The Way Of World.docx

INTRODUCTION The term the “Comedy of Manners” is generally applied to the group of comic plays that flourished in England during the restoration period. The play wrights depicted the social melieu of the time without trying to disturb its complacency for which Leslie Stephen called the comedy of manners as “ a comedy written by blackguards for blackguards”. Thematically this comedy puts emphasis on the life. Manners, love intrigues and foppery of the upper and aristocratic classes of the then society. In the restoration sense “manners”, means something brilliant about men and women of the elegant society, something graceful and sparkling about them. It does not refer to the country clouts but to the grace, culture and refinement of the fops and fashionable ladies of the time. The comedy of manners presents on the stage the shamelessly emancipated people and mercilessly exposes the relationships.

Traditional

comedy

artificiality of their

deals

with

lower-class

persons. But Restoration comedy concentrates only on the activities, intrigues and amorous exploits of the gay, frivolous, rakish young men and women of the upper class society and

this marks it off from its predecessors. Its comic effect is essentially an outcome of the meticulously cultivated and deliberately

contrived

manners

displayed

by

the

main

characters. It represents the superficial veneer of the artificial society with its boasted pride in refinement and culture and lack of faith in the essential goodness of human heart. The institutional of marriage is ridiculed and snobbed and is usually/commonly

/made

an

object

of

uncharitable

/uncomplimentary load laughter . It mainly preoccupies itself with the depiction of sensual/ biological love , especially with the exploits and sex intrigues and sexantagonisms existing in the contemporary high society . Love is presented primarily as a physical appetite/ biological instinct . Free love is perfected to conjugal love and if marriage is contracted at all it become a marriage of convenience or a bargained matrimony. It paints a heightened

picture of obscenity and immorality prevalent in

the life of the age. Formally the genre tends to have loosely constructed plots through at times the plotting becomes a little in intricate and confusing. The characters who man the plots are mostly of

degenerate, stock-in-trade, flat and tidal nature. That’s why the overall impression and impact it creates is almost dull and uninteresting. What enliven such an atmosphere are the brilliant wit and humour and the sparkling dialogues, repartee being the very soul of the exchanges. Its appeal is more to the intellect than to the heart. The subterranean tone running through the comedy is critically satirical but at the surface level it expresses itself more through a tone of flippancy and levity than the sober tone of the Elizabethan comedy. Critics like Bonamy Dobree. Miss Kathleen M Lynch, John palmer and Henry Ten Eyck perry in their various critical discussions on Restoration Comedy mostly agree and opine that these comedies

are

artificial

by

nature.

They

deal

with

the

fashionable manners not with the morals of the time. Their significance lies in the polished style, the satire on social follies and the truthful/realistic picturization of the 17th century high life. the principal dramatists of the age were sir George Etherege (1634-91), William wycherly (1640-1716), Georage farguhar (1677-1707), sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726) and William Congreve (1670-1729).

William congreve’s the way of the world, represent the hallmark, the peak and the perfection of this type of comedy. This play was published (1700) shortly after Jeremy collier’s short view on “The Immorality and profaneness of English Stage ” , published in 1698. It presents a kaleidoscopic view of the morals, behaviours, habits, fashions, affectations etc. of the elegant ladies and gentleman wits of the London society of the 17th century. The middle and lower strata are totally shut off from the play. The artificiality of the social game that these Gallants and ladies play is frequently alluded to in this play. There is much malice and ugliness behind the mask of elegance and respectability these characters put on. From the beginning we have a conscious feeling of rivaliry and hostility beneath the simulated

friendship

between

fainall

and

miraball.

