Name: Shifa Jahan Semester: 4 English Honours UID No: 0304180219 Roll No: 185124 Course: CC8 The Way of the World - as the culmination of Restoration Comedy. The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when (with the Restoration of..) King Charles II and ended with the Glorious Revolution of 1688 deposition of James II and VII, and replacement by his daughter Mary II, and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange. The return of the stage-struck Charles II to power in 1660 was a major event in English theatre history. Libertine reactions against the puritanical ethos of the Interregnum ushered in by the royal court and the aristocracy led to the reopening of Theatres after having been closed by the Long Parliament in 1642. Hence, Puritanism lost its momentum, and bawdy comedy became a recognizable genre. Historian Roger Baker argues that the Restoration and Charles’ coronation mark a reversal of the strict Puritan morality, “as though the pendulum [of England’s morality] swung from repression to licence more of less overnight”1. In addition, women were allowed to perform on the commercial stage as professional actresses for the first time and their presence made the exploration of sexual theme in the theatre more exciting to the public. The Restoration Comedy is a Comedy of Manners, a witty, cerebral form of dramatic comedy that depicts and often satirizes the manners and affectations of a contemporary society. Restoration Comedy particularly focuses on the relationship between conventional morality and the individual spirit, the growing shallowness, licentiousness and materialism of its age. It was influenced by Ben Jonson’s comedy of humours and French playwright Molière, who satirized the hypocrisy and pretension of 17th-century French society in such plays as L’École des femmes(1662; The School for Wives) and Le Misanthrope(1666; The Misanthrope). Under a new licensing system, two London theatres with royal patents were opened: the King’s Company and the Duke’s Company with two luxurious playhouses. The London theatre scene was revitalised by the competition between these two companies which made playwrights and managers extremely responsive to public taste. The mid-1670s were a high point of both quantity and quality, with William Wycherley’s The Country Wife(1675), George Etherege’s The Man of Mode
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