In She Stoops to Conquer, Oliver Goldsmith reverses the traditional masculine and feminine qualities in the characters Kate and Marlow, thus challenging the profoundly unequal conventions of marriage denounced by the poet Anne Finch in her poem “ The Unequal Fetters” and Lady Montagu in her poem “Epistle from Mrs. Yonge to Her Husband.” The importance that Kate Hardcastle attaches to the physical beauty of her future husband challenges the marital conventions of the time by overturning the expectations of beauty placed on women. . She expresses her desire, above all other qualities, for a handsome husband, stating: “Young, handsome; he put these last; but I put it first. Sensitive, good-natured; I like all this,” (Goldsmith 4). Kate apparently values ​​beautiful characteristics over other qualities in a husband, as she explicitly says she puts those characteristics first, and therefore above all others. She also wants a sensitive and good-natured husband, but attributes the latter to youth and beauty. Her preference for a good-looking husband is also evident when she tells her father, “He must have more striking features to capture me, I promise you. However, if he is so young, so handsome and so on, as you said, I think he will still be fine. I think I will have it” (Goldsmith 4). Kate will consider Marlow based on his youth and appearance, and relegate the other qualities that are assumed to be "everything else." Its other characteristics are of too little importance to be stated explicitly. While her emphasis on appearance may seem superficial, Kate's insistence on a handsome husband, a luxury previously reserved for men, is empowering and signals a shift in marriage conventions toward greater freedom for women. half of the card......r wedding. He is petrified of modest women, who demasculinize him and make him impotent. The image of Marlow so strongly at odds with expectations of masculinity places him in a more feminine role, underlining both Kate's rejection of accepted gender roles and expectations in marriage, and reinforcing the importance of a shift from marital conventions hypocritical and constraining more equal conventions. Women are believed to be submissive and weak, yet these qualities are attributed to the male love interest, while the female protagonist takes on a more traditionally male role. Kate's male expectations of beauty and position of power in her courtship with Marlow are indicative of a greater cultural shift in female freedom within their marriages and the archaism of strict marital bonds represented by the poets Anne Finch and Lady Montagu.