Name:- Hetal Dabh
Roll no:-11
Cass :- Sem -1
Paper no:- 2
Year:-2018-19
Richard Steel as the founder of sentimental Coedy
Steele was an Irish writer and politician, remembered mainly for co-founding the magazine The Spectator. ... Scholars argue whether a more important writer of the genre was Colley Cibber, an actor-manager, writer, and poet laureate who wrote the first sentimental comedy, Love's Last Shift, in order to give himself a role.
The best known work of this genre is Sir Richard Steele's The Conscious Lovers (1722), in which the penniless heroine Indiana faces various tests until the discovery that she is an heiress leads to the necessary happy ending. Steele wished his plays to bring the audience, "a pleasure too exquisite for laughter." Steele was an Irish writer and politician, remembered mainly for co-founding the magazine The Spectator. While he wrote a few notable sentimental comedies, he was criticized for being a hypocrite as he wrote moral plays, booklets, and articles but enjoyed drinking, occasional dueling, and debauchery around town.
Sentimental comedies
Love's Last Shift by Colley Cibber
The Constant Couple by George Farquhar
The Lying Lover by Richard Steele
The Tender Husband by Richard Steele
The Conscious Lovers by Richard Steele
The Foundling by Edward Moore
The School for Lovers by William Whitehead
The Conscious Lovers
The Conscious Lovers is a sentimental comedy written in five acts by the Irish author Richard Steele. The Conscious Lovers appeared on stage on 7 November 1722, at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and was an immediate success, with an initial run of eighteen consecutive nights.
Men
Sir John Bevil
Mr. Sealand
Bevil Junior, in love with Indiana but betrothed to Lucinda
Myrtle, in love with Lucinda
Cimberton, a coxcomb
Humphrey, an old servant to Sir John
Tom, servant to Bevil Junior
Daniel, a country boy, servant to Indiana
Women
Mrs. Sealand, second wife to Sealand
Isabella, sister to Sealand
Indiana, Sealand's daughter by his first wife
Lucinda, Sealand's daughter by his second wife
Phillis, maid to Lucinda
Young Bevil, a gentleman of some fortune, is engaged to marry the daughter of Mr. Sealand. Although he is not in love with the woman, he agrees to marry her at his father’s request. On the day of the marriage, however, there is some doubt that the marriage will take place, for the bride’s father discovers that Bevil is paying the bills of a young woman he brought back from France. Fearing that the young woman, called Indiana, is Bevil’s mistress, Mr.
Sealand does not want his daughter to marry a man who keeps another woman.
The father does not know that Bevil sent a letter to Lucinda Sealand that gives her his permission to break off the marriage at that late date. Bevil did so because he knows that Lucinda is really in love with his friend, Mr. Myrtle, and because he himself wants to marry Indiana. After the letter is sent, Sir John’s valet tells young Bevil that the marriage will probably be broken by Mr. Sealand. Bevil then confides in the servant that Indiana is the daughter of the British merchant named Danvers, who disappeared in the Indies soon after the ship in which Indiana, her mother, and her aunt were traveling to join him was captured by French privateers.
Sentimental comedy in brief………
Sentimental comedy is an 18th century dramatic genre which resulted as a reaction to the immoral tone of English Restoration Plays. Sentimental comedies stressed the philosophical conception of humans as good at heart but got misled or astray by bad examples.these plays produce tears rather than laughter i.e it evoke emotions or feelings that is why The argument behind such effects was ‘by appealing to the noble sentiments of fellow we can reform him and can bring him back on the path of virtue’.
‘Guilt is punished ,virtue is rewarded’.The law of poetic justice was used as an important technique. We can say that it is a passionate expression of faith in the deep innate goodness of man.The plays had mostly middle.
Sentimental comedy had its roots in early 18th century tragedy , which had a vein of morality as that of sentimental comedy but had loftier characters and subject matter than sentimental comedy. Though sentimental comedy was a reaction against immoral tone of restoration plays but critics were very angry with such puppet type dramatic genre in which protagonist was made to act as the author thinks he should act. The comedy is full of arbitrary goodness ,exaggerated wickedness,forced conversions and untimely preachings. It was blamed that in the hands of sentimentalists ‘comedy’ had lost its realistic characters. Sir Richard Steele’s The conscious Lovers is regarded as best known sentimental comedy. It deals with life of its penniless heroine Indiana.
The characters in sentimental comedy are either strictly good or bad. Heroes have no faults or bad habits, villains are thoroughly evil or morally degraded. The authors' purpose was to show the audience the innate goodness of people and that through morality people who have been led astray can find the path of righteousness.
