A comedy is usually a light, rather amusing, play that deals with contemporary life and manners. Such a drama often has a satirical slant, but ends happily. Among the many sub-genre under comedy, we find the comedy of manners, which originated in France with Molièr's "Les Precieuses ridicules" (1658). Molièr saw this comic form as a way to correct social absurdities.

In England, the Comedy of Manners is represented by the plays of William Wycherley, George Etherege, William Congreve, and George Farquhar. This form was later classed "Old Comedy" but is now known as Restoration Comedy because it coincided with Charles II's return to England. The main goal of these comedies of manners in the period of Restoration is to mock society, or in other ways lift up society for scrutiny, which could cause negative or positive results. In the end, if the playwright has been successful, the audience will leave the theater feeling good (or at least feeling something), having laughed at themselves and society.

The definition of comedy and the background of the Restoration Comedy helps to explain the themes that run throughout these plays. One of the major themes is marriage and the game of love. However, if marriage is a mirror of society, the couples in the plays show something very dark and sinister about order. Many critiques of marriage that we see in the play are devastating, but the game of love is not much more hopeful. Although the endings are happy and the man invariably gets the woman (or at least that is the implication), we see marriages without love and love affairs that are rebellious breaks with tradition.

However, as we look at the Restoration comedies that range from William Wycherley's play, "The Country Wife" (1675) to William Congreve's play, "The Way of the World" (1700), and further than that if we look at Aphra Behn's comedy of intrigue, "The Rover" (1702) and Richard Brinsley Sheridan's sentimental comedy, "The School for Scandal" (1777), which fall near the same period, we see how dramatically society has progressed. A dramatic change, in moral attitudes about marriage and love, has taken place.

William Wycherley's "Country Wife"

In Wycherley's "Country Wife," the marriage between Margery and Bud Pinchwife represents a hostile marriage between an old (or older man) and a young woman -- a May/December marriage. The Pinchwifes are the focal point of the play, at least as couples go, and her affair with Horner only adds to the humor of the play. Horner runs around cuckolding all of the husbands, while he pretends to be a eunuch. This pretension brings the women swarming to him. He is a master at the game of love, though he is emotionally impotent. He cannot love, which makes him an interesting character for analysis. The relationships in the play are dominated by jealousy or cuckoldry, with the exception of the gay couple -- Alithea and Harcourt, but they are really pretty boring.

The element of jealousy in marriage seems to be especially prevalent in the play. In Act IV, scene ii., Mr. Pinchwife says, in an aside, "So, 'tis plain she loves him, yet she has not love enough to make her conceal it from me; but the sight of him will increase her aversion for me and love for him, and that love instruct her how to deceive me and satisfy him, all idiot as she is." He insults her, not to her face of course, but he's serious. He wants her to be stupid, not able to deceive him. But even in her obvious innocence, he doesn't believe she is innocent. To him, every woman came out of nature's hands "plain, open, silly, and fit for slaves, as she and Heaven intended 'em." As he says, "No woman can be forced. " But he also says, in another aside, "Why should women have more invention in love than men? It can only be because they have more desires, more soliciting passions, more lust and more of the devil."

Mr. Pinchwife isn't especially bright, but in his jealousy, he becomes a dangerous character. He becomes passionate in his mad ravings, thinking Margery had conspired to cuckold him. Little did he know that he was correct, but if he had known the truth, he would have killed her in his madness. As it is, when she disobeys him, he says, "Once more write as I'd have you, and question it not, or I will spoil thy writing with this. [Holding up the penknife.] I will stab out those eyes that cause my mischief." He doesn't ever hit her or stab her in the play (such actions wouldn't make a very good comedy), but Mr. Pinchwife continually locks Margery in the closet, calls her names, and in all other ways, acts like a complete jerk (to put it nicely). Because of his abusive nature, Margery's affair is not a surprise. In fact, it is accepted as a social norm, along with Horner's promiscuity. At the end, the whole scene with Margery learning to lie is also taking in stride because the idea has already been set up when Mr. Pinchwife voiced his fears that if she loved Horner more, she would conceal it from him. And with that, social order is restored.
The theme of restoration of order in love and marriage continues in Etherege's "Man of Mode" (1676). Dorimant and Harriet are the two who are most immersed in the game of love. Although it seems evident the couple are destined to be together, an obstacle is place in Dorimant's way in the form of Harriet's mother, Mrs. Woodville, who has made arrangements for her to marry Young Bellair, a young gentleman who already has his eye on Emilia. Threatened with disinheritment, Young Bellair and Harriet agree to pretend to accept the idea, while Harriet and Dorimant go at it in their battle of wits, which is reminiscent of Shakespeare's Beatrice and Benedict in "Much Ado About Nothing".

