The Way of the world as comedy of Manners
The comedy of manners is a form comedy satirizes the manners and affectations of contemporary society and questions societal standards. Social class stereotypes are often represented stock characters as the miles glorious ("boastful soldier") ancient Greek comedy .A fop or rake in Restoration comedy , which is sometimes used as a synonym for "comedy of manners. A comedy of manners often sacrifices the plot, which usually centres on some scandal, to witty dialogue and sharp social commentary.
The Way of the World exposes the issues of money, love, sex, marriage and in short the behavior of the people of the time in the language of prose. The rakes, fops, gallants and wits are the primary types dealt with in a language that is outwardly brilliant but lacking philosophical and emotional or psychological depth. This makes the play a typical restoration comedy of manners. The mode employed is satiric and ironic which befits the social reality of the time.
The way of the world is the most suitable example of comedy of manners. Actually this comedy contains all the qualities of a Restoration comedy. It represents a vast vista of contemporary society, morality, and principles. This play maintains a satirical tones from the beginning to the end. It gives us valuable information about the sophisticated class of society in England at that time. How they were involved in their life style; how women of that period were crazy about fashions and love affairs such sort of things have been brilliantly depicted in The way of the world.
It is clear that after the study of The comedy of Manners that this period of Restoration was devoid of moral values. Sex is treated with utter frankness and candidness in the comedy of manners. Its subject is the intimate relation between men and women. The lovers love the game of love ' the chase'. They want to continue the game of love up to the very end. The dramatists make fun of marriage. Love is all right but marriage is a dreaded calamity. In 'The Way of the World' we find all these things. Millamant loves Mirabell but is most reluctant to get married. She can marry him if he agrees to give her full liberty even after the marriage. Here marriage has been treated as bargain.
The way of the world depicts a wonderful picture of the affections of the people particularly women in fashionable society. In The Way of The World, we are acquainted with the vanities, affectations and fashions of the time. Mirabel satirically remarks in the proviso scene on women’s fondness of wearing masks, going to the theatre with or without their husbands’ knowledge, idle gossip, slandering the absent friends etc. In her contact with Mirabell, Millament proves her habit of late rising, contemplation in solitude general laziness etc. She says,
“I’ll ye abed in a morning as long as I please.”
Mirabell also ridicules pregnant women’s wearing tight dresses in order to maintain their figure which can actually deform their children. Moreover, intelligent women like Millament allowed a crowd of admirers to a school of fools to gather around them in order to show their demand and worth. Millament’s vanity is revealed in causing her lover pain to have a sense of power:
“One’s cruelty is one’s power.”
Above all, Lady Wishfort, a higher class fashionable lady, seeks a husband in her age of fifty five. Mirabell ridicules her saying,
“The good lady would marry anything that resembled a men.”
And the make up and dressing up of women of the society is expressed in the speech of the footman about Lady Wishfort of the house-
“I can not swear to her face in a morning, before she is dressed.”
The society depicted in The Way of the World is the upper class fashionable society of London. The action of the play takes place in three places. The first is the chocolate House which was used for socializing and entertainment during the Restoration. The second is St James’s Park in London where the upper class people walked before dinner. Witwould says,
“We’ll all walk in the park; the ladies talked of being there.”
The third is the house of Lady Wishfort, an aristocratic woman.
Most of the male and female characters of the play are cultured, talented, formal, artificial, fashionable, depraved, ‘cold’ and ‘courtly’. Their qualities are actually a part of Restoration age culture.
Love intrigues occupy an important place in the plot of comedy of manners. It is the major theme of the play. 'The Way of the World' follows this convention. The entire play deals with the intrigues of Mirabell to gain the hand of Millamant. To achieve his aim, he pretends to make love to Lady Wishfort, an aged lady. When he fails, he hatches a deeper plot. At any cost Lady Wishfort wants to have a husband. Thus he gets her servant married to Lady Wishfort's maidservant. Thus here we find love intrigue. On this basis we can say that this is a beautiful comedy of manners.
The most remarkable feature of the comedies of the Restoration period is the use of witty dialogues and The way of the world contains this feature in a unique manner.. While talking to Mrs. Finally, Mirabell provides an example of wit as he comments on early eighteenth century marriage. He says, “You should have just so much disgust for your husband as may be sufficient to make you relish your lover.” The whole plot of the play revolves around the issues of adultery, marriage and fortune hunting. As we see the plot unfold the characters reveal themselves through their pursuits and behavior. . In this play, Witwould and Petulant are presented as fops and false wits, the so-called ‘fine gentlemen’. Their pastime is to accompany ladies and passing vulgar remarks at them. They are Millament’s suitors for ‘fashions sake’. Their air and activities amuse us. Sir Wilfull, Witwould’s brother, calls Witwould, “the fashion’s a fool; and you’re a fop, dear brother.” Petulant hires women to come and ask for him at the chocolate – house. The way they behave makes laughter inevitable.
The plays were mildly satirical-the playwright could not afford to hurt his upper class audience. Congreve remarks in his 'prologue' with tongue in cheek irony:
He'll not instruct, lest it should give offence. Should he by chance a knave or fool expose, That hurts none here, sure here are none of those.
Another stain of being it call a Restoration comedy of manners is its complicated plot. There are very complicated relations among the characters. Such as, Mirabell, the hero is loved by Millament, Mrs. Fainall, Mrs. Marwood, and even Lady Wishfort secretly.
To conclude we can say that it makes very much clear that The Way of the World presents a faithful picture of the manners of the restoration and the eighteenth century social picture. The presentation is full of comedy and satire. Thus the play is a good example of restoration comedy of manners.
************ ************** ***************
DOWNLOAD AS PDF CLICK ME
Prepared by
Chandi Halder ( M.A. in English) 7699243332
0 Comments