The plot usually centered on the domestic trials of middle-class couples and included romantic love scenes. Their private woes are exhibited with much emotional stress intended to arouse the spectator’s pity and suspense in advance of the approaching happy ending. Lovers are often shown separated from each other by socioeconomic factors at the beginning, but brought together in the end by a discovery about the identity of the lower class lover. Plots also contained an element of mystery to be solved. Verse was not used in order to create a closer illusion of reality. It was thought that rhyme would obscure the true meaning of the words and make the truth disappear.
The playwrights of this genre aimed to bring the audience to tears, not laughter, as the name sentimental comedy might suggest. They believed that noisy laughter inhibited the silent sympathy and thought of the audience. Playwrights strove to touch the feelings of the spectators so that they could learn from the play and relate the events they witnessed on stage to their own lives, causing them to live more virtuously.
Other sentimental comedies work by Colley Cibber
Love's Last Shift, or The Fool in Fashion is an English Restoration comedy by Colley Cibber from 1696.
The play is regarded as an early herald of a shift in audience tastes away from the intellectualism and sexual frankness of Restoration comedy and towards the conservative certainties and gender role backlash of sentimental comedy. It is often described as "opportunistic" (Hume), containing as it does something for everybody: daring Restoration comedy sex scenes, sentimental reconciliations, and broad farce.
Love's Last Shift is the story of a last "shift" or trick that a virtuous wife, Amanda, is driven to, in order to reform and retain her out-of-control rakish husband Loveless. Loveless has been away for ten years, dividing his time between the brothel and the bottle, and no longer recognizes his wife when he returns to London. Acting the part of a high-class prostitute, Amanda invites Loveless into her luxurious house and treats him to the night of his dreams, confessing her true identity in the morning. Loveless is so impressed by her faithfulness that he immediately becomes a reformed character. A minor part which was a great success with the première audience is the fop Sir Novelty Fashion, written by Cibber for himself to play. Sir Novelty flirts with all the women, but is more interested in his own exquisite appearance and witticisms, and, writes Cibber modestly in his autobiography 45 years later, "was thought a good portrait of the foppery then in fashion".
The play was a great box office hit at the première run but has not stood the test of time. Theatre historians today remember it, if at all, because of John Vanbrugh's sequel The Relapse, or, Virtue in Danger, still a stage favourite, where the husband returns to polygamy.
Roll no:-11
Cass :- Sem -1
Paper no:- 2
Year:-2018-19
Richard Steel as the founder of sentimental Coedy
Steele was an Irish writer and politician, remembered mainly for co-founding the magazine The Spectator. ... Scholars argue whether a more important writer of the genre was Colley Cibber, an actor-manager, writer, and poet laureate who wrote the first sentimental comedy, Love's Last Shift, in order to give himself a role.
The best known work of this genre is Sir Richard Steele's The Conscious Lovers (1722), in which the penniless heroine Indiana faces various tests until the discovery that she is an heiress leads to the necessary happy ending. Steele wished his plays to bring the audience, "a pleasure too exquisite for laughter." Steele was an Irish writer and politician, remembered mainly for co-founding the magazine The Spectator. While he wrote a few notable sentimental comedies, he was criticized for being a hypocrite as he wrote moral plays, booklets, and articles but enjoyed drinking, occasional dueling, and debauchery around town.
Sentimental comedies
Love's Last Shift by Colley Cibber
The Constant Couple by George Farquhar
The Lying Lover by Richard Steele
The Tender Husband by Richard Steele
The Conscious Lovers by Richard Steele
The Foundling by Edward Moore
The School for Lovers by William Whitehead
The Conscious Lovers
The Conscious Lovers is a sentimental comedy written in five acts by the Irish author Richard Steele. The Conscious Lovers appeared on stage on 7 November 1722, at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and was an immediate success, with an initial run of eighteen consecutive nights.
Men
Sir John Bevil
Mr. Sealand
Bevil Junior, in love with Indiana but betrothed to Lucinda
Myrtle, in love with Lucinda
Cimberton, a coxcomb
Humphrey, an old servant to Sir John
Tom, servant to Bevil Junior
Daniel, a country boy, servant to Indiana
Women
Mrs. Sealand, second wife to Sealand
Isabella, sister to Sealand
Indiana, Sealand's daughter by his first wife
Lucinda, Sealand's daughter by his second wife
Phillis, maid to Lucinda
Young Bevil, a gentleman of some fortune, is engaged to marry the daughter of Mr. Sealand. Although he is not in love with the woman, he agrees to marry her at his father’s request. On the day of the marriage, however, there is some doubt that the marriage will take place, for the bride’s father discovers that Bevil is paying the bills of a young woman he brought back from France. Fearing that the young woman, called Indiana, is Bevil’s mistress, Mr.