The

artificiality of social relationship comes out clearly in the 2nd act

when Mrs. Marwood and Mr. Fainall talk of their

abhorrence and accuse each other of infidelity. During this confrontation the mask of sophistication drops off easily and

reveals the ugliness of violent, uncontrolled passions. The refined and civilised stamp of Restoration-life is more apparent than real. All the characters appear to live only in the image which they are intent upon presenting to the world. For an example Mrs. Marwood’s nature is imperctly conealed by the social mask she wears and we see the brittle surface of her sophistication crack and fall off in st james park, whre she blasts off; “I care not – let me go – break my hands, do – I’d leave’em to yet loose ” (II-i-233-34)

The devices petulant employs to attract attention provide The devices petulant of the superficiality with which this society lives. The licentiousness of this society and its pervasive immorality are amply demonstrated in the ply

when Final explains

to

Mrs. Mar wood why he ignores the relationship of his wife with Mirabel. “I was for my ease to oversee willfully neglect the gross Advance made to him by my wife ; that by permitting her to be engaged, I might continue unsuspected in my pleasure; and take you oftener to my Arms in full security” (ll-i-148-152).

The cynicism displayed here symbolizes the

rank

opportunism of the Restoration . Mirabel. the hero himself is not free from this blemish .He pretends to be in love with Lady wishfort

and use this sham courtship as a make-

believe/decoy to channel his real love for her niece, Militant.

The play seems to be concerned with the social problems like human adjustment and human responsibilities, but in real terms displays an obsession with sex ; sexual promiscuity and

sex antagonism. The ply ridicules both sham love and marriage by exposing the worldly wise ness

, rank materialism and

hypocrisy which operate as ulterior superficial

shows.

Most

of

the

motives

characters

behind all are

sexually

promiscuous and treat love and marriage as sport. They put on their marks before their partners but the masks come off naturally and effortlessly whenever they are with their paramours .They disclose before them their plans or strategies freely and frankly and make a clean breast of their real feeling towards their legal spouses. There is no true love but a semblances of it. It is a world of deception. There is no mutual adjustment /understanding as the fake lovers try their best to serve their own self-centered private interests. The purity of love has on place at the altar of amorous intrigues and immoral

encounters . The professing lovers keep changing

partners easily, effortlessly and remorselessly and evince no responsibility towards each other .Take for instance , the love play of Mirabella and Arabella, the marriage of Mr. Final and Arbela the love affair of Mr. Faunal and mrs.

Mar wood,

with one exception of course the love of Mirabella and Millament which testify to and speak eloquent of the truth.

Mirabel is

the central character of the ply the master

plotter and is directly responsible for all the plots and counterplots. But at the same time he is the cohesive force that keeps the social fabric intact. He has an illicit and illegitimate love affair with Arabella. She loves him with her heart and soul. While still a window as Mrs . Languish, she goes on satisfying her carnal desire with him, till she apprehends the unwanted pregnancy as a consequence and calls a halt to their illegal liaison. In the

meanwhile mirabell seems to have lost

his heart to millament and apparently feels guilty of his gross sinful conduct. Hence he dose not leave her to suffer ignominy and shifting his responsibility manages to foist her on Mr. fainall, a man of loose morals, who believes in enjoying life, exploiting others physically, materially andwhich-so-ever way it pleases him. Mirabell is very well aware of his responsibility and does nit flee like a betrayer and devises a way out to save his lover’s reputation. On the whole their relationship which did not lead them to the altar is a complex one, they seem to have no regret, no moral compuctions; rather they trust each

other and plan strategies together to overcome difficulties in their respective way.

The marriage of finall and Arabella proves to be a marriage of convenience and a great failure Arabella marries fainall to cover up the supposed ill consequence of her illicit affair with mirabell and to save her own moral repute and the family’s as well. They are an ill assorted pair. They not vibe together, their mental wave-lengths being quit different. Fainall is a false designing lover. He is not a cheat and has his own set of morals and seems to suffer from no conscience prick and persists with his adulterous esipades. His rapacious egoism feeds on everything it finds but as he has no moral values it is only material advantages that he seeks. He marries Arabella for the sake of her wealth, through he had been romantically involved with mirabell. He refers to his marriage as “a scurvy wedlock” (II-i-643). There not an ounce of common humanity in him. His wife to him “an old and worthless animal; a Leaky Hulk, which he will set adrift to sink or swim” (v-i-443-45). They suffer and stand each other only to nurse their private

interests. But in public, they are quite nice to each other and exchange sweet nothingness’s. Fainall addresses her as “Dear” and she cooes in reply “my soul” (II-i-91-92).

