Love for Love

“Well, and now I am poor, I have an opportunity to be

revenged on ’em all; I’ll pursue Angelica with more love

than ever, and appear more notoriously her admirer in this

restraint, than when I openly rivalled the rich fops that

made court to her; so shall my poverty be a mortification to

her pride and, perhaps, make compassionate that love

which has principally reduced me to this lowness of for-

tune.”

Valentine’s attitude towards his poverty in this speech reveals several key insights into his character and motivation. His determination to “pursue Angelica with more love than ever” emphasizes his belief that he can win her over even with no fortune to his name, while his reference to how his “love” was what “principally” caused his poverty suggests that Valentine does not value money for its own sake. His belief that his poverty might also serve as a “mortification” to Angelica’s “pride” gives the reader some insight into what sort of woman Angelica may be: a proud, self-contained woman, who is not ready to yield easily to any suitor, be he rich or poor.

“Jeremy speaks like an oracle. Don’t you see how worthless

great men, and dull rich rogues, avoid a witty man of small

fortune? Why, he looks like a writ of enquiry into their

titles and estates; and seems commissioned by heaven to

seize the better half.”

Scandal speaks here of the great divide between men who are witty and talented but poor, and men who have fortunes but are lacking in intelligence or moral scruples. Scandal argues that such rich men fear the poor wits because the poor wits often have troubling insights into the lives and fortunes of the rich men, and the rich men fear hearing that criticism. This quotation alludes to the tension throughout the play between those who must try to succeed through their wits (e.