A play by Elizabeth Inchbald
This summary’s purpose is to help you better understand Lovers’ Vows in the context of Mansfield Park.
Agatha – mother of Frederick, was seduced by the Baron and then abandoned. Women want to play Agatha because she hasn’t seen her son for five years and she hugs him a lot. Like an extraordinary inappropriate amount of touching for a Regency woman towards a man… (this is why Maria and Henry play Frederick and Agatha and why they practice the first act over and over)
Amelia – legitimate daughter of the Baron. Very forward. She basically tells Anhalt she loves him before he declares himself. This was viewed as very un-ladylike in this society.
Frederick – main character and natural son of Agatha and the Baron. He tries to rob the Baron at swordpoint, without knowing who he is. He is in the army.
The Baron – father to Amelia and Frederick (unknown to him), seduced and betrayed Agatha, recently widowed
The Count – suitor to Amelia, is very immoral, the countryside is full of his natural children
Anhalt – Amelia’s tutor and a clergyman, in love with Amelia but knows the Baron won’t allow him to marry her. Generally intelligent and moral.
Cottager and Cottager’s Wife – charitably agree to look after Agatha after she runs out of money and is thrown out of the Inn. They are rewarded at the end by the Baron
The Butler – servant of the Baron, always speaks in rhyming verse, reveals that the Count is terrible
The original casting in Mansfield Park was Maria as Agatha, Henry Crawford as Frederick, Mary Crawford as Amelia, Edmund as Anhalt, Tom as the Butler/Cottager, Mrs. Grant as Cottager’s Wife, Rushworth as the Count, and Yates as the Baron.
Brief Summary of the play:
Agatha, ill and poor, is thrown out of an inn. Her son Frederick, comes to ask for his birth certificate which he needs for his job in the army. Agatha tells her son that he is a natural child and therefore has no real father. She explains that the Baron seduced her and then married elsewhere, ruining her. Frederick arranges for Agatha to stay with the Cottagers and goes to beg for money to help her.
The Baron has returned to his home after living at his wife’s estate all these years, he has brought his daughter and only child Amelia and wants her to marry the Count. He sends Anhalt to teach Amelia about marriage. Amelia instead confesses her love for Anhalt, he admits to loving her too. Despite the Baron regretting that he was convinced to marry against his inclination, he doesn’t want Amelia to marry so far below her.
The Baron and Count go hunting and Frederick appears to beg for money to help his mother. When the Baron doesn’t give him enough, Frederick draws his sword. Frederick is quickly arrested and put in jail in the Baron’s house. The Baron decides to investigate Frederick’s claims of having a sick mother; he sends Anhalt to do so.
Amelia visits Frederick in prison and he learns that the man he threatened was his father. He asks to speak to the Baron. The Butler tells Amelia that the Count is sexually immoral. The Baron learns, in quick succession, that Amelia loves Anhalt, that Frederick is his son.
The Baron is overjoyed and wants to adopt Frederick as his heir. Both Frederick and Anhalt argue that the Baron should marry Agatha to atone for the past. The Baron doesn’t want to, because she’s a ruined woman (no irony there) but is eventually convinced. The Baron and Agatha are united, as are Amelia and Anhalt, and Frederick is accepted as the heir.