Treatment of Women in The Restoration Comedy of Manners PDF
Treatment of Women in The Restoration Comedy of Manners PDF
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OF MANNERS
THESIS
MASTER OF ARTS
.By
Denton, Texas
Augus t, 1956
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
The Maid
The Prostitute
The Duenna
The Bawd
Iii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
ment.
1
2
conflict between good and evil; the triumph was always one
which sex was easily the favorite topic. Even when discuss-
an unsqueamish audience. 1 2
with real women on the stage more and better female parts
morality became more and more severe, the device helped com-
women found little fault with the theater; they, too, en-
rakish and unmarried at the plays end28 (it was one thing
for a man to philander, but quite another for him to go
cut his next play to suit the taste of his irate feminine
critics.30
"'the Ears of some Ladies who set up for Chastity and made
she was a commoner, but Lady Froth and Lady Plyant in The
3 7 Hodges,
William Congreve, p. 47.
38 Palmer, Comedy of Manners, p. 156.
3 9william Congreve, "To the Right Honourable Charles
Montague," The Comedies of %Illiam Congreve, edited by
Norman Marshall(London, 1941), p.122.
40Smith, Gal Couple, p. 135.
English Dramas, p.
20. 4lTupper and Tupper, Representative
11
the best these plays have to offer. The five major comic
still in effect.
duel rather than a duet. "To place beside the ideal Wit
any equally witty and graceful woman, who could meet him on
his own ground and with his own weapon, . . . and at once
London society.
classes.
treatment of their own sex that the changes are first made.
tears.
or Sir F Flutter.
Dealer.
Not all of these plays were popular during their time, and
not all of them seem really good plays now. However, these
paper.
CHAPTER II
THE TRUENITS
in a love duel; since wit rules the game, she can never ad-
tual equality.
the clever young woman actually does not take love seriously
beasts, t" while Beljame says that there are no such things as
else."8
her passion.
both love and marriage, for that is the only way she can
a man she can love. To accomplish her purpose, she must not
only play but also be hard to get since a rake marries only
1 0 The
Twin Rivals, III, iii, 70. All references to
this pl~ayare toTarquhar, Dramatic Works, Vol. II.
11
Ibid., I, ii, 24.
18
witty, wealthy, young woman, who has her pick of escorts and
or uncaring husband.
that here for the first time the lovers make an agreement
husband true.
no one past his youth can be a part of the beau monde, the
typical Restoration heroine debuts early and departs abruptly.
Beauty and wit can capture a man for the girl in her teens;
1 3 Kathleen
Martha Lynch, The Social Mode of Restoration
Comedy (New York,.1926), p. 84.
14Elizabeth Mignon, Crabbed Age and Youth, the Old Men
and Women in the Restoration Comedy of Manners (Durham,
North Carolina, 1947),Tp77,
20
(Vanbrugh) considers that she has been ready for marriage for
twenty."j20
at control.
longer resist her. For the same reason, serving in the army
messenger, she may take him a note supposedly from some other
loyalty until their true sex is revealed and their true love
rewarded.3
marriage.
3 1 For
example, The Plain Dealer, Wycherley; The Incon-
stant, Farquhar; The Amorous Prince, Behn; and Bu Fair,
Shadwell.
3 2 For
examples, see Leona in Sir Courtly Nice, Crowne,
and Marcella and Cornelia in The Feigned Curtezans, Behn.
33 Smith, The a, , p. 117.
2h.
served and the man of her choice loves another. When there
with the sparkling Widow Rich, their aunt, who is the first
Harriet.
