Restoration and Eighteenth-century Comedy (Norton Critical Editions) [Paperback]

On the particular day that I reviewed this Norton Critical Edition, Restoration and Eighteenth Century Comedy, it ranked in sales 544,399 - a long ways from the top ten best sellers. Regardless, I quite enjoyed four of the plays in this collection; the fifth play proved interesting from a historical perspective. The five plays are as follows:

The Country Wife (1675): William Wycherley's comedy has a complex plot. Mr. Horner, a noted rake, pretends impotence to easily gain access to married women. Meanwhile, a young, inexperienced wife from a rural area is immediately fascinated by London life, especially its more lewd aspects. Interestingly, women (rather than boys dressed as women) appeared on the English stage for the first time in the Restoration period. When Mr. Pinchwife disguises his young country wife as a boy, the audience was treated to the scandalous view of a woman in tight fitting breeches. This, in addition to the offstage implied sexual activity, must have made The Country Wife a memorable event. Four stars.

The Man of Mode (1676): George Etherege's play begins as Mr. Dorimant, perhaps best described as "a genteel rake of wit', is determining how to abandon his current mistress, Mrs. Loveit, without compromising his plans to gain the favors of her close friend, Bellinda. His strategy involves placing Mrs. Loveit in a situation that suggests that she has betrayed him for the attention of a recent arrival from France, a Sir Fopling Flutter. Four stars.

The Way of the World (1700): The first three acts of William Congreve's play involve little action as the scenes focus on introducing and contrasting characters, highlighting witty dialogue, and slowly revealing details of prior events through casual references. Polite, formalized language disguises selfish motives, rivalries, deceit, and deviousness. The action - certain steps to overcome obstacles to a marriage and thereby gain control of an estate - does not occur until the fourth act. Four stars.

The Conscious Lovers (1722): In the prologue Sir Richard Steele states his objectives: "To chasten wit, and moralize the stage" and to 'Redeem from long contempt the comic name". Steele strives to instruct and to ennoble rather than to amuse. The virtuous Bevil Junior would marry Lucinda whom he does not love rather than disobey his father, Sir John Bevil. His behavior towards the woman he does love (oddly named Indiana) is exceedingly Platonic. His virtue is again illustrated by his refusal to accept a challenge to duel as it would be morally wrong. Humor is clearly subordinate to instruction. Two stars.

The School for Scandal (1777): Richard Sheridan's play involves various devious and unscrupulous characters, all self-centered members of the leisure class in London. The cast includes the appropriately named Lady Sneerwell, Mr. Snake, Mr. Crabtree, Sir Benjamin Backbite, Mrs. Candour, and the superficial Mr. Surface, decidedly individuals all too capable of undermining the most refined and honest reputations with innuendoes and ingenious fabrications. Four stars.

The five plays in Restoration and Eighteenth Century Comedy make entertaining reading. The plays cover 340 pages; another 220 pages are devoted to background material. This background begins with discussions of wit, humor, and comedy drawn from the writings of Thomas Hobbes, The Spectator, and The Tatler. The Collier controversy on the immorality of the English stage and the battling essays of Steele and Dennis on the relative merits of The Man of Mode and The Conscious Lovers are next.

Another part looks at Restoration and eighteenth century stages, actors, and audiences and is actually quite interesting. My favorite section, however, was the 80 pages of modern criticism on the plays themselves. Although this extensive background material could easily overwhelm a casual reader, I recommend browsing various sections, and selecting a few essays for more careful study.

My professor placed a copy of this textbook on hold in the campus library, but I could only access it for two hours at a time. I couldn't read two plays and all of the accompanying criticism in two hours, and copying everything one page at a time would have been both tedious and costly. With free 2-DAY shipping, Amazon was my best choice. I got my own copy of the textbook, in which I could write notes and mark pages. The essay for my literature class was a success, and I didn't have to spend an entire afternoon feeding dimes into the copier.