The Way Of The World

Front Cover
Kessinger Publishing, Jun 1, 2004 - Drama - 124 pages
If seventeenth- and eighteenth-century comedy differ in that the formeris about sex (and adultery actually happens) while the latter is aboutlove (and adultery is merely threatened), then Congreve - writing atthe turn of the century - occupies a phase of transition. Mirabell isno saint, but he deserves the title of 'hero' for masterminding theaction with the same wit and humanity with which the dramatist designedthe play. Mirabell is both financially and amorously interested in theskittish Millamant, who declares that she might, with certain provisos, 'dwindle into a wife'. The introduction to this edition clarifies theplaywright's and his characters' highly intricate plotting and arguesthat the key metaphor of the play is card-playing, in which fortune, cunning, concealment and a high trump drawn from the sleeve at theright moment will win the game - and the heiress.

References to this book

About the author (2004)

William Congreve was a playwright. He was born in February 1670 in Bardsey Grange, England. Congreve attended Trinity College, Dublin, and was admitted to the Middle Temple to study law. Congreve completed his first play, The Old Bachelor, in 1690. He became associated with John Dryden, collaborating with him on translations of the satires of Juvenal and Persius in 1693. Congreve's second play, Love for Love, was also successful and Congreve became a manager of the theater that staged it. Other plays followed, including The Way of the World in 1700. Congreve died on January 19, 1729.

Bibliographic information

TitleThe Way Of The World
AuthorWilliam Congreve
Editionreprint
PublisherKessinger Publishing, 2004
ISBN1419187481, 9781419187483
Length124 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Drama / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
  
Export CitationBiBTeX EndNote RefMan