Horners objective is to gather all women under the sign of the eunuch. In doing so he attempts to unmask the women. To thwart Horner making a cuckold of him, Pinchwife denies masking his wife since, a Woman maskd like a coverd Dish, gives a man curiosity, and appetite, when, it may be uncoverd, twoud turn his stomach (Wycherley, 293). Rather he disguises Margery in mens clothing as his brother. Still he suffers from Horners flirtations. Horner reveals throughout the play the hypocrisy of the women and chastises men who are made foolish by their absurd jealously. He is the ultimate ironist in the words he chooses as weapons during his run-ins with Lady Fidget, Pinchwife, and Sir Jasper Fidget. His impotency ruse to lure out the women eager to engage in extramarital sex is his very tool he uses to accomplish his objective and dominate within his purlieu. Horner only pursues women of a married upper class due to the fact that his true power does not weigh on his relationship to women, but to men. It is because of the womens agenda to seek a satisfying taboo relationship that make them prey to Horner, Wycherleys women obviously prefer upper-class gallants, if the can get them. When Wycherley thus satirizes women of quality, the satire is a communication between men, for the threat is between menof the same class (Canfield, 128). His dominance is asserted over the men he cuckolds, Situation after situation reveals its ironic complications, as the credulous Sir Jasper is cuckolded almost before his face or Pinchwife unwittingly thrusts his wife into Horners arms (Fujimura, xvi). He looks on in the play with amused detachment using double-edge verbal dexterity.
Marriage is the plays driving force for the characters. Honor and social status follow along with it. Marriage seems to be done for outward appearances to improve status, except in the case of Harcourt. Wives are treated as property. There is a constant power struggle between the men and women in the play.