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18

th
century drama
- classical and modern tragedies, comedies, pastorals, burlesques, foreign
adaptations eclipsed by the sexually charged Restoration comedies and by the
romantic comedies of Goldsmith and Sheridan
- 18
th
century drama functions as a bridge between Restoration licence and the
more sober alues propounded by Steele
- !olley !ibber, manager, actor and playwright, thin"s that #nothing can corrupt
and debase the $inds of a %eople than a licentious theatre&, that under #a 'ust
and proper (stablishment& the theatre should become #the School of $anners
and )irtue&
- Susanna !entlire was a ery prolific woman dramatist, who wrote no less
than 1* plays
John Gay (1685-1732)
- reflects upon the century&s political and moral restlessness
- he faours the theatrical burlesque member of the satirical group of the
Scriblerus !lub, together with +onathan Swift and the poet ,lexander %ope
- debun"s pretentions and #false tastes in learning&
- Three Hours after Marriage, 1-1- a satirical comedy about the theatre in
collaboration with %ope, full of double entendre .double meanings/, sarcasm
and caricature0 the characters are %lotwell .played by !ibber/ and Sir
1remendous, whose plays raised #the pity of the audience on the first night, and
the terror of the author for the third, and hae raised a sublime passion,
astonishment&
- The What DYe Call It: A Tragi-Comi-Pastoral Farce, 1-12 exposes the
falsity of the heroic assumptions in drama0 moc"s the diction of couplet tragedy,
the incongruity of setting, by staging an absurd play within a play
- The Beggars Oera, 1-38 transcends the contried silliness of the preious
plays0 it relies on extensie borrowings from (nglish fol" songs and ballad
tunes, thus exposing the pomposity of 4talian opera0 the comedy effects a
reersal of political and moral alues undoing all theatrical expectations0 it
replays the #5ewgate %astoral& theme satirised by Swift0 it exposes a corrupt
underworld which inites parallels with politicians and members of the upper
classes0 plays the incongruity "ey
- satirises the aristocratic taste for 4talian opera, ma"ing fun of fashionable
grandees and impotent opera singers
- the thief-ta"er6catcher $r %eachum a ersion of the legendary thief +onathan
7ild is paralleled with the 7hig prime minister Robert 7alpole0 consistent
parallels between low life and high life, both consisting in beggary, roguery,
whoring, thieing the poor and all the ices associated to power and
manipulation0 #power does not only corrupt, it is the ery stuff of corruption&
The comedy of manners
Olier Goldsmith .1-89-1--:/ sentimental comedy
- The !oo"-#ature" Ma#, 1-*80 $he $toos to Co#%uer, 1--8
- &ssa' o# the Theatre, 1--8, militates for a laughing sentimental comedy,
aimed at a satirical laughing away of faults and sympathetic tears0 a forthright
moralist with pronouncements against passion and in faour of proper control of
sentiment for eliciting truly pathetic communion of feeling in exposing the
social shortcomings of een the most generous natures
!ichard "rinsley #heridan (1751-1816)
Goldsmith&s fellow 4rishman
-plays remar"able for their acerbity of wit and criticism of affectation0 he
prefers the poignant to the passionate, the witty to the lachrymose0 ta"es
pleasure in the deices of romantic plots, in amatory intrigues0 exposure of 1-
th
century artificiality of courtship0 delight in action, reersals, confusions,
spar"ling wit
- The (i)als, 1--2
- tyrannical fathers chastised through the figure of the controlling booby squire
contriing to contract a marriage for his son0 a conflict between old conentions
and the ingenious spontaneity of the young
- spar"ling through the ariety of language the inentie oaths and 4rishisms
of ;ucius <&1rigger and $rs $alaprop&s linguistic misapplications= #Surely, if 4
reprehend anything in this world is the use of my oracular tongue and a nice
derangement of epitaphs&
- $t* Patric+s Da' a farce with benign irony towards the 4rish
- The Tri to $car,orough 1--- a good plot exposing indecorous expression
and ambiguous social motiations
- A $chool for $ca#"al, 1--- mastery of language and plot
- aphoristic, shapely expression
- a moral fable dwelling on the contrast between two brothers +oseph Surface,
a sentimental sanctimonious illain, s> !harles, a irtuous and generous
libertine
- uses such stage deices as hidden eaesdroppers0 the unmas"ing of bluffs,
pre'udices, disguises0 witty exposure of surface affectations, petty hypocrisies,
peccadilloes raising scandals0 Sna"e as writer, Sneerwell as critic, !andour,
?ac"bite
- The Critic: or a Trage"' (ehearse", 1--@ burlesque on producing plays
- a satirical defence of his own art against hac"s, detractors, unworthy rials
- after a mandate as a politician and parliamentarian orator, he returns to drama
in 1-@@, with Pi--aro, which treats of the failure of wordy defences

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