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Explain the title, She Stoops to Conquer and the sub title, The Mistakes of a Night.

“She Stoops to Conquer,” or “The Mistakes of the Night”. Show that both t lie titles are appropriate.

The play has two titles- “She Stoops to Conquer” and “The Mistakes of the Night”. We are explaining the two titles separately.

The title ‘She Stoops to Conquer” is after Miss Hardcastle. She stoops to the position of a bar maid to win Marlow’s love. From this point of view, the title of the play is appropriate.

But the chief interest of the play does not centre round Miss Hardcastle. It centres round Tony Lumpkin. He is the moving spirit of the play. He helps in the development for the play. Without him, the incidents of the play would not have taken place. He meets Marlow and Hastings in the inn. He sends them to Mr. Hardcastle’s house as an inn. Had he not done so, Miss Hardcastle could not have played the part of a bar maid. Tony’s mother wants him to marry Neville. But he does not want to marry her. Had he loved her, he would not have gone to the inn. Had he not gone to the inn, he would not have misdirected Marlow and Hastings. In that case, Miss Hardcastle could never have played the part of a bar maid.

Thus, Miss Hardcastle stoops to conquer only due to Tony. As such, the title “She Stoops to Conquer” is not quite appropriate.

The title, “The Mistakes of the Night” is quite appropriate. Its reason is that the fun lies in the mistakes made by all the chief characters. Some of the mistakes are as follows-

First, the mistakes are started by mischievous Tony. He sends Marlow and Hastings to his father’s house as an inn.

Second, Marlow and Hastings both mistakes Mr. Hardcastle to be the inn-keeper. Hence, they treat him like an inn-keeper.

Third, Marlow mistakes Miss Hardcastle to be bar maid of the inn. He is free with the women of this class. So, he makes love to her.

Fourth, Marlow thinks himself to be in an inn. So, he gives orders to Mr. Hardcastle. He even sits on Mr. Hardcastle’s chair.

Fifth, Mr. Hardcastle becomes very angry with Marlow. He asks Marlow to leave at once. Marlow angrily asks him to send the bill.

Sixth, Marlow comes to know from the above incident that Mr. Hardcastle is not an inn-keeper. But his mistake about Miss Hardcastle continues. She calls herself a poor relation of the family. Hence, Marlow treats her as a bar maid.

Marlow knows his mistakes when his father comes. He feels very much ashamed. Mr. Hardcastle comes to know the reason of Marlow’s mistakes. So, he laughs. Everybody laughs with him. Thus, the play ends happily.