# Mrs. Marwood — The Way of the World character guide

> Mrs. Marwood in The Way of the World by William Congreve.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Marwood, Madam Marwood

**First appearance:** 0006-act-i

## Snapshot

A sharp-tongued confidante with a private grudge and a hidden passion, Mrs. Marwood watches everyone's secrets and intends to use them.

## Who they are

Mrs. Marwood plays the trusted friend to Lady Wishfort while conducting an affair with Fainall and nursing a thwarted love for Mirabell. Her soliloquy over Foible's closet — 'Why this wench is the passe-partout, a very master-key to everybody's strong box' — reveals a woman who reads other people's intrigues as instruments and resents being anyone's assistant. She urges Lady Wishfort toward the Sir Wilfull match and whispers against Mirabell, positioning herself at the center of every confidence; her malice is personal, patient, and the kind that reshapes the plot's middle.

## Links

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