Love for Love

A woman of independent means, Angelica does not depend upon the goodwill of a parental figure the way Valentine does, and as such can exercise her own agency freely. We learn at the beginning of the play that she has “a great fortune of her own” (1.311). Angelica’s wealth allows her to marry who and when she chooses, and she spends the play testing Valentine’s feelings for her.

Angelica is known for her emotional reserve: the men speak of how difficult it is to decipher her true feelings, as when Valentine speaks of how “she never gave me any great reason / either for hope or despair” (1.304-05). Angelica also has a highly independent and strong-minded personality. In her first appearance in the play, she speaks defiantly to her uncle Foresight by mocking his superstitions, and she demonstrates her sense of agency by declaring, “my inclinations are in force; I have a mind to go / abroad; and if you won’t lend me your coach I’ll take a / hackney or a chair” (2.58-60). Likewise, she is not afraid to criticize Sir Sampson to his face at the play’s end, telling him she disapproves of his harsh behavior as a father: “I always / loved your son, and hated your unforgiving nature” (5.512-13).

Angelica’s emotions and motivations are gradually revealed over the course of the play. We first hear about her through what men like Valentine and Scandal say about her. While Angelica does reveal her feelings only slowly and carefully, it becomes apparent that she does so as a means of ensuring the authenticity of Valentine’s feelings for her. Angelica, like Valentine, wishes for a love match, and she is not interested in a man with only material or social motives. By the play’s end, Angelica can reveal her love and agree to the marriage she has wanted all along, proclaiming, “How few men, like Valentine, would / persevere even unto martyrdom” (V, 567-68).

Sir Sampson Legend is the dictatorial father of both Valentine and Ben, and he spends much of the play trying to wrestle Valentine into signing away his inheritance. Sir Sampson prides himself on his pragmatism, mocking the superstitions of Foresight (2.175-80) and dismissing the idea that there are predetermined elements in human lives thanks to astrology or other omens.

Sir Sampson conceives of relationships as fundamentally transactional in nature. When Valentine asks for his blessing, he retorts, “you’ve had it already, sir: I think I sent it you today in a bill / of four thousand pound” (2.246-47). He wishes to exercise a strong degree of control over his two sons and responds to their defiance with anger and threats. His conception of fatherhood is one based on authority over affection, believing that the mere state of being a father gives him control over his sons: “I’ll make the ungracious / prodigal know who begat him” (2.154-55).

However, Sir Sampson is exposed as being more vulnerable and foolish than he initially believed himself to be. Angelica deceives Sir Sampson by tricking him into thinking she will marry him in Act V, which leads Sir Sampson to behave foolishly and vindictively towards both his sons, as he now wishes to keep his estate for himself and his potential new heirs. It is not entirely clear at the play’s end whether Sir Sampson is willing to undergo a true moral transformation, but his chastisement at Angelica’s hands suggests that he has learned a valuable lesson.

Tattle embodies the worst traits of Valentine’s social circle, and the worldly cynicism of high society. As his name suggests, he is a gossip and loves to brag about his affairs with married high-born ladies, even though he likes to claim, “to handle the reputation of others very / tenderly” (1.347-48). Tattle lives only for pleasure, and his speech is almost always centered purely upon games of seduction. Tattle is also willing to deceive others for his own ends, as when he attempts to seduce Miss Prue by playing upon her innocence and persuading her to learn the arts of deceit: “you are a woman; you must never speak what you / think” (2.551-52).

Tattle is served some poetic justice at the play’s end when he is tricked into marrying Mrs. Frail. Fittingly, the marriage occurs when both parties are in disguise: Tattle, who has always loved deception and hoped to trick Angelica into marrying him, is tricked in turn by Jeremy’s deception. When the truth is revealed, Tattle seems shocked and slightly chastised—he is now burdened with a wife he does not love, a wife who has been as sneaky and conniving throughout the play as he has been. Tattle thus concludes the play married to a woman who is, in many respects, a mirror image of himself.