The Country Wife · Character
Mr. Horner
A town rake who spreads word he is impotent so that husbands will hand him their wives, and who treats the whole of London as a game he has rigged.
major
Also known as Horner, Harry Horner, Harry
First appearance: act i
As a major figure in The Country Wife, Mr. Horner is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.
Horner announces a convenient medical misfortune and watches the town's husbands relax around him, inviting him into their houses and leaving him alone with their wives. He is candid with his friend the Quack about the scheme: an impotent man may kiss virgins before their parents and visit a lady's chamber as early as her husband. His pleasure is less in any single conquest than in the stratagem itself, which makes him the engine every other character's marriage must reckon with.
Free preview opens at this moment — character cards, Character Web, and themes sit beside the text as you read.
Character Web
15 connectionsA slice of how Mr. Horner sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.
Relationship types
- Other
Character groups
- Protagonist
- Main characters and intriguers
- Peripheral and meta references
+10 more in the full Character Web
Open in readerNarrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
In this scene, the emotional and psychological peak occurs when Horner reveals to Quack that his feigned impot…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while reading