
Marriage and its discontents lie at the heart of Restoration comedy. In all four of the great plays gathered here, a married woman confronts her would-be seducer. Each dramatist, however, totally reinterprets the situation. Thomas Otway's The Soldier's Fortune converts adultery into political revenge. Nathaniel Lee's The Princess of Cleves offers a potent and perplexing portrait of a libertine in action at the sixteenth-century French court. John Dryden's Amphitryon, set in ancient Thebes, retells the story in which Jupiter lures the virtuous Alcmena into cuckolding her husband by a stratagem that throws into doubt the very nature of human identity. Thomas Southerne's The Wives' Excuse reinvents, for the new circumstances of the 1690s, the familiar Restoration plot of a wife spurred towards infidelity by her partner's failings. All of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation.
The central conflict in these four plays revolves around the volatile intersection of marital fidelity, social reputation, and the pursuit of illicit desire within the rigid structures of Restoration-era society. Each play features a protagonist navigating the pressures of marriage while contending with external seducers or internal moral failings. The narrative frameworks vary from political satire and historical adaptation to mythological farce, reflecting the diverse approaches of the era's dramatists. These works operate under the physical and logical constraints of the 17th-century stage, where wit, verbal dexterity, and social performance dictate the outcomes of personal relationships.
Discussion often centers on the distinct tonal shifts between the four dramatists, ranging from Otway's political cynicism to Dryden's philosophical inquiry into identity. Readers frequently highlight the collection's value in showcasing how Restoration comedy evolved from simple farce into a more nuanced critique of social mores. Critics often note that the plays successfully balance comedic artifice with a darker, more cynical view of human relationships. The modernized spelling and punctuation are frequently cited as helpful features that make these complex texts accessible to contemporary audiences. This anthology serves as a significant resource for those interested in the stylistic and thematic preoccupations of late 17th-century English theater.
Page Count:
504
Publication Date:
1995-08-10
ISBN-10:
0192825704
ISBN-13:
9780192825704
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!