Wood and Fidelia in The Plain Dealer, are the weakest char-
When her lover must flee the country after a duel, she goes
3 7Man
of Mode, III, ii, 229. All references to this
play are to Etherege, Dramatic Works, Vol. II.
has all too obviously settled her future on the rakish Sir
feelings toward her lover, but she also shows compassion for
imagine; . .. t50
rambling Agel take away her liberty at the very time she
Eagerly she embraces all the good and bad points of the
Gerrard, her suitor, that men too often carry their wives
promises her a coach and six if she'll elope with him, she
Country. . .. e55
Fools merit no sympathy from this gay youngster; far
from pitying her cousin for his foolishness and his unfor-
tunate love for herself, she makes him the primary means
jealousy.57
social whirl. Obviously, she will not marry just any man,
always follow her maids advice and take her pleasures else-
with wit, one whom she can love and respect. Of Gerrard,
whom she hopes will satisfy her qualifications, she says,
6 3 Dobr4e,
Restoration Comedy, p. 85.
6 The Gentleman Dancing-Master, I, i, 158.
65Ibid., 66bid.,9I,1,7164.
671bid., II, ,is176.
32
when she converses with her aunt Lady Brute, she, of course,
a Gallant. . .*"7l
6 8 Ibid., V, i, 221.
69 The
Provoktd Wife, III, i, 140-41. All references to
this play are to Vanbrugh, Complete Works, Vol. 1.
7 0 Ibid., IV, iv, 162. 7 1 Ibid., I, i, 119.
33
7 2 she decides;
4. . . the sooner you capitulate, the bettert
led to believe that his lady has followed her niece's advice.
knows that if she, too, had no fortune, she would not wed him:
credits the negligence with which she makes the match with
and Alithea in The Country Wife, are far from the usual witty
love with her gallant to hide her feeling, but whereas the
ridicule and that she cannot win him in marriage if she shows
least has the presence of mind to hide them from her beau.
freedom; like the typical heroine she agrees, but her com-
77Ibid., p. 144.
78 The Country fe, II, i, 23.
if they could help it, regardless of the reasons. Rather
class with Lydia and Alithea; she is not truly typical, but
and Mellefont are already agreed and ready for the altar
when the play begins. Both are too level-headed and too
an odd game we tre going to play at, what think you of draw-
if She Could and Congrevets The Old Bachelor use such a duet;
the other.
and mocks:
since they are more than able to hold their own in the court-
.
ftheiI7 power for those priviledges which custom has allow'd
.
for I know you would think it as great a Scandal to be thought
mettle rather than their malice, they win the first round
and the second major point is theirs, too, when their suitors
affronted her squirrel. Only her charm and real wit save
of the
her pleasures from the beau monde, her observations
fashionable city life are just as biting.
99Ibi d.
ing the follies of the world, she has wit enough to dissemble
not spare her own mother, whom she mocks for her pretensions
Bellair tells Dorimant, "Why, she's never well but when shets
talking of you, but then she finds all the faults in you she
can. She laughs at all who commend you, but then she speaks
the more malicious she seems, and in this way she maintains
life were the reward, for she is so in love with London that
.
no, I'le lay my self out all in love."? 1 1 9 When her mother
realizes that she has been duped and that her rebellious
daughter will marry no, one but Dorimant, they start at once
for the country. Swearing she will marry no one but Dorimant,
in a spacious vollary.tl20
Wilsonts condemnation of Harrietts having no regard for
quite clear that she will not yield her favors short of
and the very fact that a rake like Dorimant wants to marry
120 bd
Ibid., V, ii, 287.
12 1 Wilson, Influence of Beaumont, p. 101.
122
Man of Mode, IV, 11, 263.
1 2 3 Fujimura, Restoration Comedy, p. 180.
4KronenbergerThread of Laughter, p.
130.
47
and besides she realizes that the chase is often better than
with his uncertain state. "You know her temper; she never
he asks her if she does care, "I never had concern enough to
love, but she sees through his ruse and vows, "1. . . if I
don't play trick for trick, may I never taste the pleasure
lover of this age, Archer still finds her not only unique
believes her endowed with an air too perfect for real life,
and convincing143
vain; without wealth and beauty she cannot exist. Yet she
all her faults; nay, like her for her faults. Her follies
moves from scene to scene "full sail, with her fan spread
one has tem, one does not know why. They serve to pin up
one's hair." l4 7 She is more honest when she declares, "I
for that would mean a loss of part or all of the control she
solved--" then tauntingly adds, "Hal hat hat what would you
give, that you could help loving me?tl50 Her alert sense of
humor gives her perception enough to pick out the weak spots
.
