The Inconstant — A Reader’s Guide

Rapid Exchanges and Theatrical Schemes

The dialogue in The Inconstant moves at a brisk, theatrical pace, with characters often finishing each other's thoughts or interrupting with exclamations. In Act IV, Old Mirabel's line 'A face! a face like an angel, sir!' immediately follows Dugard's hesitant 'That, I must confess, has a face,' showing how the older man seizes on a plot idea with comic urgency. Similarly, Duretete's entrance is marked by breathless announcements: 'Here, where are ye all?—O, Mr. Mirabel! you have done fine things for your posterity.' The language is colloquial and direct, with characters using short, punchy sentences that mimic spontaneous speech. This rapid-fire style contrasts with the more measured, explanatory passages in Inchbald's remarks, where she reflects on the play's historical context. The shift between these two voices—the commentator's analytical tone and the characters' lively banter—creates a layered reading experience that underscores the play's theatrical origins.

Feigned Devotion and Verbal Irony

A recurring linguistic pattern in the excerpts is the use of religious vocabulary for deceptive purposes. Oriana dons a nun's habit as part of a plot to win back Mirabel, and her friend Bisarre immediately undercuts the piety: 'To me, the greatest jest in the habit, is taking it in earnest.' The word 'jest' here signals the gap between appearance and reality, a theme reinforced by Oriana's own admission that she is 'reconciled, methinks, to the mortification of a nunnery; because I fancy the habit becomes me.' The irony is layered: the habit is a costume, the mortification is aesthetic, and the religious setting becomes a stage for romantic manipulation. Farquhar's characters speak in a register that mixes sincerity with artifice, often in the same breath. When Old Mirabel learns his son has 'turned friar,' he exclaims, 'You lie, sir! 'tis ten times worse,' treating monastic life as a fate more dreadful than death. The language thus oscillates between playful and desperate, revealing how the characters use words as tools for both concealment and revelation.

Pace as a Dramatic Device

The excerpts show a deliberate variation in pace that mirrors the play's emotional shifts. In the opening remarks, Inchbald's prose is measured and reflective, with long sentences that build a historical argument: 'Neither the wit, humour, nor the imitation of nature, in this play, are of that forcible kind, with which the audience had been usually delighted by Farquhar.' This slower, analytical rhythm gives way to the rapid-fire dialogue of the play itself, where characters speak in short bursts. For instance, the exchange between Old Mirabel and Duretete about the son's disappearance is a series of quick, overlapping lines: 'Hanged himself!' 'The very same—turned friar!' 'You lie, sir! 'tis ten times worse.' The pace quickens further in the monastery scene, where Oriana and Bisarre's banter is interrupted by the arrival of other characters. This alternation between contemplative commentary and brisk dialogue creates a dynamic reading experience, inviting the reader to attend to how Farquhar uses tempo to heighten comic effect and dramatic tension.

Readers attentive to language will notice how Farquhar's characters often speak in a register that blurs the line between genuine emotion and performative wit. The play's title, The Inconstant, applies not only to its protagonist but to the very texture of its dialogue, which shifts unpredictably between earnest declarations and ironic asides. This edition, with Inchbald's framing remarks, offers a dual perspective: the commentator's retrospective judgment and the playwright's own defensive voice, both of which enrich the experience of a comedy that, as Inchbald notes, 'had a reception far inferior to that of his other productions.'