An element of tragedy is added to the whole equation as Mrs. Loveit comes into the picture, breaking her fans and acting hysterically. The fans, which were supposed to hide a flush of passion or embarrassment, no longer offer her any protection. She is defenseless against Dorimant's cruel words and the all too realistic facts of life; there can be no doubt that she is a tragic side effect of the game of love. Having long since lost interest in her, Dorimant continues to lead her on, giving her hope, but leaving her in despair. In the end, her unrequited love only brings her ridicule, teaching society that if you are going to play at the game of love, you'd better be prepared to get hurt. Indeed, Loveit comes to the realization that "There's nothing but falsehood and impertinence in this world. All men are villains or fools," before she parades out.

By the end of the play, we see one marriage, as expected, but it is between Young Bellair and Emilia, who broke with tradition by marrying secretly, without Old Bellair's consent. But in a comedy, all must be forgiven, so Old Bellair forgives him. While Harriet sinks into a depressing mood, thinking of her lonely house in the country and the poignant noise of the rooks--"kaw, kaw, kaw," Dorimant admits his love to her, saying "The first time I saw you, you left me with the pangs of love upon me; and this day my soul has quite given up her liberty."

Congreve's "The Way of the World" (1700)

In Congreve's "The Way of the World" (1700), the trend of restoration continues, but marriage becomes more about contractual agreements and greed, then about love. Millamant and Mirabell iron out a pre-nuptial agreement before they agree to marry. Then Millamant, for an instant, seems willing to marry her cousin, Sir Willful, so that she can keep her money. "Sex in Congreve, " Mr. Palmer says, "is a battle of the wits. It is not a battlefield of emotions." In that way, "The Way of the World" can be likened to Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing," where Beatrice and Benedict play at love in their battle of wits.

It's comical to see the two wits going at it, but, when we look deeper, there is a edge of seriousness behind their words. After they list conditions, Mirabell says, "These provisos admitted, in other things I may prove a tractable and complying husband." Love may be the basis of their relationship, as Mirabell appears honest; however, their alliance is a sterile romance, devoid of the "touchy, feely stuff," which we hope for in a courtship. Mirabell and Millamant are two wits perfect for each other in the battle of the sexes; nevertheless, the pervading sterility and greed reverberates as the relationship between the two wits becomes much more confusing. But then, that is the way of the world.

Confusion and deception are the "way of the world," but compared to "The Country Wife" and other earlier drama, Congreve's play shows a different kind of chaos--one marked with contracts and greed instead of the hilarity and mix-up of Horner and other rakes. The evolution of society, as mirrored by the plays themselves is apparent.
The apparent change in society becomes more explicit as we look at Aphra Behn's play, "The Rover" (1702). She borrowed almost all of the plot and many details from "Thomaso, or the Wanderer," written by Behn's old friend, Thomas Killigrew; however this fact does not diminish the quality of the play. In "The Rover," Behn addresses the issues that are of primary concern to her--love and marriage. This play is different from the other plays, partly because it is a comedy of intrigue and partly because it isn't set in England as the others have been. Instead, the action is set in Naples, Italy, during Carnival, an exotic setting, which takes the audience away from the familiar as a sense of alienation pervades the play.

The games of love, here, involve Florinda, destined to marry an old rich guy or her brother's friend, and Belville, a young gallant who rescues her and wins her heart, along with Hellena, Florinda's sister, and Willmore, a young rake who falls in love with her. There are no adult s present throughout the play, though Florinda's brother is an authority figure, blocking her from a marriage of love. Ultimately, though, even the brother doesn't have much to say in the matter. The women -- Florinda and Hellena -- take the situation pretty much into their own hands, deciding what they want. This is, after all, a play written by a woman. And Aphra Behn was not just any woman. She was one of the first women to make a living as a writer, which was quite a feat in her day. Behn was also known for her escapades as a spy and for her various other nefarious activities.

So, Behn ran her own life (at least it appears that she had a great deal of freedom, from what little we know of her life). Drawing upon her own experience and her own rather revolutionary ideas, she creates in this play women who are very different from any of the female characters in previous period plays. She creates for her audience a very different view of women, perhaps much more realistic, with the threat of violence toward women, in the form of rape, lurking in the shadows -- a much darker view of society than any of the other playwrights would have created.