Well, Mirabell if ever you will win me woo me now.--Nay if
to cover the very real, but alarming, love she has for him.
that she will not be taken for granted. When the terms
have been accepted, she sighs with simulated disgust,
violently.J59
the airy disdain with which she treats the boorish Sir
to show more gallantry if she had any power over him. "But
I despair to prevail; and so let him follow his own way.
HaJ hat hat pardon me, dear creature, I must laugh, hat
16 0 1bid.,
IV, i, 373. ON" .,IV,
od i, 372.
hat hat though I grant you ttis a little barbarous, hal hat
creature loves me, hat hat hat how can one forbear laughing
heroine had come into her own, revered for the qualities
even delighting in the age in which she lives, the gay heroine
respects.
very fortunate that their dramas usually end with their be-
mits to her fate as the rejected wife is more common than the
loss of the gallant she has loved since before her marriage.
so loving and merciful that when she finds him asleep with
are both married to sots who deny their wives even the common
ing, they merit, and realize they merit, a better life than
that which they have.
without love for the wealth and position Sir John can give
capable of satisfying both his desire for love and her desire
make a pleasant life for them both, this judgment does not
seem equitable.
since she not only holds no charms for him but positively
remain so unresolved.
unaffected charm.
First, she will not talk at all, then she quotes Platonic
me.176
earlier vein. Like a typically gay couple, the two deny that
they marry for love, but vow they'll wed to plague one
another.
but does not intend that he should know it. On the other
hand, she is desperately jealous, and after seeing her beau
next one who asks her. Fond of humor, no matter how raw, she
is still so virtuous that the rake Roebuck is awed into cold-
as she is.
for his travels. While in this guise, she saves his life
when his wandering eye has handed him into the possession of
has widened his interest in women, and upon his return home
1 7 7 Love
and a Bottle, V, iii, 111. All references to
this play are to Farquhar, Dramatic Works, Vol. I.
66
threats.
his audiences to have their spice cake and eat it, too,
though she is a -rural maiden who has one of the two chief
female parts in the play. She has none of the coarse las-
is the first really attractive and polished man she has ever
my ten thousand pounds may lie brooding here this seven years,
17 8 The
Beauxt Strat .,IV, i, 306. All references to
this play are to Farquhar, Dramatic Works, Vol. II.
68
"Once I was proud, sir, of your wealth and title, but now
am prouder that you want it: now I can show my love was
justly levelled, and had no aim but love," 1 181 she proclaims.
1 7 9 1bid.,
IV, i, 318.18(Ibid., IV, i, 317.
l8 lIbid., V, v, 343.
18 2Willard Connely, The Younger Geor e Farquhar,
The
Restoration Drama at Twilight (London,9O), p. 251.
69
friend.
She was a pert, obstinate fool, and would lose her maiden-
to let him.
CHAPTER III
THE WITWOULDS
firmly caught.
71
72
girls whom men try to deceive with false parsons are usually
The Fop
One of the greatest sources of comedy in the plays of
farcical type.
8
Colley Cibber, An Apology for His Life (London, 19114),
p. 90.
9Palmer, Comedy of_ Manners, p. 23.
1 0 The Provokt d Wife, I, 11, 120.
"1 Ibid. 1 2 Ibid., II, ii, 132.
74
does not look her best, the maid is banished from the room
eulogy.
Actually, Lady Fanciful's illusions are not completely
and absurd.
- t
1 3 Ibid.,
I, 11, 120. 14
I-Ibidov Ip ii, 11go
75
one foible; instead, she leaves the stage as she entered it--
15 Ibid.,
I, ii, 122. 16Ibids
.I, ii, 121.
76
then asks, "Do you understand those two hard words? if you
don't, I'll explain tem to you . . . being derived from the
air or lc ks brilliant.