What a hypocrisy ! His true colour comes to the force only when he makes some bitter comments about her and confesses before Mrs. Mar wood what he feels about her and ; “My wife has played the jade with me well that’s over too-I never loved her or if I had that would have been over too by this time” … (III-i-685-87) Similarly the love play or Mrs. Mar wood and Mr. Fainall represents

another

striking

example

of

an

exploitative

relationship. Mrs. Mar wood is a widow, malicious and vindictive . She was in love with Mirabell to whom she made advance but was thwarted by him.

Anger fed on disappointment ,but she dissembled her aversion towards him. This secret unfulfilled ,rather frustrated and reciprocated love now becomes the motivating force behind all her scheming villainous pursuits. Her pride thus wounded, mirabell’s foe and courts finally sheer desperation and enjoys sensual pleasure living with him as his mistress. Her motto is. “My youth may wear and waste but is shall never rust in my possession (II-i-18-19) She is cut to quick when fainall accuses her of loving mirabell inwardly while professing loyalty/ allegiance to him outwardly. He doubts her bonafides and says to her face that she is false and claims to have seen through all her little arts. His allegation deeply upsets Mrs. mar wood and she threatens to expose their illegitimate/illicit affair and wins the day. “I’ll publish to the world , the injuries you have done me, both in my fame and Fortune. With both I trusted you , You Bankrupt

in

Honour

wealth” (II-i-201-204).

as

indigent

of

He goes down on his knees and placates her to calm down and keep her cool and silence as he thinks that her threatening will one day upset his future plans to enrich himself by blackmailing Lade Wish fort, so he buys peace and ensures a temporary truce of hostility with Mrs. Marwood. If not a union of convenience, what else is it? What a piece of immaculate dissimulation ! What a clever repartee ! Their relationship thrives on mutual monetarily as it is evident from his own admission. He loves her only to make “a Lawful Prize of a ricj Widow’s Wealth”. (II-i-213-14) and ultimately makes her an accomplice to acquire the lawful possession of Lade Wishfort’s property. Mrs. Marwood, on her part, nurses her wounded ego while enjoying the adulterous lialison to her, best advantage and wants to take revenge on Mirabell making Fainall a pun. They are no less than scheming villains. Lady Wishfort, the old widow of fifty-five is also sexhungry. She is the central female character who controls the fortunes of all the rest. She hankers after youthful pleasures and lives in a make-believe world – a life replete with sensual

fantasy. She deludes herself imagining that Mirabell loves her passionately and subsequently believing that Sir Rowland was prepared to marry her. Never can she free herself from Mirabell’s hypnotic charm. When Millament informs her that Mirabel would go away forever, she heaves a sigh of both relief and regret and yells out: ‘Shall I never see him again.” (v-i353). Her regret shows her romantic enchantment towards this young man, who is no less responsible for making her suffer such delusions by making sham address to her, which were really meant for Millament.

But the love of Mirabell and Millament is of a quite different

nature/stuff.

Though

Mirabell

is

sexually

promiscuous and accused of moral lapses she accepts his love for her as genuine. Millament laughingly teases him and aptly calls him “Sententious Mirabell”. He has no complaint against Millament as she is unsullied. He admits: I like her with all her faults; nay like her for her faults”. (I-i-164-165)

