Synopses & Reviews
The wittiest of a renowned playwright's masterful comedies
A master of the comedy of manners, William Congreve was the most elegant of the Restoration dramatists. With piercing accuracy, he depicted the shallow world of "society," where the right artifice in manners, fashion, and conversation-and money-eased the passage to success.
*Also includes The Old Bachelor, The Double Dealer, and Love for Love
Synopsis
With piercing accuracy William ongreve depicted the shallow, brittle world of "society" where the right artifice in manners, fashion and conversation and money eased the passage to success. Through sparkling, witty dialogue and brilliant characterisation Lady Plyant, Valentine, Lady Touchwood, Mirabell and Millamant Congreve exposed the follies and vanities of that world, and suggested that behind the glinting mirror lay something more brutal.
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About the Author
William Congreve (16701729) established his reputation at the age of twenty-three with The Old Bachelor.
Eric Rump studied at Pembroke College, Cambridge, for his B.A. and at the University of Toronto for his Ph.D., and is now an Associate Professor in the English Department of Glendon College, York University, Toronto. He is the author of a number of articles on both Restoration and modern drama and has edited The Comedies of William Congreve for the Penguin Classics.