University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-1999 This gaudy, gilded stage Jeremy W. Webster University of Tennessee Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Recommended Citation Webster, Jeremy W., "This gaudy, gilded stage. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1999. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/6150 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Jeremy W. Webster entitled "This gaudy, gilded stage." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in English. John Zomchick, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by JeremyW. Webster entitled "'This Gaudy Gilded Stage': Rhetorics of Libertinismin the Dramaof the Court Wits, 1671- 1678." I have examined the finalcopy of this dissertation forform and content and recommend that it beaccepted in partialfulfillment of the requirementsfor the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in English. We have readthis dissertation andrecommend its acceptance: �a�1 ; • A!A � - /777="" �� Accepted for the Council: AssociateVice Chancellorand Dean of the Graduate School "THIS GAUDY, GILDED STAGE": RHETORICS OF LIBERTINISM IN THE DRAMA OF THE COURT WITS, 1671-1678 A Dissertation Presented forthe Doctorof Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Jeremy W. Webster August 1999 ii Copyright © 1999 by Jeremy W. Webster All Rights Reserved ID DEDICATION Thisdissertation is dedicated to my parents, Robertand Patti Webster, fortheir love and support and to my sister, Adrianne, whose courage, generosity, and friendshipcontinuously inspire me. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A number of peoplehave helpedand inspired me throughout this project. One of the first and most influentialof these benefactorswas Margaret J. M. Ezell. I first fell in love with Restoration and EarlyEighteenth-Century literature in Margaret'sgraduate course, and her beliefin my abilities and interests has been aninspiration to me ever since. She remains the standardby which I measure all other scholar-teachersand the model after which I pattern my own professional endeavors. Not the least of her contributionsto my --- work was her suggestion that I ask James M. Rosenheim to serve on my Master's committee. In the nine yearssince we firstmet, Jim has played a wide range of roles in my life. Each has been indispensible. I thank Margaret,Jim, andall of my other teachers and friends at Texas A&M University. They established the foundation upon which this project stands. I have beenequally fortunatein my professorsat the University of Tennessee. Since nearlymy firstweek here, John Zomchick has beena wonderful counselor. His example as a teacher, guidanceas anadvisor, andencouragement as amentor have been crucialto my success in graduate school. I greatlyappreciate his tireless effortsin working with me on this project, fromreading the primary works to rereading multiple drafts of each chapter to chatting about the profession. His advice has always been unerring. I am equally indebted to Linda Bensel-Meyers for her supportand encouragement over the last five years. She hasindulged my interest in rhetoric and has fostered my skills both as an administrator and a scholar. Without her exampleand support, I could not have succeeded in my professionalpursuits thus far. Misty Anderson has also been a key contributor to my work. Her earlyand consistent vision of this project as a book, penetrating suggestions for revision, andexample as a junior facultymember have been a constant V source of encouragement. And finally, Chris Holmlund has been a wonderful outside reader forthis project. Her reading of my work, like her advice for my career, has always been right on target. I could not have found a better committeeto work with and I am thankful for their help, wisdom, and support. I am also grateful to my friends, fellow students, and family for their encouragement over the last few years, especially Susan G. North, who has been a close friend and confidant. I am particularly indebted to her not only for working with me on other projects but for her ability to comment on my work and to offer sharp analysis without threatening our friendship. I look forward to our future collaborations. My parents and sister have also provided me with essential emotional supportduring my graduate studies. I appreciate their confidence in and unfailing love for me. Finally, I literally could not have completed this project without Paul Jones. His companionship has been a daily source of inspiration and motivation. He has been my toughest reader and my dearest friend. Without him, survivinggraduate school would have been impossible. vi ABSTRACT My dissertation explores the ideological meaningsattached .l ' to the CourtWits' representations of libertinefigures in their plays during the 1670s. In describingthe · Marquisde Sade, Michel Foucault wrote, "the libertineis he who, while yielding to all the fantasies of desire andto each of its furies,can, but also must, illuminate their slightest movement with a lucid anddeliberately elucidated representation" ( Order 209). This definitionis equally truefor the Restoration Court.,, Wits, an elite fraternityof literaryand political figuresknown for their hedonistic philosophy andEpicurean lifestyles that included George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham;John Wilmot, Earlof Rochester; Sir Charles, I l Sedley; Sir George Etherege; andWilliam Wycherley. Not the least partof these lifestyles was a culturalposing, a penchantfor self-consciously theatrical affectationsand adventures. Throughouttheir literary works, andespecially their dramas, the membersof this coterie drew upon their infamous reputations in order to cast versions of themselves as the central figures in the theater of Restoration court life. In particular, I argue that the Wits use these figures to resist the limitations imposed by aristocratic• ideology's rhetoric of national heroism andprogressive ideology's articulationof innate virtue. I conclude that these playwrights employ rhetorical strategies to expose Ithe• ideological limitationsof their day and, in doing so, resist their culture's move toward what Foucault callsbourgeois sexuality. To demonstrate,., this thesis, I examine nine plays written by members of this circle. Chapter One introduces the CourtWits' fraternityand defines what ,. I meanby the aristocratic, progressive, andlibertine ideologies. Chapter Two arguesthat Buckingham's TheRehearsal deploys libertineideology in the formof epideictic rhetoric to respondto aristocratic ideology's discourse of national heroism, transformingheroic drama into farce .. vu through gender parodyand thereby undermining its claimto verisimilitude. Chapter Three studies Wycherley'searly comedies, Love in a Wood, The Gentlema.nDancing Master, and The CountryWife, to arguethat these plays serve as a kind of deliberative rhetoric, a use of art to explore the possibilitiesof libertine ideology to reshape aristocraticsociety at this time. In particular, Wycherley employs libertineideology in these plays to reject progressive ideology's argumentthat honor is a virtuethat anyonecould cultivate through introspectionand moral behavior. Chapter Three examines the rhetorical choices of Etherege andWycherley in TheMan ofMode and ThePlain Dealer, respectively,arguing that eachturns away fromradical libertinismand embraces anintegration of the libertine into society's institutions. ChapterFive analyzes playsby Rochesterand Sedley to demonstratethat each pushes libertineideology to its most extremelimits in order to test whether it remainsa viable alternativeto aristocraticand progressive ideologies. Although Rochester andSedley maintain that libertinism is such analternative, by 1680 the Wits' fraternityand their experimentationwith libertinism disintegrates asits members find themselves alignedwith differentpolitical factionsduring andafter the Exclusion Crisis of the later 1670s. Vll1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One: Introduction: The Court Wits and Rhetorics of Libertinism . 1 Chapter Two: StruttingHeroes andSolemn Fops: Gender Parodyas LibertineIdeology in Buckingham's TheRehearsal . 40 Chapter Three: Interrogatingthe Body's Truth: Gender andLibertine Performances in Wycherley'sEarly Comedies -. 71 Chapter Four: The Limits of Libertinism: Etherege andWycherley .......... .............................. 109 ChapterFive: Transgressing the Limits of Libertinism: Rochester andSedley .......................................... 142 Chapter Six: Conclusion: The Court Wits' Legacy . 179 Bibliography ..............• ......................................... 187 Vita .............................................................. 204- Chapter One Introduction: The Court Wits