Fallacy

The Way of the World

by William Congreve

The Way of the World: Fallacy 1 key example

Act 3, Scene 18
Explanation and Analysis—Honorable Affairs:

In Act 3, Scene 18, Fainall tells Marwood that cheating on his wife is honorable because it takes place within marriage, an "honourable" institution. Fainall's logic here is circular, a fallacy:

[M]arriage is honourable as you say; and if so, wherefore should cuckoldom be a discredit, being derived from so honourable a root?