The women who rule from afar
If one considers the time when the play was written, we can reach the conclusion that because of the historical context, women had little to no power. It is true that women did not had the same influence as their male counterparts but it is also unfair to say they had no power at all. Time and time again, when the servants talk among one another, they recognize how, in their households, women are the ones who hold the power. Even if they manifest it directly or indirectly by influencing their husbands, the women are the ones who control how many affairs will end. This idea is a common motif in the play and is frequently mentioned by the characters.
Money as a symbol for power and a high status
Money is the most important thing a person can have in the play. Many characters made their life purpose to gather as much money and as much wealth as possible. One of the reasons why these characters try to gain as much money as possible is because money is a symbol for power and a high status in the world where the characters live.
Love does not have to be involved in a marriage
Considering the time when the action of the play is set, it is no wonder that the marriages described in the play are arranged ones. Because of this, there is no love between the two people who are involved in the marriage. The people who are to be married, they start to question this system, and to set up a new system on their own, namely to marry out of marriage, not out of obligation to their parents but out of love for one another. These ideas are shut down quickly, the older characters repeating time and time again that love should not be involved in a marriage. This becomes a common motif in the play and it is repeated over and over again in the play.
Come into my closet
When Sir Bevil goes to visit his son, Bevil Jr. is in his closet, thinking about ways he can escape the marriage and how he can arrange it so his father will not find out about it. The closet is the place where Bevil Jr. feels safe, where he expresses his true feelings and thus it becomes a symbol for his true identity. The fact that Sir Bevil enters even this room proves just how much of an influence the parents had over their children’s lives and how nothing could be hidden from them.
The obedient son
Bevil Jr. agreed to marry the woman whom his father chose even though he loved someone else. Sir Bevil knew how his son had feelings for someone else and because of this he tried time and time again to find what his son really thought about the whole affair. No matter how much his father asked him about his desires, Bevil Jr. continued to claim he only wanted to please his father, no matter what. Through this, Bevil Jr. is portrayed as the perfect obedient son, the one who would never do anything to displease his father. This image and this idea becomes a common motif in the play, being repeated multiple times.
