The comedy of manners is a genre of Drama that saw it's prolifiration during the restoration period of

1660 to 1710, when the cromwell puritan government fell and monarchy was restored. Yet examples of
Comedy of manners existed far after the fall of the restoration monarchy.

Characteristics of comedy of manners.

Stock characters-

Comedy of Manners would draw much of it's inspiration from the classic greek era dramas. Much of
their characters were drawn from Theophrastus's Ethical Character, but variations and developments
would also exist.

"The influence of Theophrastus upon all the " character " writers of the early part of the seventeenth
century, upon the men who set the fashion for those who were to follow, is clearly apparent.2 To the
strength of this influence is due, nodoubt, the fact that in a general way the "character "remained even
to the time of the Restoration, in a remark-able degree unchange" - The character in restoration comedy.

Multiple stock characters would exist in the comedy of manners. We can observe the Fop as a character
as sir Fopling Flutter in George Etherege's The Man of Mode, or Sir Fopling Flutter.

Social criticism-

True to it's name, comedy of manners often concern themselves with the hypocrisy and duplicity of
society. They criticise the way hypocritical aristocratic social strata which preaches virtue but are
themselves leading a sinful life.

"There are,however, three distinct degrees in the treatment of the puritans as a comic figure. The
Jonsonian figure, a canting hypocrite, decrying the things of the world and secretely enjoying
them....Immediately after the restoration, he reappeared as an even more maleficent figure, one given
to casuistry"

and

"The playwrights had just endured a long periodof Puritan rule and felt toward the Puritans about as a
Russian Emigres does toward Communists."

Though initially it can be said that the initial hypocrites of the comedy of manners were mainly puritans.
I believe that by the time of Shaw and Wilde, the puritans dissolved into a criticism of general aristocratic
stratas.

A general libertine spirit-

It is important to note this character. The restoration drama and comedy of manners was not hessitent of
jumping into subjects that were considered morally objectionably. The drama would be explore sexuality
and criticise elements of contemporary society such as the monarchy. By the time of shaw and wilde,
this would transmute into a general suspicion of aristocratic superficiality.
Examples of comedy of manners-

WIlliam Congreve- THe way of the world.

The play is one where sexual liasons, marriage are all treated with an immense level of looseness. Love is
not treated

"You should have just so much disgust for your husband as may be sufficient to make you relish your
lover."

One can infer from these lines the way in which the comedy of manners treated the aristocrati
personality and the way the puritan values were undercut.

Richard Sheridan- The Rivals-

The Rivals equally shows a distrust for the aristocratic pretensions towards virtue. The play is rife with
intrigue and complex plots. The character of Mrs Malapropos and those of her social strata make the
aristocrats look nearly mad.

George Bernard Shaw- Arms and the man-

Shaw and wilde are the post restoration dramatists of comedy of manners, but in them we can still see
the embers of the past comedy of manners. I will point towards Arms and the Man as an example-

From the very initial point, the aristocracy is rendered rediculous in their ineptitude and blind-
romanicism, Bluntschli states of Sirgeus's mad charge-.

""He did it like an operatic tenor—a regular handsome fellow, with flashing eyes and lovely moustache,
shouting a war-cry and charging like Don Quixote at the windmills. We nearly burst with laughter at
him;" Act-1

Further Sirgeus states, undercutting the puritan values of love-

"SERGIUS.

"Very fatiguing thing to keep up for any length of time, Louka. One feels the need of some relief after it."
2

We can infer from these lines the level of criticism that is being delivered towards the aristocratic society.
In Shaw's play, the only virtuous character is one who comes from a working class background- Louka.

Conclusion,-

"The businessof Comedy [is] to render Vice ridiculous,to expose it to publick Derision and Contempt,and
to makeMen asham'd of Vile and Sordid Actions"- Sir Richard Blackmore, "Preface to Prince Arthur," in
Critical Essays of the Seventeenth Century

Comedy of manners is a genre that flourished during the restoration period. It is a form of drama that
served to criticize the follies of an artificial society. The key characteristics of comedy of manners include
stock characters, the display of the hypocrisy in the aristocratic society. Examples of Comedy of Manners
are The Ways of the world by William Congreve, Richard Sheridan's The Rivals and George Bernard
Shaw's Arms and the Man.