Bring out the salient features of Restoration Drama/ Comedy/
Comedy of Manners by referring in particular to the works of major dramatists.
If the age of Restoration is one of the most splendid periods in
the records of English Drama, it is on the account of Comedy of Manners. The
so called Heroic Tragedy which
had a brief run concurrently with the Comedy of Manners, had also a little of
popularity, but was too unnatural and artificial and merely a type from French
soil. As compared to tragedy of Restoration Age, Comedy of Manners
achieved greater distinction and shame. It was the most characteristic product
of Restoration Literature & reflects the spirit of the age
more comprehensively than its prose and poetry. Dryden was
the first to write Comedy of Manners with his Wild Gallant, which
was a failure. He wrote several other Comedies of Manners also which were more
successful. The chief practitioners
of the comedy of manners were:
(i) Sir George
Etherege (1635-1691)
(ii) William Wycherley (1640-1715)
(iii) William Congreve (1670-1729)
(iv) Sir John Vanbrugh (1661 -1726)
(v) George Farquhar (1678-1707)
(ii) William Wycherley (1640-1715)
(iii) William Congreve (1670-1729)
(iv) Sir John Vanbrugh (1661 -1726)
(v) George Farquhar (1678-1707)
Following were the main
characteristics of Comedy of Manners-
·
It depends upon the dramatists’ capacity to present the
unemotional treatment of sex.
·
It is rich with wit and satire and gives the image of the time.
·
The heroine is more important and interesting than the hero in
the Comedy of Manners
·
Both hero and heroine are well dressed, self-possessed and
witty.
·
Whereas, throughout its long career, English Tragedy has always
accepted foreign influences, English Comedy has been less influenced by them.
But Restoration Comedy of Manners took good deal
of continental spirit.
·
The manners which the Comedy of Manners shows were not the
manners of all the classes of Restoration Society; they were rather the manners
of the upper class only.
·
This genre is characterised by realism (art), social
analysis and satire. These comedies held a mirror to the finer society of their
age. These comedies are thus true pictures of the noble society of the age.
·
One feature of the Restoration comedy which has been often
criticised and almost as often defended is its immorality.
·
This genre held a mirror to the high society
of Restoration Age. The society was immortal and so was
its image represented by the comedy.
·
Most comedy writers liked the presentation of scenes and acts of
sexual rudeness.
·
The introduction of the actresses for the first time on the
stage lowered the morality level. These actresses were mostly women of easy
virtue.
·
The writers of the Comedy of Manners gave much more importance
to the wit and polish of their dialogues than to their plot-construction;
which, in the views of Aristotle, “is the soul of a tragedy and a comedy too.”
·
The dialogue of the Comedy of Manners is witty, polished and
crisp.
The Playwrights:
The two periods important for the comedy of manners were 1668-76
and 1693-1707 because during them most of such comedies were written.
The first true practitioner of the comedy of manners was
Etherege whose important works include Love in a Tub, She Wou'dlf She
Coicd, and The Man of Mode, or Sir Fopling
Flutter. Etherege himself was a courtier and naturally adept at
revealing the manners of courtiers. "His laughter", says
Dobree, "is always that of delight at being very much alive, and is only
corrective here and there by accident." Etherege lacks the brilliance and
polish ofCongreve, but he has a naturalness and airy grace of his own.
