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Restoration Comedy
The comedy of manners is a peculiar product of the Restoration Period (1660-1702). It reflects
the very spirit of the age. It depicts faithfully the life and manners of the general society of the
day. It depicts a small world which has a distinct territory of its own. The world covers the
fashionable parks and coffeehouses of London in the time of Charles-II Hyde park, St. James
Park. Mulberry Garden, fashionable clubs, taverns etc. are the favourite places for the
aristocratic people. The pompous houses and drawing-rooms of the rich and leisured classes of
the time are used as the setting of the comedy of manners. The Restoration comedy is identical
to this form of comedy. The comedy of manners has made the Restoration rich in drama. The
skeleton of this type was, however, produced much Earlier. But it finds a handsome flowering in
the master hands of Etherege, Wycherley, Congreve, Vanbrugh and Farquhar.
Comedy of manners is a kind of comedy which portrays the ridiculous behaviour pattern of the
individuals of an aristocratic society. It is concerned with the coarseness immorality,
faithlessness, jealousy, intrigue etc. of an artificial society It always seeks to give a real picture
of one section of contemporary life. Its purpose is to give a criticism of society with skillful satiric
touches. Its success depends on the dramatist's capacity to present the unemotional treatment
of sex. The comedy of manners is rich with wit and satire. It gives the image of the time. The
heroine is more important and interesting than the hero in it. The hero of this type of comedy is
well-born, well-dressed and capable of contest of wit. The heroine is also a paradox of virtues
and affections. She is as self-possessed and witty as her male opponent. They ae surrounded
by a set of fops, wits, half- wits who-carelessly laugh at all social and moral codes. However,
"manners" means a quality acquired by a person from free social intercourse with cultivated
men and women.
Sir George Etherege is the first and foremost writer of the comedy of manners. He has left three
comedies. They are Love In a Tub, She Would if She Could and The Man of Mode. They
represent the first true comedy of manners. But we should not forget that Etherege was
concerned with morals and not with manners. His plays carry none of the social criticism implicit
in the comedy of Moliere. He is important historically as having helped to the mode of
Restoration comedy.
Wycherley moulds the comedy of intrigue and the comedy of manners into a refreshing original
type. His fame depends on his four comedies. They are Love in a Wood, The Gentleman
Dancing Master. The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer. These plays are extremely witty with
all their coarseness. Wycherley impresses the readers by sheer vehemence of language and
the energy of characterization. He has the first satirical power of Ben Jonson. The atmosphere
of The Plain Dealer is that of the Puritan rather than the Restoration comedy of manners.
William Congreve is the most successful playwright of the restoration Period. He takes the
comedy of manners to its proper channel. He has composed five comedies. They are The Old
Bachelor. The Double-Dealer, Love for Love the Mourning Bride and The Way of the World. Of
these the way of the world considered to be the flower of restoration comedy. Its plot is
developed skillfully. The love-scenes between Mirabel and Millamant have been treated with
tenderness and sensitivity. In this play, Congreve deals with a serious theme of sexual re
relationship through a variety of characters and situations. He shows the affectations,
conspiracies and hypocrisies of the age. But there is true love between Millamant and Mirabell.
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The proviso-scene shows his rational attitude to love and marriage. Here we also find the
strength of newly developed English prose.
After Congreve, Vánbrugh and George Farquhar keep alive something of the spirit of
Restoration comedy of manners. Vanbrugh has written mainly three comedies. The plays are
The Relapse, The Provoked Wife and The Confederacy. They lack the art and elegance of
Congreve. But they are full of energy and genial humour. They are admirable in construction,
characterization and dialogue. Actually, Vanbrugh has a sheer genius for farcical situations.
On the other hand, Farquhar has composed seven plays. These plays bear upon him the
imprint of his good-humoured and happy-go-lucky personality. The Recruiting Officer and the
Beaux Stratagem are the best works of Farquhar. The play has enjoyed a distinctive place in
the Restoration drama for its open-air atmosphere.
Many critics condemn the Restoration comedies as immoral. In 1698, Jeremy Collier wrote A
Short View of the immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage. The book had an immense
effect on the literary critics. Charles Lamb in one of his essays says, "The Restoration comedies
are a world of themselves almost as much as fairy land". He was anxious reconcile his
enjoyment of the plays of Wycherley and Congreve with the moral disapproval of his
contemporaries. Macaulay attacked Charles Lamb. He says that unsound morality was always
set off every advantage in the Restoration comedy of manners. He also indicates that sound
morality was insulted and derided in these plays. Dobree who is an eminent critic says that the
Restoration comedy is concerned with rationalizing sexual relationships. In respect of sexual
relations, L.C. Knight say, The Restoration comedy is entirely dominated by a narrow set of
conventions."
In context of our discussion, we can again add that a particular society is mirrored in the
comedy of manners. It was careless and intent only on pleasure and amorous intrigues. But it
was the lover of fine arts in a superficial way. If we condemn the society of the Restoration
court, we cannot condemn the dramatists of this period. The comedy of manners gives the
picture of the society of-Charles-II court. It has an air of abandon and immorality. Sometimes it
oversteps the bounds of decency and good taste. The brilliant wit, the bright dialogues and
hilarious laughter are the most important and interesting elements in this comedy. They leave
an enduring and lasting interest to all lovers of literature. Moreover, the Restoration comedies
have to be studied in the spirit of the age in which they were written. They have drawn a true
picture of gallants and belles of the then society. In this respect, we can mention The Way o the
World which is the Queen of the comedy of manners.

