SHUAIB ASGHAR
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
GOVT. RAZVIA ISLAMIA COLLEGE
GOVT. RAZVIA ISLAMIA COLLEGE
HAROONABAD, PAKISTAN
Comedy of
Manners is a name given to witty, intellectual form of dramatic comedy that
depicts and often satirizes the manners and affectations of a contemporary
society. The plot of such a comedy usually concerned with an illicit love
affair or similarly scandalous matter. It also consists witty dialogue and
pungent commentary on human foibles.
Plays of this type are typically set in the world of the upper class,
and ridicule the pretensions of those who consider themselves socially
superior, deflating them with satire. With witty dialogue and cleverly
constructed scenarios, comedies of manners comment on the standards and mores
of society and explore the relationships of the sexes. Marriage is a frequent subject.
Typically, there is little depth of characterization; instead, the playwrights
used stock character types—the fool, the schemer, the hypocrite, the jealous
husband, the interfering old parents—and constructed plots with rapid twists in
events, often precipitated by miscommunications.
Put simply, the comedy of manners is a style of comedy that reflects the
life, ideals and manners of upper class society in a way that is essentially
true to its traditions and philosophy. The players must strive to maintain the
mask of social artifice whilst revealing to the audience what lies behind such
manners. In other words it is to make: The real artificial and the artificial
real.
In England the
Comedy of Manners had its great day during the Restoration period. Although
influenced by Ben Jonson’s comedy of humours, the Restoration comedy of Manners
was lighter, defter and more vivacious in tone. The chief practitioners of this
comedy were Sir George Etherge, William Wycherley, William Congreve, Sir John
Vanbrugh, George Farquhar.
In
the late 18th century Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Brinsley Sheridan
revived the form.
The
tradition of elaborate, artificial plotting and epigrammatic dialogue was
carried on by the Anglo-Irish playwright Oscar Wilde in Lady Windermere’s Fan
and The Importance of Being Earnest during the 19th century.
In
the 20th century the comedy of manners reappeared in the witty,
sophisticated drawing-room plays of the British dramatists Noel Coward and
Somerset Maugham and the American Philip Barry and S.N. Behrman.
Chiefly
the Restoration Age (1660-1700) is associated with the rise and development of
Comedy of Manners. To any other age, except this one, manners are only an
artificial aspect of a personality of man, something which is acquired and
learnt; therefore, Restoration Comedy also came to be known as Artificial
Comedy. It tended to laugh at the people out of their follies. That is why it
is called Critical Comedy too.
Realism, Social Analysis And Satire
Unlike
the Elizabethan romantic comedy, the comedy of Manners is characterized by
realism, social analysis and satire. Its use of prose served to heighten the
realistic effect. These dramatists held a mirror to the finer society of their
age. They portrayed the sophisticated life of the dominating class of
society—its gaiety, foppery, insolence and intrigue. The scene of most comedies
of manners is London, more specifically its coffee-and–chocolate houses, clubs,
and gambling houses which were the haunts of the corrupt and fashionable ladies
and gentlemen of the age. Women, visits, conversation, wit, manners and love
affairs are the chief themes of these comedies. Gallantry was the most
fashionable vocation of men, and coquetry and flirtation of women.
In ‘The
Way of the World’, the phrase ‘the way of
the world’ has been recurrently used, for example, Fainall first uses it in
Act 2: ‘the Ways of Wedlock and this
World’, and repeats in the third act: ‘all
in the Way of the World’ and also in the final act, and at the end Mirabell's
mocking approach: ‘'tis the Way of the
World, Sir; of the Widows of the World’. This repetitive motif makes it
clear that the play is concerned with the problems of the social system.
Witty Dialogues
Both
the heroes and heroines are extremely witty and clever. In fact gallantry or
coquetry and wit went hand in hand. The art of conversation was a weapon for a
man and a ‘special grace of the lady’. In fact the age was proud of its
refinement of wit and conversation. Millament, the heroine of Congreve’s ‘The
Way of the World’, is perhaps the wittiest heroine in Restoration Comedy. In
her Congreve’s wit reaches its highest watermark. She is not only herself witty
but demands wit in others too.
In ‘The
School for Scandal’ the conversation between the Teazles is one of the
excellent examples of Sheridan’s wit.
Hypocrisy
Another
striking feature of the inhabitants of Restoration Comedy was their hypocrisy.
As the new values took hold over the younger generation, the older generation
too tried to follow suit. But as it always happens they are never the complete
converts. In their attempt to become fashionable, they practice the prevalent
mode of living but their basic sensibility is still steeped in the old ideals.
This difference between the inner and external life of persons encouraged
hypocrisy. Of course, this was more prominent in the older generation and in
those who are supposed to be the inferior characters. The most memorable quotes
in the Restoration Comedy are Lady Fidget’s ‘Do
not use the word naked’. Again she words this spirit of hypocrisy in ‘The
Country Wife’:
‘Why should you
not think that we, women, make use of our reputation, as you men of yours, only
to deceive the world with less suspicion’.
Intrigues
The
intrigue, in the plot of ‘The School for Scandal’, is a significant theme, and
has been used as a tool to satirize the degradation and follies in the social
and individual behaviors.
This
intrigue is best expressed via the hide-and-seek between the Fainalls. Both the
husband and the wife lack love, faith and adjustment. They hate each other; get
involved in extra-marital affair, yet, both pretend to be extremely loving to
each other in front of others. Fainall bears his marital life since his sole concern
is his wife's money. And, this is the money which makes Marwood play love-game
with Fainall. Mirabell, too, plays with innocent Wishfort to get her niece. So,
all are planning and scheming against one another for their own sake.
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