The Conscious Lovers

One of the major developments in the 18th century was the push toward romantic marriage, rather than socio-political marriage, for members of the upper classes. In the past, marriages were largely a way for elite families to forge alliances and maintain fortunes, while members of the lower classes predominantly married out of custom, love, or the formation of family units. This is why older or mercenary characters in The Conscious Lovers—i.e., Sir Bevil, Sealand, and Cimberton—consider marriages through the older lens, as familial alliances, with wealth and family background as the most important aspects of suitable matches. However, the play’s younger, more sympathetic characters—Bevil Jr., Myrtle, Lucinda, and Indiana—are eager to pursue marriages based on love and attraction. 

As the practice of arranged marriages grew less prevalent, portrayals of openly displayed affection became positive rather than negative. In the play, the sexual desire of Tom and Phillis, who represent the relative marital freedom of members of the lower classes, for whom marriage was much more likely to be a matter of choice, is something to be admired rather than rebuked. Lucinda’s envy of Phillis’s passion reflects the social changes that would eventually culminate in the Marriage Act of 1753, which limited the requirement of parental consent only to marriages between people under 21.