William Congreve’s The Way of the World

Restoration Comedy of Manners

The Restoration period comedy or as it is also called the Restoration Comedy of Manners could be divided into two phases: early Restoration comedy and late Restoration comedy. Although Congreve borrows much from the early Restoration comedy his works also encapsulate the social and intellectual attitudes of the later Restoration era of which he was a major writer.

The early Restoration comedy started immediately after the return of Charles II to England and the reopening of the English Theatres. The period could be said to have started with the publication of Dryden‟s The Wild Gallant in 1663 followed by his most successful comedy, Marriage a la Mode in 1671. Dryden is followed by two major Restoration comedy of manners writers who produced some of the most well-known comedies of that period – George Etherege and William Wycherley. George Etherege’s started with The Comical Revenge (1664) which “observe[d] sexual intrigue across the different classes” while also providing the stock characters of the Restoration comedy of manners. He followed it with She Wou’d if She Cou’d in 1668 and what is considered to be his best work The Man of Mode, or Sir Fopling Flutter (1676) marked by a sense of objective detachment which also incidentally marks the end of the first phase. Another major writer of this period William Wycherley in his major plays “engages in biting, sardonic ridicule of hypocrisies and affectations” (xvii). His first play Love in the Wood was performed in 1671 followed by some of his most famous comedies The Country Wife in 1675 and The Plain Dealer in 1676 both providing a darker vision of the Restoration period society.

The period of later Restoration comedy begins with the performance of Congreve‟s first comedy, The Old Bachelor in 1693 after the glorious bloodless revolution of 1688 which changed the political landscape of England. Two more important dramatists of the time were Vanbrugh and Farquhar. They were both contemporaries of Congreve whose plays explored the “repercussions of disastrously unhappy marriages.” There major plays were The Provok’d Wife (1697) and The Beaux Stratagem (1707) respectively. But it was Congreve who was representative of this age. What he brings out in his plays is the possibility of preserving human values in an imperfect world.

Restoration Theatre

In September 1642 the theatres were closed down by the Republican government who created the Commonwealth of England. The ban on play-houses was only lifted with the Restoration of monarchy in 1660. Due to this gap of almost 20 years the theatres of the Restoration period are often differentiated from the theatres of the Elizabethan era. There were two major companies during the Restoration period the Duke’s Company owned by Sir William Davenant and the King’s Company owned by Thomas Killigrew.

A number of changes and innovations took place in the English theatre with the erection of these two companies. Significant among them was the introduction of female actors to the English stage overturning the old convention of employing boy actors to play female roles. Some of the major female actors of the period were Anne Bracegirdle (with whom Congreve was in love), Nell Gwynn, Katherine Corey, Elizabeth Barry and others equally talented. Another significant change was related to the design of the theatres themselves. The pits of these new theatres were fitted with benches which maximized the seating numbers. The theatres were also fitted with stage-boxes on either side of the pit. Another change was the emphasis on spectacle which led to an increased use of distinct sceneries and machines.

The audiences on the other hand constituted mainly of the aristocratic elite. This was due mainly to the puritanical middle class avoiding the theatres as being immoral and the lower class people or the rabble finding the fees of entrance which was then one shilling too expensive. Restoration Comedy is commonly believed to have catered to this affluent leisured classes but according to Emmet L. Avery and Arthur H. Scouten the Restoration comedy did not consist of a single class as believed. According to the diary entries of Samuel Pepys he was delighted when the playhouse was dominated by wits and disappointed if the audience consisted mainly of the lower class people. This proves that people of both classes attended the play-houses.