Bring out the farcical elements in The
Rivals.
Answer: The 1770s play The Rivals by Irish-born playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan is a comedy, specifically a Comedy of Manners. There are many variations of comedic dramas, and each subset has its own tendencies, tropes, stock characters, and purposes. Generally speaking, the plot events in a Comedy of Manners tend to revolve around the scandal and intrigue specific to a social class; many of such plays focus on the middle- and upper-classes. This genre is also known as Restoration Comedy and Artificial Comedy.
The main purpose of a Comedy of Manners is to satirize (and, through satire, critique) the behaviors and relationships people engage in at various social levels in order to be perceived as proper, appropriate, or polite. Many characters in a Comedy of Manners are often concerned about whether or not they are "good enough" according to the social standards of their time, echelon, and peers. The genre has gone through numerous phases of popularity, changing with each phase. While the French playwright and actor Moliére created rather scathing and sharp examples of the genre, Brinsley and other Restoration-era authors tended to write comedies that were more lighthearted in nature.
The comedic genre of the farce is notably different from satirical comedies. While satire does sometimes rely on exaggeration in order to draw attention to topics and themes, farce is almost entirely exaggeration-based to the point of hyperbole.
