# Mrs. Hardcastle — She Stoops to Conquer character guide

> Mrs. Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Mrs. Hardcastle, Dorothy

**First appearance:** 0004-act-i

## Snapshot

Hardcastle's second wife, doting on her son Tony and scheming to keep her niece's fortune close, hides behind furniture when her husband comes looking.

## Who they are

She dotes on Tony, frets over his safety, and maneuvers to marry her niece Neville to him for the money involved. When Hardcastle suspects two voices in the room, she crouches behind the furniture and bursts out only to save her darling from imagined harm. Her schemes and panics keep the household's fortunes tangled through the middle acts.

## Relationships

### [Miss Hardcastle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/she_stoops_to_conquer_se/characters/miss_hardcastle)

_family_

Miss Hardcastle and Mrs. Hardcastle are stepmother and stepdaughter, with some tension due to Mrs. Hardcastle's favoritism toward Tony.

### [Sir Charles Marlow](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/she_stoops_to_conquer_se/characters/sir_charles_marlow)

_social_

Mrs. Hardcastle and Sir Charles Marlow are social acquaintances, with Mrs. Hardcastle eager to impress the wealthy visitor.

## Links

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