ABSTRACT
Whereas his friends and the other social butterflies vie for the intangibles conferred by social power, sexual reputation, and admiration, or at least attention, Dauphine competes primarily for money, although he achieves the other ends as well. The final victory of Dauphine is to flaunt Epicoene's peruke in one hand and the signed contract in the other, demonstrating his superiority by disgracing his uncle and profiting himself. The mere public humiliation of Morose, as demonstrated by the peruke, would not have won him any profit. Morose already believed that Dauphine's crowd had maligned his reputation by circulating 'ridiculous' stories about him (1.2.8-10); hence, the plan to disinherit his nephew. But the contract giving Dauphine control of Morose's esta:te routs the uncle definitively.
