The Conscious Lovers

Charles Myrtle is Bevil Jr.’s friend and companion; he serves as a foil, or opposite, to the play’s protagonist. Myrtle is hot-tempered, and he is frustrated by the obstacles that keep him from marrying his beloved Lucinda. He is also fiercely jealous of Bevil Jr. and Cimberton as possible rivals, although only Cimberton expresses interest in marrying Lucinda, and even though Lucinda never shows any attraction to anyone but Myrtle. When Myrtle challenges Bevil Jr. to a duel over the fact that Bevil Jr. has been exchanging letters with Lucinda, the play demonstrates the importance of Calm Restraint in Love and Friendship: Bevil Jr. remains calm, doesn’t take the bait, and instead shows Myrtle Lucinda’s letters, which explain that Bevil Jr. and Lucinda do not want to marry each other. Like Bevil Jr., who resorts to lies of omission despite a personal commitment to honesty and integrity, Myrtle also displays a willingness to use tricks and deception to arrange a favorable situation. Disguising himself as the lawyer Bramble, and as Cimberton’s uncle, Sir Geoffry, Myrtle successfully hampers Mrs. Sealand’s attempts to marry Lucinda to Cimberton.

Steele said that the play’s key moment is the first scene of Act IV, in which Myrtle challenges Bevil Jr. to a duel over his suspicion that Bevil Jr. actually loves Lucinda. Earlier, Myrtle is insulted both by Bevil Jr. denying any love for Lucinda, and by Bevil Jr. complimenting Lucinda, setting up Myrtle as an angry and irrational character. Steele uses Myrtle to show how men in the early 18th-century were too quick to duel, resulting in many deaths without real cause. In resolving the argument, Myrtle and Bevil Jr. disregard Lucinda’s privacy by sharing letters that she’s written in secret. Nevertheless, Steele argues that this is a preferable way to settle a disagreement; in general, he recommends openness and honesty. By the end of the play, Myrtle is one of the characters rewarded by “Providence,” implying that he has become one of the play’s moral models despite his flaws.

Indiana, Bevil Jr.’s beloved, has a tragic backstory. The daughter of Danvers, a wealthy merchant who had a turn of bad luck, she was kidnapped at sea as a child. After her mother died, she and her aunt, Isabella, were taken in by a kindly pirate captain; however, when he died, his devious and manipulative brother took the two women in only to torment Indiana for her affections. The implication is that the young woman suffered for years in Toulon under the tyranny of her new guardian until Bevil Jr. saved her. 

Because of this peripatetic upbringing, Indiana’s class is in doubt, highlighting The Impact of Social Standing on Prospects. While she is characterized by typical, upper-class behavior, and other characters assume that she must be from a noble family, her actual standing in the social hierarchy is ambiguous. This lack of clarity makes Sir Bevil hesitant about his son’s affection for Indiana: She has no dowry or social capital, making her a poor marriage prospect for Bevil Jr. from a socio-economic perspective. Bevil Jr.’s implicitly romantic and explicitly benevolent relationship with Indiana leads Sir Bevil and Sealand to investigate her origins. Once it is discovered that Indiana is Sealand’s long-lost daughter, she secures her marriage to Bevil Jr.

Indiana receives an extensive amount of characterization and opportunity to present her feelings, which often vacillate from confidence to insecurity. She consistently pushes Bevil Jr. to admit his love—implying that she understands that he must be repressing affection—but also doubts that he loves her. Likewise, Indiana presents her backstory to Sealand without shame, but she falters when discussing her connection with Bevil Jr. Overall, Indiana believes that her true tragedy is not being raised by her kidnappers, but lacking clarity about Bevil Jr.’s feelings. Indiana models virtue in her patience with Bevil Jr.: She does not confront him, preferring to wait for him to take the lead in their relationship. This modesty reflects the 18th-century expectations for the ideal wife as a woman who submits to her husband and depends on him for guidance.

Lucinda is Sealand’s daughter with his second wife, Mrs. Sealand; this makes her Indiana’s younger half-sister. Lucinda is caught between three suitors: Sealand wants Lucinda to marry Bevil Jr., which would combine the Sealand and Bevil fortunes; Mrs. Sealand wants Lucinda to marry Cimberton, Mrs. Sealand’s foppish and arrogant cousin who belongs to the nobility and would thus re-elevate the Sealand family socially; Lucinda herself, meanwhile, wants to marry Myrtle, with whom she is in love. The predicament is complicated by Lucinda’s uprightness and unwillingness to directly defy her parents. Although she finds Cimberton disgusting and has only friendly feelings toward Bevil Jr., she is also unwilling to express her feelings for Myrtle and resists seeing him without a formal engagement. Limited by her upbringing and social expectations, Lucinda has little agency besides displaying her contempt for Cimberton—a mild rebellion that does little to stem Mrs. Sealand’s plans.

Lucinda takes part in the play’s depiction of class conflict. As a member of the wealthy merchant class, she is trapped by her parents’ aspirations for rank, which they hope to climb to through an alliance with the Bevil or Cimberton families. To affect the behavior of the upper class, the Sealands have taken on their self-repression; Lucinda cannot express her emotions or opinions without being reprimanded by her mother. Lucinda’s conversation about passion with Phillis shows how she wishes she could be more open with Myrtle and to choose her own husband based on romantic attachment rather than be married off by her parents. However, Lucinda lacks the social autonomy to make this decision; she, like Bevil Jr., Myrtle, and Indiana, can only wait to be rewarded by Providence for her forbearance.

Sir John Bevil is Bevil Jr.’s father. In his youth, Sir Bevil was a libertine, meaning he was promiscuous, drank heavily, and gambled to excess. His servant Humphrey was with Sir Bevil during this time; Sir Bevil credits Humphrey with helping him overcome his destructive lifestyle. After Sir Bevil married and had a son, Bevil Jr.’s mother died, leaving her wealth to Bevil Jr. 

In the play, Sir Bevil is torn: On the one hand, he approves of his son’s obedience and dutiful behavior; on the other hand, Sir Bevil relishes his happy memories of his immoral youth, and thus worries that Bevil Jr. is either unhappy or hiding an immoral lifestyle. When he discovers Indiana’s existence, Sir Bevil worries that forcing Bevil Jr. to marry Lucinda might make him miserable, or that Bevil Jr. is making the same profligate mistakes that Sir Bevil did as a youth. In contrast, Bevil Jr. wonders whether marrying a woman for love could leave him lonely and sad like his father, who still pines for his dead wife.

Sir Bevil represents libertinism aging into sensibility, mirroring the transformation Steele wants to effect in the theater. Sir Bevil may reminisce about his early days, but he is no longer a libertine, and the only character to endorse this lifestyle is Tom. As such, Sir Bevil models the sentimental comedy ideal: A man who eschews promiscuity, drinking, or gambling, and instead is concerned for the future of his son.