were punished in the end. Mrs. Fainall, even though she recovered her fortune from Mirabell, is left with an ambiguous and not entirely joyful future. She has officially lost the one love of her life. It is also unknown whether she will try to fix her disintegrating marriage or even if she wants to. This punishment is due to her marrying Fainall not because she loved him, but because she needed to cover up her affair with Mirabell, in case she was with child. Her receiving the money in the end is justified by her having benevolently supported Mirabell in his quest to win Millamant, even though she still loves him. Mrs. Marwood, on the other hand, never redeems herself, and has backstabbed all of her friends, and was a leading figure in the counter-plot to prevent the marriage of Mirabell and Millamant. She is rewarded for her efforts at the end of the play, when Foible and Mincing reveal her adulterous affair with Fainall. She loses her sole possession of value, her flawless reputation.In contrast to their compatriots, Mirabell and Millimant, exemplifying the loving, realistic, and modern couple, are allowed happiness and each other. By allowing them to end up together, Congreve is claiming that this type of union should be favored and sought after by members of Restoration society. Rather than being boiled down to the mere desire for wealth, or looked at as a cover for some dishonorable affair, marriage should require the mutual love, respect, and appreciation that exists between Mirabell and Millamant. In addition, he seems to be claiming that this union can only take place between those who are equally matched in wit and appearance, and who are human in that they each have flaws of their own. Both lovers are just such characters, and each accept and love the other, complete with their faults. Mirabell elucidates Congreve's claim about marriage in the final four lines of the play, From hence let those be warned who mean ...
