Tony Lumpkin
Encyclopedia
Tony Lumpkin is a fictional character who first appeared in Oliver Goldsmith's
play, She Stoops to Conquer
.
Tony Lumpkin is the son of Mrs Hardcastle and stepson to Mr Hardcastle. It is as a result of his practical joking that the comic aspects of the play are set up. When he accidentally meets Charles Marlow and his friend Hastings, who are coming to see Tony's parents in order to put Marlow forward as a suitor to Tony's stepsister Kate, he deliberately misdirects them, causing them to believe that the house where they are bound is an inn and that the Hardcastles are its landlord and landlady.
Tony is promised in marriage to his cousin, Constance Neville, whom he despises, and therefore he assists in her plans to elope with Hastings. Tony takes an interest in horses, "Bet Bouncer" and especially the alehouse, where he joyfully sings with members of the lower-classes. It is Tony's initial deception of Marlow, for a joke, which sets up the plot.
The character became so popular that he was later used in a 1778 play, Tony Lumpkin in Town
, by John O'Keeffe.
The play was still popular in England in the mid-nineteenth century, where it was being played by the likes of Lionel Brough
.
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith was an Irish writer, poet and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield , his pastoral poem The Deserted Village , and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer...
play, She Stoops to Conquer
She Stoops to Conquer
She Stoops to Conquer is a comedy by the Irish author Oliver Goldsmith, son of an Anglo-Irish vicar, first performed in London in 1773. The play is a great favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in Britain and the United States. It is one of the few plays from the 18th...
.
Tony Lumpkin is the son of Mrs Hardcastle and stepson to Mr Hardcastle. It is as a result of his practical joking that the comic aspects of the play are set up. When he accidentally meets Charles Marlow and his friend Hastings, who are coming to see Tony's parents in order to put Marlow forward as a suitor to Tony's stepsister Kate, he deliberately misdirects them, causing them to believe that the house where they are bound is an inn and that the Hardcastles are its landlord and landlady.
Tony is promised in marriage to his cousin, Constance Neville, whom he despises, and therefore he assists in her plans to elope with Hastings. Tony takes an interest in horses, "Bet Bouncer" and especially the alehouse, where he joyfully sings with members of the lower-classes. It is Tony's initial deception of Marlow, for a joke, which sets up the plot.
The character became so popular that he was later used in a 1778 play, Tony Lumpkin in Town
Tony Lumpkin in Town
Tony Lumpkin in Town is a 1778 British play by John O'Keeffe. It was intended as a sequel to the 1773 play She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith. It is centred around the character Tony Lumpkin. It ran successfully at the Haymarket Theatre in London....
, by John O'Keeffe.
The play was still popular in England in the mid-nineteenth century, where it was being played by the likes of Lionel Brough
Lionel Brough
Lionel Brough was a British actor and comedian. After beginning a journalistic career and performing as an amateur, he became a professional actor, performing mostly in Liverpool during the mid-1860s...
.