1 7 Fujimura,
Restoration , p. 75
18 Gosse, Life of Congreve,
p. 43.
1 9 Lynch, Social Mode, p. 208.
20 The Double Dealer, I, i, 141.
21Ibid. 2 2 Ibid.
77
publicly over her love affair with her husband, Since rail-
ing at marriage is the style of the period and since her
husband is a great fool, this incident is particularly
amusing: "'My Lord, I have been telling Cynthia how much
the planets*26
her anger on her maid, boxes a suitor's ears, tears her fans,
and at last cannot resist seeking out her lover. Her anger
terms, she demands that her maid supply her with a new list
a rural existence was the real "bete noire"l of the city. Poor
mores of city life as she leaves the stage. Still the rustic
she cannot hide her desires nor be kept from attaining them.
enough, till my Husband told me, what pure lives the London
invalid.
and once her lust is centered, her libido will not let her
grace and wit strike the naive country miss as the height
making love: she must always say no when she means yes.,
and demands that her father force the fop to wed, but
to be locked up again:
male approaches the family estate, and her father and all
care, her father gloats, "Ah poor Girl, she'll be scared out
of her Wits on her Wedding Night; for, honestly speaking,
she does not know a Man from a Woman, but by his Beard, and
his Britches."54 Belying his words, Hoyden, as frankly
lady. Even though she finds the young squire much more
when she learns that the two hundred pounds promised for pin
money is to cover all expenses, not just pins; then she de-
atypical, First of all, they are from the lower classes and
60 Ibid., V, v, 94.
90
and speaks with real wit. She is, in fact, so obviously not
those past their youth. For the woman this means that at
made wit and charm essential for acceptance into the beau
monde excluded all who had passed their prime. Age itself
perennial witwoulds.
past rambling age who cannot give up the sport. The more
maliciously revengeful.
661bid., p. 39.
6 7 EdmundGosse, "Sir George Etherege," Seventeenth Cen-
tury Studies, A Contribution to the Histor of English Poetry
(London, 1893), p. 243.
68
Wilcox, The Relation of Moli're, p. 18.
69 Ibid., p. 78.
7 0 Brett-Smith, Etherege I, lxxvi.
93
her.
There is no denying she is a notorious hypocrite, for
7 1 Elwin,
Playgoers Handbook, p. 65.
7 2 Lynch,
Social Mode, p. 154.
73 Fujimura,
Restoration CPP 95-96.
74 Kronenberger, Thread of La p@. 46.
75She Woud If She Coutd, 1I, i, 104.
76 Ibid.,
IV, ii, l3. 77 Ibid.,
III, 1, 122.
78 Ibid., I, i, 98.
94
7 9 Ibid.,
II, 1ii, 113.
Mrs. Sentry is not fooled, however, for she realizes that if
she stays in the room, her lady "will not speak kindly . .
.
a week after."80 Trying to impress everyone with her in-
love affair with her niece and his friendship with her hus-
Her dear honor is safe, but her equally dear passion is un-
8 7Fujimura,
Restoration 4yp. 98.
8 8 Man of Mode, I, i, 193.
8Ibid.,ITI, i, 223. 9 0 Ibid.,
I, i, 193.
97
beauty is the fact that she has not given up the pursuit of
to keep her daughter from the wicked men of the period, es-
her attempts at romance with the man she most hates and
belongs and since she cannot avoid it to let youth have its
own way.
ately loses the girl because she thinks she will have a
the room still protesting her aversion to sex and when she
izes: "Oh Rascall he has heard some body else say all this
I have ustd the last new eye wash of Mercury water. . .,100
she confesses. Still she does capture her knight, although
most other women of her type, yet she is also witty and
9 9 Ibid.
98Ibid., Ii, i, 91.
10'Ibid.,
0 IV, ii, 122.
1 0 1 Kronenberger, Thread of Laughter, p. 58.
1 0 2 Fujimura, Restoration Comedy, p. 128.