Sealand does not want his daughter to marry a man who keeps another woman.
The father does not know that Bevil sent a letter to Lucinda Sealand that gives her his permission to break off the marriage at that late date. Bevil did so because he knows that Lucinda is really in love with his friend, Mr. Myrtle, and because he himself wants to marry Indiana. After the letter is sent, Sir John’s valet tells young Bevil that the marriage will probably be broken by Mr. Sealand. Bevil then confides in the servant that Indiana is the daughter of the British merchant named Danvers, who disappeared in the Indies soon after the ship in which Indiana, her mother, and her aunt were traveling to join him was captured by French privateers.
Sentimental comedy in brief………
Sentimental comedy is an 18th century dramatic genre which resulted as a reaction to the immoral tone of English Restoration Plays. Sentimental comedies stressed the philosophical conception of humans as good at heart but got misled or astray by bad examples.these plays produce tears rather than laughter i.e it evoke emotions or feelings that is why The argument behind such effects was ‘by appealing to the noble sentiments of fellow we can reform him and can bring him back on the path of virtue’.
‘Guilt is punished ,virtue is rewarded’.The law of poetic justice was used as an important technique. We can say that it is a passionate expression of faith in the deep innate goodness of man.The plays had mostly middle.
Sentimental comedy had its roots in early 18th century tragedy , which had a vein of morality as that of sentimental comedy but had loftier characters and subject matter than sentimental comedy. Though sentimental comedy was a reaction against immoral tone of restoration plays but critics were very angry with such puppet type dramatic genre in which protagonist was made to act as the author thinks he should act. The comedy is full of arbitrary goodness ,exaggerated wickedness,forced conversions and untimely preachings. It was blamed that in the hands of sentimentalists ‘comedy’ had lost its realistic characters. Sir Richard Steele’s The conscious Lovers is regarded as best known sentimental comedy. It deals with life of its penniless heroine Indiana.
The characters in sentimental comedy are either strictly good or bad. Heroes have no faults or bad habits, villains are thoroughly evil or morally degraded. The authors' purpose was to show the audience the innate goodness of people and that through morality people who have been led astray can find the path of righteousness.
The plot usually centered on the domestic trials of middle-class couples and included romantic love scenes. Their private woes are exhibited with much emotional stress intended to arouse the spectator’s pity and suspense in advance of the approaching happy ending. Lovers are often shown separated from each other by socioeconomic factors at the beginning, but brought together in the end by a discovery about the identity of the lower class lover. Plots also contained an element of mystery to be solved. Verse was not used in order to create a closer illusion of reality. It was thought that rhyme would obscure the true meaning of the words and make the truth disappear.
The playwrights of this genre aimed to bring the audience to tears, not laughter, as the name sentimental comedy might suggest. They believed that noisy laughter inhibited the silent sympathy and thought of the audience. Playwrights strove to touch the feelings of the spectators so that they could learn from the play and relate the events they witnessed on stage to their own lives, causing them to live more virtuously.
Other sentimental comedies work by Colley Cibber
Love's Last Shift, or The Fool in Fashion is an English Restoration comedy by Colley Cibber from 1696.
The play is regarded as an early herald of a shift in audience tastes away from the intellectualism and sexual frankness of Restoration comedy and towards the conservative certainties and gender role backlash of sentimental comedy. It is often described as "opportunistic" (Hume), containing as it does something for everybody: daring Restoration comedy sex scenes, sentimental reconciliations, and broad farce.
Love's Last Shift is the story of a last "shift" or trick that a virtuous wife, Amanda, is driven to, in order to reform and retain her out-of-control rakish husband Loveless. Loveless has been away for ten years, dividing his time between the brothel and the bottle, and no longer recognizes his wife when he returns to London. Acting the part of a high-class prostitute, Amanda invites Loveless into her luxurious house and treats him to the night of his dreams, confessing her true identity in the morning. Loveless is so impressed by her faithfulness that he immediately becomes a reformed character. A minor part which was a great success with the première audience is the fop Sir Novelty Fashion, written by Cibber for himself to play. Sir Novelty flirts with all the women, but is more interested in his own exquisite appearance and witticisms, and, writes Cibber modestly in his autobiography 45 years later, "was thought a good portrait of the foppery then in fashion".
The play was a great box office hit at the première run but has not stood the test of time. Theatre historians today remember it, if at all, because of John Vanbrugh's sequel The Relapse, or, Virtue in Danger, still a stage favourite, where the husband returns to polygamy.
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