Similaly Millament’s love for him is also true as she has no illegitimate liaison with anyone else. There is no place for misunderstanding between the two. Millament knows that her lover was at one time deeply involved with her cousin. But evidently she does not mind a lover with such a past as she has studied Mirabell’s emotions very well. She expresses her cherished feelings/emotions about her love to Mrs. Fainall in these words; “Well if Mirabell should not make a good Husband, I am a lost thing – For I find, I love him violently”. (IV-i-321-23) It will not be fair wide off the mark to say that Millament’s plea is a pioneering precursor of the agenda of women’s liberation. She fights for the equality of the sexes and advocates for individual sexuality. Despite their mutual respect and sincere feelings for each other, they brook no interference. Their union is not going to be a complete sell-out as they want to maintain their own independent existence even after their nuptials or coming together. This aspect of their understanding

is well brought out in the proviso-Scene or the Bargaining Scene. The Proviso-Scene is a convention continued. It serves a dual purpose (i) of providing rich romantic entertainment and (ii) laying out a solid foundation on which the lover’s harmonious married life can stand and prosper avoiding those pitfalls and blunders which plaque most marriages. It brings the principal love affair in the story to ahead. Here Mirabell and Millament bargain with each other for mutual noninterference,

the

conditions

under

which

each

might

contemplate matrimony. They meet each other not as lovers but as rational human beings. Millament bargains for her privileges for her library and right to privacy, for her freedom to meet whom she pleases. She is very well aware of the disillusionment that comes to people after marriage. She says that she would not like to be “free from the agreeable fatigues of solicitation”. (IV-i-171-172) Secondly, her individual liberty should be preserved. She would like to get up when she pleases to give reigns to her morning thoughts. Furthermore, she would not like to be addressed by such names as:

“Wife, Spouse, My Dear, Joy, Jewel, Love Sweetheart and the rest of that Nauscous Cant in which Men and their wives are so fulsomely familiar”. (IV-i-202-204) She also demands the freedom to pay and receive visits, to weite and receive letters, to keep away from Mirabell’s friends if she does not like them. Mirabell on his part also demands of his wife, “not to have a confidante, no she-friend to screen her affairs, no fops to take her to the theatre secretly”. (IV-i-24243). He prohibits the use of masks for the night made of “oiledskins, Hog’s bones, Hare is gall, Pig-water and the Marrow of a roasted cat”. (IV-i-255-57). He disapproves the use of tight dress during pregnancy and he forbids the use of alcoholic drinks. The spirit of give and take along with the beguiling fun and gaiety of Mirabell and Millament enhances and advances mutual understanding and furthers the chances of a happy and successful married life.

Enough of self control, intellectual discrimination and sense of decorum entered into the agreement ultimately reached at. This augurs well for the level-headed, no-nonsense, rational and conscientious pair of lovers who are surrounded on all sides by a mad world obsessed with sex intrigues. The title “The Way of The World” is apt and highly significant as the characters are part and parcel of the social milieu and swim and sink with the time-flow and never bother to go against it, save a few exceptional ones despite their blemishes and moral lapses. They symbolise a saving grace and remind one that the world is not yet completely lost. Conforming to the tradition of the genre this play is also replete with brilliantly refined, subtle wit and polished humour. We are dazzled by what Bonamy Dobree calls the “Verbal pyrotechniques” of the characters. Even Foible has her moment when she tells Lady Wishfort with delightful irony; “A little Art one made your picture like your; and now a little of the same Art

must make you like your picture”. (II-i-135-55) There are also many witty remarks of the other characters as well. Here are a few of them to corroborate the point made. “cabal Nights where that come together like a Corner’s Inquest to sit upon the murdered Reputations of the weak,” says Fainall to Miorabell in I-i-56-59. A ittle letter, “I wonder there is not an Act of Parliament to save the credit of the Nation and prohibit the Exportations of Fools, “Mirabell retorts to Fainall in I-i-232-14. “A Fellow that lives in a wind mill, has not a more whimsical dwelling than the heart of a man that lodged in a women, Mirabell tells to Millament in II-i-501-03. Even the false wits, witwoud and Petulant occasionally make remarks which are truly witty. Witwoud for an example says; “Friendship without freedom is as dull as Love without Enjoyment or wine without Toasting” (I-i-366-68) Millament as a true wit remarks; “A woman’s cruelty gives her a sense of power and when she parts with her cruelty, she parts with her power”.

(II-i-395-97) Mirabell retorts, “The Beauty of a woman is a gift to her from her

lover”.

