She Stoops to Conquer (Author Biography)

Author Biography

Born November 10, 1728, in Ballymahon, Ireland, Goldsmith was from a poor but not needy family, supported by his father’s position as a minister. The family had expected that Goldsmith would attend university, but the marriage of an older sister required his tuition money as part of her sizable dowry. In 1745, Goldsmith entered Trinity College in Dublin under the sizar system, which allowed poor students to study in exchange for work. Perhaps because of his tenuous economic circumstances, Goldsmith did not distinguish himself academically. He failed to take his studies entirely seriously, violated college rules, and even took part in a riot in which several people died.

Completing his B.A. in 1749, Goldsmith attempted various careers, including the ministry and medicine. From 1753-56, he wandered across the British continent before arriving in London. There, Goldsmith embarked on a career writing reviews and essays for such periodicals as Ralph Griffith’s Monthly Review and Tobias Smollett’s Critical Review, as well as proofreading for the novelist and printer Samuel Richardson.

The first book to appear under Goldsmith’s name proved a notable success. Entitled The Citizen of the World; or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher Residing in London to His Friends in the East, it began as a series of essays in the Publick Ledger. Goldsmith, masquerading under the identity of an Asian visitor, satirized the faults and foibles of fashionable London society. The work brought Goldsmith to the attention of the city’s literary elite, particularly members of The Club, which included writers like Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, Edmund Burke, and Thomas Percy, the painter Sir Joshua Reynolds, and the actor David Garrick. The work also brought Goldsmith literary opportunities, but poor money management drove him to hack writing for survival, a pattern that unfortunately continued throughout his life.

In addition to periodical prose, Goldsmith wrote in various styles and genres. One of his most famous works, The Deserted Village: A Poem, laments the loss of Britain’s rural lifestyle. Though politically a conservative Tory, Goldsmith condemned the enclosure of public land by wealthy landowners and the agricultural revolution, which drove small farmers off their land. Published in 1770, critics term the work a “loco-descriptive” poem, in which the narrator walks through and describes various natural and rustic settings, setting down in verse the thoughts these travels inspire.

Two of Goldsmith’s other famous works stem from his aversion for Sentimentalism. According to Oscar James Campbell, Sentimentalism “was founded on the belief that man is innately good and that he can be softened into virtue through tears which are made to flow from contemplation of undeserved suffering.” In Goldsmith’s 1766 novel The Vicar of Wakefield, the excessive sufferings of the deserving Vicar and his family call to mind the sufferings of Job, and critics today read the work as a parody of Sentimental fiction.

In his plays, Goldsmith challenged the Sentimental comedy, which had developed in response to the perceived immorality of Restoration theatre. Goldsmith articulated his position in an “Essay on the Theatre; or, A Comparison between Laughing and Sentimental Comedy.” The article differentiates between Sentimental comedy, called so only because it — like Dante’s Divine Comedy — has a happy ending, and the more modern, humorous “laughing” comedy. In 1768, a Sentimental comedy by Hugh Kelly opened the same night as The Good Natur’d Man: A Comedy, Goldsmith’s first play. These competing productions offered theatre audiences two completely different forms of comic entertainment. According to Campbell, Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer proved innovative and “opened the door” to a new kind of comedy.

In 1773, Goldsmith presented She Stoops to Conquer. Though generally well-received, not everyone applauded Goldsmith’s comedy — advocates of Sentimental comedy like Horace Walpole attacked the play for lacking a moral lesson. Still, audiences in general approved and today it remains Goldsmith’s most popular work.