18th century: an age of prose reason and satire

(neoclassical era)
Mathew Arnold called 18th century in English Literature as the “age of prose and reason, our
excellent and indispensable 18th century”. Thus Neoclassical age is primarily the “age of prose
and reason”.
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As compared to poetry, the prose of Neoclassical age developed more. The poetry of the period
developed the qualities of prose such as clearness, lucidity, and beauty of expression.
Dryden was a poet and dramatist of repute, but he was also a great writer of prose. He was the
first great modern prose writer and also the first great critic.
Similarly, the Pope was a poet, but we find in his poetry, characteristics of good prose-neatness,
lucidity, uniformity, and balance. Mathew Arnold declared that Dryden and Pope were the
classics of prose and not of poetry.

Characteristics
Pre-conditions of Literacy
Literacy rates in the early 18th century are difficult to estimate accurately. However, it appears
that literacy was higher than the school enrolment would indicate and that literacy passed into
the working class as well as the middle and upper classes.
The Churches emphasized the need for every Christian to read the Bible and instructions to
landlords indicated that it was their duty to teach servants and workers, how to read and to have
the Bible read aloud to them. Moreover, literacy was not confined to men. Females of the time
were literate to the same extent.
Circulating Libraries
Circulating libraries in England began for those who were literate in the Augustan period.
Libraries were open to all. Circulating libraries were a way for women, in particular, to satisfy
their desire for books reading without facing the expense of purchase.
The Essay
Although, Francis Bacon was the first to have introduced an essay in English Literature during
the Renaissance period, its development in England remained rather slow during the 17th
century.
No doubt, prose made rapid progress during the time of Dryden, the essay remained where
Bacon had left it until it was formally and forcefully launched by Joseph Addison and Richard
Steele in the 18th century as Periodical Essay.
Periodical Essays
A periodical is a magazine, with a distinct literary flavour, published at regular intervals, weekly,
monthly, quarterly etc.
The periodical essay was chiefly the invention of Steele when he started The Tatler (1709 A.D.)
thrice a week, the chief aim of which was to expose the false arts of life and to recommend a
general simplicity in our dress, our discourse, and our behaviour.
Later on, Steele and Addison joined hands and brought the publication of The Spectator. It was
a daily paper.
Criticism
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At the beginning of this era, John Dryden was the major critic whereas at the end of it was Dr
Samuel Johnson. Though we find criticism in all the major genres of literature like poetry, drama
etc. but it mainly developed in prose of the age. All the important critics of the period including
Dryden, Pope, Addison, Johnson etc were creative writers as well.
Criticism, like other forms of writing in the 18th century, became a professional activity but its
major and influential supporters were the creative writers who showed critical interest in their
essays, treatises etc. Addison and Steele’s The Spectator is a good periodical essay that
criticised the prevailing vices.
Here is a detailed summarization of Neoclassical Criticism and important critics
Reason
the 18th century was a classical age, an age of prose and reason. The Elizabethan Age had
been an age of romanticism, imaginations etc. which lacked balance but the 18th century was
marked by reason, good sense, wit and logicism with a fair amount of realism. This was
basically the age of prose and reason.

Rise of English Novel in 18th Century

There are two main classes of fictional prose:
Tale or Romance: It depends on the incident and adventure for its chief interest.
Novel: It depends more on the display of character and motive. The novel is more complicated
than the tale.
The English novel took birth in the 16th and 17th centuries and reached a great height in the
Age of Pope and Dr Johnson.
The group of the first four novelists of the Augustan Age or Neo-classical age: Richardson,
Smollett, Fielding, and Sterne, in whose hands Novel blossomed, are called the four wheels of
the novel.
Factors Responsible
The following are the reasons for the rise of the novel in 18th century England.
Rise of Middle Class
The literature of the 17th century flourished under the patronage of the upper classes. The 18th
century in England social history is characterized by the rise of the middle class.
Because of tremendous growth in trade and commerce, the England merchant class was
becoming wealthy and this newly rich class wanted to excel in the field of literature also.
This class was neglected by the high-born writers and their tastes and aspirations were
expressed by the novelists of the time. The Novel was, in fact, the product of the middle class.
With the rise of the middle class, hence, the rise of the novel was quite natural.
Newspapers & Magazines
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In the 18th century, the appearance of newspapers and magazines attracted a large number of
readers from the middle class. These new readers had little interest in the romances and the
tragedies which had interested the upper class.
Thus, need for a new type of literature rose that would express the new ideas of the 18th
century and this new type of literature was none but novel.
Rise of Realism
The 18th-century literature was characterized by the spirit of realism and romantic features like
enthusiasm, passion, imaginations, etc. declined in this period.
Reason, intellect, correctness, satirical spirit, etc. were the main characteristics of 18th-century
literature. The English novel had all these characteristics.
Role of Women
In the 18th century, women of upper classes and the middle classes could partake in a few
activities of men. Although they could not engage themselves in administration, politics, hunting,
drinking, etc. hence, in their leisure time, they used to read novels.
Decline of Drama
The decline of drama also contributed to the rise of the novel in the 18th century. In the 18th
century, drama lost the fame that it had in the Elizabethan Age.
It did not remain an influential literary form. Hence some others had to take its place and its
place was filled by the English novel after 1740 A.D. Thus the decline of drama led to the rise of
the English novel.