1 0 3 Love in a Wood, III, ii, 116.
101
is often quoted:
her defects. When Foible suggests that she has frowned too
pair, she is not going to give up the game of love and mar-
band" 1 20 and that "the good lady would marry anything that
Later, she even works out a complete strategy for the first
meeting, finally choosing to give "his heart the first
died away at my feet, the tears that he has shed, the oaths
for a husband. When her schemes have gone awry, she begs
with her, 1 2 9 but only four pages later she refuses to promise
not to wed on the grounds that marriage may prove necessary
friends duck.
In each of the plays named here the old woman desires the
doubt that she has not given up the game of romance; like-
wise, her husband leaves no doubt that she is unfit for the
sport since her charms have long since decayed. "You would
of her wit and breeding and apologetic for not having been
born French.13 3
vanity and gains dignity; she admits her age and acquires
and character rather than her age that are abhorrent. His
other ancient women, Lady Darling, The Constant Couple, and
Lady Bountiful, The Beauxi Stratagem, are more typical of the
the lovers.
gent lewoman."1 4 9
No matter how great her quality or how sincere her love, she
her; having made her favors cheap, she must expect them to
his love.
Etherege portrays two such women in The Pan of Mode.
Both possess beauty and breeding; both love and lose Dorimant,
vently loves a man who does not care for her. She is aware
of the helplessness of her situation and struggles valiantly
13Ibid., V, is 274.
113
ness for his ill treatment; all of her tactics serve only
to make her more despicable to Vainlove, who is bored once
a conquest is completed. At last hoping to win him back, she
marries another.
not, more busy than her brain, nor contains more devils than
that imaginationso.0157
his marriage plans, his reputation, and his chances for in-
heriting his uncle's estate.
husband, who loves his mistress Marwood, but she could not
care less.
"But say what you will, 'tis better to be left, than never
spouse, who has married him for money and fools him for love.
Natural hypocrites, the cheating wives usually manage to de-
she really cares while she happily cares where she will.
laid with him all night, and denying that she had done favors
with more impudence than she could grant temA"74 one of her
lovers murmurs increduously when she snubs him the morning
eye, and was born under Gemini, which may incline her to
society. . .. 76
trollable ?1
that she pretends great honor, but actually has very little.
denies she can succumb while she encourages him to try her.
17 7 The' Double
Dealer, III, 111, 163.
178Ibid., II, i, 145. 179Ibid., I, i, 132.
180Ibid., III, 11, 159. 18'Ibid.., , i, 149.
120
young wives who abhor their old husbands and long for witty
they have occasion for tem, you see Women of Rank always
lovers the old men who are niggardly as husbands. Since the
men are ancient they receive only a grudging kiss for their
cash; doubtless had they been younger, they would have re-
The Rake
The ideal male of Restoration drama is that charming,
"Nay, then as one may say, you may do your worst, dear, dear,
plication that she will wed each, she accepts their jewels
"Give, give.196
the stairs, her lovers come up, and she hopes that like
audience.
1 9 7 Sir
John Vanbrugh, 'A Short Vindication of The Relapse
and The Provok t d Wife.,' "Cmplete Works, 1, 212.
126
she tells Amanda Loveless, the friend and relative with whom
every man she meets, then tricks, deludes, and cheats him,
falls just short of being a lady rake, for she is unscrupu-
eternal vengeance on all men: "I hate all that don't love
me, and slight all 'that do. Would his whole deluding sex
Her ire, once directed against men, now seems aimed at vir-
niates Angelica, but Sir Harry stops his ears as she almost
200
Sir Harry Wildair, III, i, 274. All references to
this play are to Farquhar, Dramatic Works Vol. 1.
CHAPTER IV
THE EXCLUDED
the prostitute, the duenna, and the bawd are the most out-
the maid and the whore account for a good many of the trick
or forced marriages.
The Maid
128
129
is good and she feels that her actions will not really harm
husband from among the fops and fools left over at the
play's end.