If the plot wasn't convoluted enough, it is further complicated when we place Angelica Bianca into the picture, providing us with a searing indictment against society and the state of moral decay. When Willmore breaks his oath of love to her by falling in love with Hellena, she goes crazy, brandishing a pistol and threatening to kill him. Willmore admits his inconstancy, saying, "Broke my Vows? Why, where hast thou lived? Amongst the gods! For I never heard of mortal man that has not broke a thousand vows." He is an interesting representation of the careless and callous gallant of the Restoration, concerned mainly with his own pleasures, and not interested in whom he hurts along the way. Of course, at the end, all of the conflicts are resolved with prospective marriages and release from the threat of marriage to an old man or the church. Willmore closes the last scene by saying, "Egad, thou'rt a brave girl, and I admire thy love and courage. Lead on; no other dangers they can dread/ Who ventured in the storms o' th' marriage bed."
Looking at "The Rover," it is not hard to make a leap to George Farquhar's play, "The Beaux' Stratagem" (1707). In this play, he presents a terrible indictment on love and marriage, as he depicts Mrs. Sullen as a frustrated wife, trapped in a marriage with no escape in sight (at least not at first). Characterized as a hate-hate relationship, the Sullens do not even have mutual respect to base their union on. At the time setting of the plays, it was difficult, if not impossible to get a divorce; and, even if Mrs. Sullen did get a divorce, she would have been destitute because all of her money now belonged to her husband. Her plight seems hopeless as she answers her sister-in-law's "You must have Patience," with, "Patience! the Cant of Custom--Providence sends no Evil without a Remedy--shou'd I lie groaning under a Yoke I can shake off, I were accessory to my Ruin, and my Patience were no better than self-Murder." Then a few lines later, she says, "O Sister, casual Violation is a transient Injury, and may possibly be repair'd, but can radical Hatreds be ever reconcil'd?--No, no, Sister, Nature is the first Lawgiver, and when she has set Tempers opposite, not all the golden Links of Wedlock, nor Iron Manacles of Law can keep 'um fast."

Mrs. Sullen is a tragic figure when we see her in her role as wife to an ogre, but she is comical as she plays at love with Archer, with reminds us again of the women running after Horner in "The Country Wife". In "The Beaux' Stratagem," though, Farquhar shows himself to be a transitional figure when he introduces the contractual elements of the play. The Sullen marriage ends in divorce; and the traditional comic resolution is still kept intact with the announcement of the marriage of Aimwell and Dorinda.

Of course, Aimwell's intent was to woe Dorinda into marrying him so that he could squander her money. In that respect, at least the play compares with Behn's "The Rover" and Congreve's "The Way of the World"; but in the end, Aimwell says, in a statement reminiscent of Dorimant, "Such Goodness who cou'd injure; I find myself unequal to the task of Villain; she has gain'd my Soul, and made it honest like her own; --I cannot, cannot hurt her." Aimwell's statement seems to show a marked change in his character. We can suspend disbelief, as he tells Dorinda, "I'm a Lie, nor dare I give a Fiction to your Arms; I'm all Counterfeit except my Passion." It's another happy ending!!

Sheridan's "The School for Scandal"

Finally, as we look at Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play "The School for Scandal" (1777), we see a decided swing away from most of the other plays discussed here. Much of this change is due to a falling away of the Restoration values. We have moved outside of the Restoration Period and into a very different kind of restoration, where a different morality comes into play.

True, there is a restoration of order, but here, the bad are punished and the good are rewarded, a trend which we saw just a hint of in a couple of the play, but not to this extent. Here, appearance doesn't fool anyone for long, especially when the long lost guardian, Sir Oliver, comes home to discover all. In the Cain and Abel scenario, Cain, a part played by Joseph Surface, is exposed as being an ungrateful hypocrite and Abel, a part played by Charles Surface, is really not that bad after all (all blame seems to be laid on his brother). Also, the virtuous young maiden--Maria--was right in her love at the end, though she obeyed her father's orders to refuse any further contact with Charles until he was vindicated.

Another interesting switch, here, is that Sheridan does not create affairs between the characters of his play. Lady Teazle was willing to cuckold Sir Peter with Joseph, until she hears the truth of his love and, as in every melodramatic drama, she realizes the error of her ways, repents and, when she is discovered, tells all and is forgiven. Of course, in a comedy, all must be restored to a happy ending, so, in the end Charles says, "Why as to reforming, Sir Peter, I'll make no promises, and that I take to be a proof that I intend to set about it. --But here shall be my moniter--my gentle guide.--Ah! can I leave the virtuous path those eyes illuminate?" At the end, though, we are left with a all-too-perfect feeling. There is nothing really realistic about the play, but his intent seems to have been much more moral than any of the earlier comedies.
Though these Restoration plays broach similar themes, the methods and the outcomes are completely different, which graphically shows how much more conservative England had become by the late eighteenth century. Also as time moved forward, the emphasis changed from one on cuckoldry and the aristocracy to one on marriage as a contractual agreement and eventually progressed to the sentimental comedy, which seemed more interested in uplifting morals than anything else. As we look at the change, we see that, in many ways, the first plays were the most fun, even though they were the most obscene (according to a more traditional view). All along, though, we see a restoration of social order, in various forms. By looking at the changes, we can gain an insight into historical events.