(II-i-404-05).

Prompt

comes

the

reply

form

Millament. “Beauty, the Lover’s Gift ! Lord what is a lover that it can give”. (II-i-412-13) The list can continue and entertain us to no end but we dispense with the luxury and end our discussion with a modern critic’s remarks on congreve’s wit’ “It is a Toledo Blade, sharp and wonderfully supple for steel, cast for dwelling; restless in the scabbard, being so pretty, when out of it. To shine, it must have an adversary”. Critics have generally accepted “The Way of The World” as a comedy of manners, but to some the play is first and foremost, a comedy of characters. The episodes and events of this play, perform minor roles but the characters of this play lend vitality, charm and force to the play. The characters are mainly flat and typal. They show no progress, no development

hence lack roundedness. Some characters are animated by a greatness which is above circumstance, which seems to be its own end. The style of the play is inimitable, flawless and perfect. Every sentence is replete with sense and satire conveyed in the most polished and pointed terms. Every act of the play presents a bouquet of brilliant conceits. William Hazlitt befittingly comments; “The Way of the world”: has an essence almost too fine and the sense of pleasure evaporates in an aspiration after something that seems too exquisite ever to have been realised. After ingaling the spirit of congreve’s Wit and tasting Love’s thrice reputed nectar’ in this work, the head grows giddy in turning form the highest point of rapture to the ordinary business of life (Hazlitt-91) Now it’s time to wind up and conclude. In the foregoing paragraphs we have made a thorough and exhaustive textual study of the play and critically analysed the thematically and formally relevant and corroborating facts with a sample of the prevalent critical opinion and on the basis of the evidence available, we justifiably feel inclined to conclude that the play richly deserves to be called a comedy of manners.

RELATIONS OF MEN AND WOMEN IN MARRIAGE

Love and Marriage as the central subject. Restoration comedy

was

almost

exclusively

concerned

with

sexual

relations. The central subject of most Restoration comedy s was love and marriage. In this respect, Restoration dramatists aimed at portraying the manners and modes of aristocratic society. Congreve’s comedies, more than the plays of Etherege, WycherJey, and Dryden, seem to be subtle comments on love and marriage. In fact, it is by keeping this in view that we can defend the best comedies of that period from the charge of triviality, for the relationship of the sexes is the acid test of a civilization. "The immediate, natural and necessary relation of one human being to another is that of man to woman. From the character of this relationship, it can be seen how far man has developed." If we agree with this view of Karl Marx, we would not dismiss The Way of the World as a comedy pure and simple but would regard it as a play with a serious purpose, having as its theme the relations of men and women not only in marriage, but out of marriage also.

Witty dialogue, but a serious purpose, in the play. The Way of the World primarily engrosses us by its witty dialogue. Not only are the hero Mirabell and the heroine Millamaut brilliant in their wit, but there are fireworks in the conversation of even the subsidiary characters. The element of wit indeed dominants the play. But what is the theme round which the plot is built up and round which most of the witty dialogue centres? The theme is undoubtedly the relations of men women, illicit love-affairs, adulterous, relations, true and false wooing and courtship, unhappiness in marriage and the desire for divorce, a hankering after marriage, marriage for the sake of money and marriage for the sake of love, the terms and conditions governing what may be regarded as an ideal, or as or nearly ideal, marriage. Love and Marriage are the subjects which occupy the minds of all characters, although we should not forget that wealth and property also occupy an important position in relation to both love and marriage. It may seem to us that the play ridicules both

love

and

marriage

by

exposing

the

worldliness,

materialism, and hypocrisy which operate as motives behind

them, but a distinctly serious social purpose in the writing of the play is clearly perceptible. Congreve seems here to be subjecting- the relations of men and women to close and searching scrutiny in an effort to arrive at some kind of basis that can make a happy marriage possible. The past love-affair of Mirabell and Lady Wishfort's daughter. The principal love-affair in the play is the one between

Mirabell

and

Millament.