Although the "Big Five" usually manage to make their
characters individuals, rather than mere types, most of the
Farquharts time.
130
spared.
Really wittier than her mistress, 2 Lucy is also typically
2 Fujimura,
Restorationom , p. 144.
3 The Country Wife, IV, i, 51.
4 Ibid.., IV, i, 53. 51bid., II, i, 42.
131
8Ibid., I, i, 157.
132
and Prue's lust forces her to attempt him. She pinches him,
all to no avail, and when she hints she walks in her sleep,
may soon be too old, but is never too young to shift for her
she has by no means given up her passion for the page and
but also because she has "had above twenty pieces from him
since his courtship began.t"1 7
contracts: "If dou fail me--I never see dee more--If dou
nor she can't turn me away. Sir, I say she dare not turn
soon sold for double the sum she receives for keeping quiet.
suitors.
251bid.
2 6 The Recruitin Officer, III, ip, 168.
2 7 Ibid., IV, ii, 187.
137
that both she and Silvia will be wed that night. In this
manner the masked maid and mistress espouse two fools, each
Silvia still loves and pursues Vainlove, she does not under-
and naive and marry Heartfree while she can; it is she who
Shadwell's .Bry Fair does not get a husband, she does acquire
Even after she has been forced to hide in the gallant's wood
band, she loyally affirms as she crawls out that her first
Hiding one gentleman in the closet and the other under the
table, she is even astute enough to run out of the room with
one of them. At last she accepts all the blame for the
inquisitive. "I shall take care to put him upon It; 'tis fit,
that I who have bore all the blame, should have some reason-
31Ibid., V, i, 177.
141
Marwood, who loves the plotting gallant who does not even
know she exists, directs her malice against the scheme, the
as a boost to the plan when the adroit servant says she was
.
old frippery." 3 3 This shrewd thrust is well calculated to
turn the lady's wrath from her maid to her ex-pseudo suitor.
the only one of her mistress's servants who has been employed
a farm to the couple for their help, she brushes aside his
The Prostitute
wealthy men to her rooms so that the desperados can rob and
kill them. Saving the gallant from the gangsters, the heroine
the rakish heroes, and follows him across the country begging
.
her lover cries when he sees her in London. Actually, Mrs.
Mr. Dapperwit, who has been paying her bills, the saucy
of an old but rich city merchant comes along. With the help
for lem, . .
.
The Duenna
and doubts that her aunt can even remember her youth.
till you are both weary; and thou you were so eager
to have him, Mrs. Minx, you'll soon havA4 your belly-
full of him, let me tell you, Mistress. 4
than reality.45
his intrigue, Old Lady Squeamish does not pierce the rake
suitors, judges they are about the same age, she angrily
him.50
Strangely enough, considering that she is both an old
man, who wishes to marry her for her money, the Widow Black-
former for his old age and ill health and the latter for
she argues that marriage would deny her of the right to sue
her son from his black lawyer's gown with a pair of red
The Bawd
the elderly bawd. Like the duenna she realizes her limita-
the wily Mrs. Joyner easily makes a deal with the girl's
England . . . 58
though she will never take payment for procuring, she will
fection for her victims and insists that once the girls have
CONCLUSION
Although they did not verbally admit it, the ladies were
remain just talk and how much could safely be put into action
into the drawing room or invited to the ball, but she was
marital rights.
Boo ks
Archer, William, The Old Drama and the New, Boston, Small,
Maynard, and Co., 1923.
157
Cory, Herber Ellsworth, "William Wycherley: The Country Wife,"
Dryden and His Contemporaries, Vol. IV in Representative
E~nlish Comedies, edited by Charles Mills Gayley (4
volumes), New York, The Macmillan Co., 1903-36.
Cove, Joseph Walter, Sheridan, His Life and His Theatre, New
York, William Morrow and Company, 196.
,
Gagen, Jean Elisabeth, The New Woman, Her Emergence in English
Drama 1606-1730, New York, Twayne Publishers, 174.
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