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The Roles of Servant Characters in Restoration Comedy, 1660 - 1685

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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Dissertations Department of English 8-7-2018 The Roles of Servant Characters in Restoration Comedy, 1660 - 1685 Patricia A. Godsave Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss Recommended Citation Godsave, Patricia A., "The Roles of Servant Characters in Restoration Comedy, 1660 - 1685." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2018. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/204 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ROLES OF SERVANT CHARACTERS IN RESTORATION COMEDY, 1660 – 1685 by PATRICIA GODSAVE Under the Direction of Malinda Snow ABSTRACT Scholarship that focuses on the role of servants in London comedies following the restoration of Charles II is almost non-existent even though servants appear in most every play written and produced during that period. Stage servants often serve as principle, essential characters who are pivotal to the action of the drama, and sometimes they are the star of the show, played by celebrity actors. Servant characters also serve to exemplify the frequently changing social mores and political issues of the period with their thoughtful observations and endeavors as they illustrate the innumerable themes about which scholars have written. INDEX WORDS: Carolean comedy; Restoration stage; Charles II; mirror to society; Hobbesian thought; libertine lifestyle; licentious behavior; lady’s companion; lady’s maid; footman; valet de chambre; agency; master; mistress; comedy of manners; social comedy; farce THE ROLES OF SERVANT CHARACTERS IN RESTORATION COMEDY, 1660 – 1685 by PATRICIA GODSAVE A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2018 Copyright by Patricia Ann Godsave 2018 THE ROLES OF SERVANT CHARACTERS IN RESTORATION COMEDY, 1660 – 1685 by PATRICIA GODSAVE Committee Chair: Malinda Snow Committee: Lyneé Gaillet Matthew Roudané Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University July 2018 iv DEDICATION My love and gratitude go to my mom for her gift of a round tuit; to Max for acting as sentry and insisting upon “sequestration” designed to “achieve maximum productivity”; to Grayson—along with the Paw Patrol, Blippi, Mila and Morphle, Peppa Pig, and the PJ Masks superheroes: Catboy, Owlette, and Gekko—for keeping me company while I worked; and to Berkley for closing the door. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I can’t thank everyone on my committee in the same manner, as you have each held a different place in this all-too-long process. Dr. Malinda Snow directed my M.A. thesis as well as this dissertation, and I really don’t know why she agreed a second time, knowing that my ability to procrastinate is quite well developed. Dr. Snow, your guidance and suggestions were—as always—invaluable and greatly appreciated. Dr. Lyneé Gaillet, who also read my secondary focus (Composition and Rhetoric) exams, has far more pressing things to do as Department Chair (in addition to all the other hats she wears) so I am very grateful that she put me on her to- do list. Thanks especially to Dr. Matthew Roudané, who willingly agreed to be on this dissertation committee despite the already long list of others on which he serves. I value not only your much-needed council and advice, but the time and effort each of you has expended in helping me achieve my goals. Thank you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ V LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... VIII 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1 2 SETTING THE STAGE .......................................................................................... 12 2.1 London’s Theatre World .................................................................................. 12 2.2 His Majesty’s Servants: Playwrights, Actors, and Theatre Managers ........ 24 2.3 A Mirror of the Times, or Cloud Cuckoo-Land? ........................................... 30 2.4 The Lives of (Real) London Servants .............................................................. 37 3 THE SENSATIONAL SIXTIES ............................................................................. 44 3.1 Why Sensational? .............................................................................................. 44 3.2 Sir Robert Howard’s The Committee, Or, The Faithful Irishman (1663) ..... 52 3.3 Sir Samuel Tuke’s The Adventures of Five Hours (1663) .............................. 66 3.4 John Dryden’s Sir Martin Mar-all, Or, Feign’d Innocence (1667) ................ 79 4 THE CYNICAL SEVENTIES ................................................................................. 88 4.1 Why Cynical?..................................................................................................... 88 4.2 Thomas Betterton’s The Amorous Widow, Or, The Wanton Wife (1670) ...... 96 4.3 John Dryden’s Marriage a la Mode (1671) .................................................... 107 4.4 William Wycherley’s The Country Wife (1675) ............................................ 115 4.5 Sir George Etherege’s The Man of Mode, Or, Sir Fopling Flutter (1676)... 123 vii 5 THE UNEASY EIGHTIES .................................................................................... 134 5.1 Why Uneasy? ................................................................................................... 134 5.2 Edward Ravenscroft’s The London Cuckolds (1681) ................................... 145 5.3 John Crowne’s Sir Courtly Nice, Or, It Cannot Be (1683) ............................ 157 5.4 Aphra Behn’s The Emperor of the Moon (1687) ........................................... 168 6 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................... 178 WORKS CITED............................................................................................................ 187 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1 Servants wearing cast-off clothes, looking remarkably like those they serve. ............ 50 Figure 3.2 John Lacy in three of Charles II's favorite roles. ......................................................... 53 Figure 3.3 Production History of The Committee. ........................................................................ 55 Figure 3.4 Cave Underhill as Obadiah. ......................................................................................... 74 Figure 5.1 The Solemn Mock Procession of the Pope. ............................................................... 139 Figure 5.2 Recent playbills from The Emperor of the Moon, Actor’s Theatre of Columbus and the Saint Sebastian Players at the St. Bonaventure Theatre, Chicago. ........................... 169 Figure 5.3 On left: Stephan Langer as Scaramouch and Trad N.G. as Harlequin, Actor’s Theatre of Columbus, OH; July 20 – August 6, 2017. On right: Concetta Russo as Mopsophil and Ashton Muniz as Harlequin; Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA; July 15 – August 20, 2016................................................................................................................................. 171 1 1 INTRODUCTION Although servants appear in nearly every new comedy staged in London following the restoration of Charles II, little scholarship has focused on their roles in these plays. This neglect occurs despite the prolific attention scholars have paid to other stage characters of the period. But while many servant roles are insignificant, employed simply to introduce other characters or provide background information, a substantial number are not only essential to the plot and pivotal to the action of the drama, they often exemplify the frequently changing social mores and political issues as well as highlight the characters and illustrate the innumerable themes about which so many scholars have written. There is a plethora of critical material on other roles in Renaissance, Restoration, and eighteenth-century drama, and entire books devoted to the rake (see Robert Hume’s The Rakish Stage and Gillian Manning’s Libertine Plays of the Restoration), carefree young lovers (see John Harrington Smith’s The Gay Couple in Restoration Comedy), the heroine (see Lisa Hopkins’s The Female Hero in English Renaissance Tragedy), the honorable woman (see Douglas M. Young’s The Feminist Voices in Restoration Comedy: The Virtuous Women in the Play-Worlds of Etherege, Wycherley and Congreve), and even seventeenth-century senior citizens (see Elisabeth Mignon’s Crabbed Age and Youth: The Old Men and Women in the Restoration Comedy of Manners), yet indexes on topics concerning drama during the period go from “Sedley” to “Settle” with never a “servant” in between. From the earliest Restoration comedies, however, servants not only provide thoughtful observations, witty comments, hilarious moments, and absurd situations; they sometimes have their own storylines and are often central to the direction of upper-class characters.
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