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Product Description
Product Description
It attests to Farquhar's stature as a man that he composed this warm-hearted and vibrant play while he was dying. Like The Recruiting Officer, the play is set in a provincial town and its plot is slight: Aimwell and Archer, two impecunious London gentlemen, arrive in Lichfield looking for an heiress to marry. Aimwell, posing as his elder brother, falls in love with his 'prey' Dorinda and confesses his imposture to her; his 'man-servant' Archer arouses the wistful interest of the unhappily married Mrs Sullen. The introduction to this edition discusses the play for its theatrical merits and argues that it dramatises the ills of marriage in early modern England, shown by Farquhar to be more injurious to the wife than to the husband, and calls for a reform of the divorce laws.
About the Author
Ann Blake is Honorary Fellow at the School of Communication, Arts and Critical Enquiry, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was George Farquhar's last comedy, he died shortly after this was first performed. Aguably this could be seen as one of the last if not the last Restoration comedy, as the 18th Century saw a change in style and composition, but it was still popular and still gets audiences today.
The pub landlord and his continous saying of 'as the saying is' became a catchphrase at the time with theatre goers. The story revolves around two bounders who are trying to fleece women out of their money whilst travelling through the provinces. That would have been ok, if they hadn't fallen in love, also the landlord's daughter has fallen in love with one of the rascals. The landlord thinks there is something suspicious about these two gents, he is the leader of a gang of highwaymen, and is worried that they have come to encroach on his turf, thus comic jinks occur.
There are some things mentioned in this play that quite clearly show the era it was written in, and wouldn't mean much to a modern audience, but the actual situational comedy is still funny, as this isn't affected. As with all New Mermaid editions you get a comprehensive introduction and notes helping you to delve deeper into the play.
The pub landlord and his continous saying of 'as the saying is' became a catchphrase at the time with theatre goers. The story revolves around two bounders who are trying to fleece women out of their money whilst travelling through the provinces. That would have been ok, if they hadn't fallen in love, also the landlord's daughter has fallen in love with one of the rascals. The landlord thinks there is something suspicious about these two gents, he is the leader of a gang of highwaymen, and is worried that they have come to encroach on his turf, thus comic jinks occur.
There are some things mentioned in this play that quite clearly show the era it was written in, and wouldn't mean much to a modern audience, but the actual situational comedy is still funny, as this isn't affected. As with all New Mermaid editions you get a comprehensive introduction and notes helping you to delve deeper into the play.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
A Thoroughly Entertaining and Ribbald Comedy
9 Dec 2006
Amazon Verified Purchase
This ribbald comedy was written three hundred years ago and it remains fresh and funny. It is populated by such characters as the gentlemen of broken fortunes, Aimwell and Archer, a country blockhead, Sullen, who despises his perfectly delightful wife, highwaymen named Gibbet and Bagshot, a servant named Scrub, a country gentlewoman named Lady Bountiful, and an inkeeper's beautiful daughter, Cherry. You start smiling while still reading the Cast of Characters. The language is a delight, as when Mrs. Sullen cautions her husband's servant, while he's shaving her husband's head, "Have a care of coming near his temples, Scrub, for fear you meet something there that may turn the edge of your razor...inveterate stupidity." Lady Sullen ups the stakes when she determines that "one way to rouse my lethargic, sottish husband is to give him a rival. Security begets negligence in all people, and men must be alarmed to make 'em alert in their duty." When Squire Sullen catches wind of the plot, his response is embarrassment: "Don't think my anger proceeds from any concern I have of your honor, but for my own, and if you can contrive any way of being a whore without making me a cuckhold, do it and welcome." To which his wife responds, "Sir, I thank you kindly; you would allow me the sin but rob me of the pleasure."
This is a forward-thinking play for women's rights, too. Mrs. Sullen puts the woman's situation in perspective: "Were I born an humble Turk, where women have no soul nor property, there I must sit contented. But in England, a country whose women are its glory, must women be abused? Where women rule [a reference to the queen], must women be enslaved?" The plot considerably thickens when the broken gentleman who volunteers to rob Mrs. Sullen falls in love with her.
In the end we learn from the one upstanding character, Sir Charles, that "Truth, sir, is a profound sea, and few there be that dare wade deep enough to find out the bottom on't."
Hats off to Michael Kahn, Artistic Director of The Shakespeare Theater, in Washington, DC, for dusting off this play for our generation.
This is a forward-thinking play for women's rights, too. Mrs. Sullen puts the woman's situation in perspective: "Were I born an humble Turk, where women have no soul nor property, there I must sit contented. But in England, a country whose women are its glory, must women be abused? Where women rule [a reference to the queen], must women be enslaved?" The plot considerably thickens when the broken gentleman who volunteers to rob Mrs. Sullen falls in love with her.
In the end we learn from the one upstanding character, Sir Charles, that "Truth, sir, is a profound sea, and few there be that dare wade deep enough to find out the bottom on't."
Hats off to Michael Kahn, Artistic Director of The Shakespeare Theater, in Washington, DC, for dusting off this play for our generation.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
The Beaux Strategem
7 Aug 2007
Format:Paperback
This version turned out to be very small with a very small type-set. However, I was more disappointed about the fact that the binding gave out about halfway through and most of the pages were loose by the time I had finished reading it ONCE. It is now bound by a rubber band.
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