. Marlow to be Kate's husband.
When Marlow first meets Kate in act 2, she is fashionably dressed and obviously a woman of class and means. Left on his own with Kate, Marlow is unable to talk with her. His shyness with well-bred women overcomes him, and he stutters and stammers and can barely put a sentence together in conversation with her. He sees a chance to escape her company and simply leaves her standing alone.
She remarks on their meeting:
Was there ever such a sober, sentimental interview? I'm certain he scarce looked in my face the whole time....
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. . . He has good sense, but then so buried in his fears, that it fatigues one more than ignorance. If I could teach him a little confidence, it would be doing somebody that I know of a piece of service.
In act 3, Kate and Marlow meet again, but this time, Kate is dressed plainly, and Marlow mistakes her for a barmaid he once knew. Kate realizes that Marlow has difficulty talking to real ladies but has no trouble at all talking with women of the lower classes, so she plays along, hoping to get to know him. Marlow become so at ease with her—thinking that she's the barmaid—that he makes a pass at her and tries to kiss her. While Kate struggles to get away from him, her father appears, and Marlow runs away.
In act 4, Marlow is appalled at his behavior, and he resolves to leave the barmaid alone. Kate—who is now pretending to be a poor relation of Mr. Hardcastle—is impressed that Marlow is able to show his true and good character. Eventually, Mr. Hardcastle, too, comes to realize Marlow's true character and agrees to Kate's marriage to Marlow.
Kate's ruse of "stooping" (or pretending to be a member of the lower class) allowed her to "conquer" Marlow and provide the encouragement Marlow needed to win Kate's heart.
Why is Kate the most important character in She Stoops to Conquer?
In Oliver Goldsmith’s play She Stoops to Conquer, Kate Hardcastle is the most important character because she is the one who “stoops to conquer.” Kate is an upper-class lady, and her father wants her to marry an upper-class man named Charles Marlow. However, Marlow is timid and dismissive around women of his class, and Kate knows she will not be able to really get to know him if she is open about who she is. Marlow does speak openly and even vulgarly to women of lower classes, and he mistakes Kate for a barmaid. Kate pretends she is in fact a barmaid in order to get to know him. In doing so, she “stoops” to a lower social class and “conquers” him.
Kate’s actions reveal how socially constructed class distinctions can impact interpersonal relationships. The fact that she had to act like she was from a lower class to see Marlow’s true self shows how people disguise themselves to fit in. Kate stoops to get to know Marlow but in doing so is also concealing who she is. Goldsmith uses Kate’s experience to explore the idea of appearance versus reality in his society. He critiques the obsession with status in eighteenth-century Britain and shows how it can restrict authentic relationships.