Sexual Arithmetic: Appetite and Consumption in The Way of the World

In Congreve’s The Way of the World, Millamant’s self-assertion rebukes masculine libertine avidity and in doing so advocates a reconception of desire, which has recognizable connections to what we now call consumer desire, distinct from aristocratic and rakish forms of appetite. Millamant elaborates a sophisticated figuration of the love game in economic terms that rejects Mirabell’s implied position—as the prince who determines her intrinsic value—in favor of an extrinsic-value model that allows her to bargain up her own worth in the libidinal marketplace. Her prenuptial stipulations imply self-perpetuating forms of desire, reciprocally beneficial increase, and inexhaustible productive resources.