The

Restoration

was

historically a period of loose morals, and every young man of the upper classes thought it legitimate to sow his wild oats. Accordingly, Mirabell, contrary, to our conventional idea of a hero, has already had a love-affair. He had sexual relations with Lady Wishfort's daughter when the latter was a widow. He,

however,

her

got

married

to

Mr. Fainall as soon as she feIt that she had probably become pregnant. In arranging this match, Mirabell had obviously no qualms of the conscience because, according to our present standards of morality, he should have himself married the woman. As was to be expected, her marriage with Mr. Fainall proves to be a failure. Thus we find that the relationship of

Mirabell and Lady Wishfort’s daughter, in carrying on a loveaffair not leading to marriage, is obviously a false relationship. The woman does not seem to have protested at all against Mirabell's strategy. In other words, she acquiesced in her loveless marriage with Mr. Fainall. This is a mockery of love, but it appears that both Mirabell and his mistress had treated their love-affair merely as a sport. The present relationship between the two is purely one of friendship, even though one particular remark by Mirabell makes us suspect that the loveaffair is still continuing. (Mirabell holds in trust the entire property or his ex-sweetheart, and he fully and honestly, discharges his obligations in this respect.) The Marriage of Mr. Fainfall and Lady Wishfort’s daughter. The marriage of Lady Wishlfort’s daughter (whom we have described above as the ex-sweetheart and present friend of Mirabell) with Mr. Fainall proves an utter failure. Here is another false relationship. Lady Wishfort's daughter agrees to marry this man in order to cover up her illicit relations with Mirabell and the suspected pregnancy resulting there from. Mr. Fainall agreed to marry this woman for the sake of her wealth.

Mr. Fainall , it would seem , had an inkling before-hand that the woman he was going to marry had previously been sexually involved with Mirabell. Mrs. Fainall’s bitterness is reflected in her remark, early in the play, that if she and her husband were seen talking to each other publicly they would he creating a sensation. (This remark shows that they are known in their social circle as not getting on well with each other). Mr. Fainall shows his bitterness against his wife in the course of his conversation with Marwood. He describes his wife to Marwood as “a very arrant, rank Wife, all in the way of the world." He calls, himself "an anticipated cuckold, a cuckold in embryo,” He refers to his marriage as a "scurvy wedlock". Reviewing his married life, Mr. Fainall says: "My wife has played the jade with me; well, that's over too. I never loved her, or if I had, that would have been over too by this time," (Act III, Lines 5976OO). Continuing this account, he says that his wife came to him after having lost all her reputation. Nor does he claim that his own conduct before marriage was exemplary. Mr. Fainall’s motives were purely mercenary. Mr. Fainall's love-affair with Marwood. The love-affair of

Mr. Fainall and Marwood represents another example of a false relationship. Marwood was originally in love with Mirabell to whom she made advances but without any success. She is thus a frustrated woman; but a woman never forgets a rebuff from the man whose love she has vainly sought. She would therefore like to avenge herself on Mirabell. It would seem that she

has

turned

to Mr. fainall in sheer desperation and not because she is deeply or genuinely in love with him. Mr. Fainall suspects that she is still in love with Mirabell, and he frankly tells her his suspicion. He Says that he can see through all her little arts, His allegation deeply annoys Marwood and she threatens to expose his affair with her. However, he quickly seeks reconciliation with her and promises to make amends to her in every possible way. The exposure of his love-affair with Marwood would seriously upset his future plans to enrich himself, and so he tells her: “I’ll hate my wife yet more, damn her! I’ll part with her, rob her of all she's worth, and we'll retire somewhere, anywhere to another world. I’ll marry the; be pacified.” All this is really funny, and Congreve is obviously ridiculing a relationship such as this. The basis of this illicit

love- affair is money so far as Marwood is concerned, and lust combined with money so far as Mr. Fainall is concerned. Marwood, a born schemer as she is, suggests to Mr. Fainall a plan by which he can blackmail Lady Wishfort. Mr. Fainall accepts the plan, promising to share the booty with her. The indications are that, soon after the two of them make their exit from the stage a little before the end of the play, Mr. Fainall would carry out his previous threat to divorce his wife. He would then most 'probably get married to Marwood. We can, however, easily speculate that their marriage too would prove a failure because they would constantly be devising methods to make easy money and would probably be quarrelling most of the time. The love-affair of Mirabell and Millament. We now come to the core of the play, namely the love-affair between Mirabell and Millament. Millament knows that her lover was at one time carrying on a love-affair with her cousin who is now married to Mr. Fainall. But evidently she does not mind a lover with such a past. There can be no doubt that both Mirabell and Millament love each other truly. Mirabell tells Fainall that he

likes Millament with all her faults; may he like her for her faults.

He

says

that

her

faults have now become as familiar to him as his own frailties and that, in all probability; he will like them equally well. As for Millament, she frankly tells Mrs. Fainall : “Well, if Mirabell should not make a good husband, I am a lost thing for I find I love him violently." The proviso scene and the conditions of marriage. It is the proviso scene that provides us with a clue to the serious purpose of the play, From this scene emerge the conditions that Congreve thought to be necessary for the success of a marriage between men and women in love. r t is made clear to us her ': that love alone cannot sustain a marriage. This scene is

pure

comedy

and contains a brilliant display of wit by both Mirabell and Millament. And yet it is a profoundly serious scene from which we can draw much instruction, Millament does not want that a lover's appeals and entreaties should end with the marriage ceremony, She would like to be "solicited" till the very moment

of marriage; and she would like to be, “solicited" even afterwards; she, would not like "to be freed from the agreeable fatigues of solicitation.” It is obvious that Millament knows the disillusionment that comes to people after marriage. She has known the unhappy experience of her cousin, Mrs. Fainall, and so she wants to be sure that Mirabell would not take her for granted after marriage. Her next condition is that her individual liberty should be preserved. She would like to get up when she pleases, to give free reins to her morning thoughts, and so on. Furthermore she would not like to be addressed by such names as “wife, spouse, my dear, joy, jewel, love, sweetheart, and the rest of that nauseous cant, in which men and their Wives are so fulsomely familiar.” She makes fun of couples who appear to be proud of One another the first week and ashamed of one another ever after. For this reason, she suggests that she and Mirabell should maintain a certain distance and a certain reserve between them after marriage. Millament also demands the freedom to pay and receive visits, to write and receive letters, to keep away from Mirabell's friends if she does not like them. Mirabell, on his part,

demands that his wife will not have a confidante, no "shefriend to Screen her affairs", no fop to take her to the theatre secretly. Lady Wishfort's matrimonial schemes. Nor must we forget Lady Wishfort’s craving to get married. This widow of fifty-five hankers after youthful pleasures. That is the reason why she easily believes, first, that Mirabell loves her passionately and, then that Sir Rowland is anxious to marry her. Both Mirabell and Sir Rowland arc false suitors. Lady Wishfort exists in the play as an example of a woman who is superannuated but who yet experiences what may be called a false appetite which creates embarrassing situations for her. Congreve treats Lady Wish fort's desires in a satirical manner, because her marriage with a younger man (and she does seek a younger man) would be a false relationship. Congreve also treats Sir Wilfull's role as Millament's suitor in a satirical light, because such an alliance between a highly, sophisticated town girl with a country yokel, his homely intelligence notwithstanding, would be a false relationship too. WORKS CONSULTED

1. Baugh, A.C. A Literary History of England. London : Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd. 1967 2. Dobree, Bonamy. Restoration Comedy London : Oxford University Press, 1924 3. Hazlitt William. Lectures on The English Comic Writers. London; Oxford University Press, 1951 4. Legouis E & Cazamian L. A History of English Literature. New York : The Macmillan & Co. 1995 5. Sengupta K. The Way of The World By William Congreve. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998 6. Stephen Leslie. English Literature and Society in the Eighteenth Century. London: Dukeworth & Co. 1910