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Comedy of manners
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{{Short description|Realistic, satirical genre of English literature}} {{more citations needed|date=April 2018}} In English literature, the term '''comedy of manners''' (also '''anti-sentimental comedy''') describes a genre of realistic, satirical [[comedy]] of the [[Stuart Restoration|Restoration period]] (1660–1710) that questions and comments upon the [[Etiquette|manners]] and [[Convention (norm)|social conventions]] of a greatly sophisticated, artificial society.<ref>''A Handbook to Literature'' Fourth Edition (1980), C. Hugh Holman, Ed., pp. 91–92</ref> The satire of fashion, manners, and outlook on life of the social classes, is realised with [[stock characters]], such as the [[miles gloriosus|braggart soldier]] of [[Ancient Greek comedy]], and the [[fop]] and the [[rake (character)|rake]] of English [[Restoration comedy]].<ref>George Henry Nettleton, Arthur [https://books.google.com/books?id=TD8xG2Jnc10C&pg=PA149 ''British dramatists from Dryden to Sheridan''] p.149</ref> The clever plot of a comedy of manners (usually a scandal) is secondary to the social commentary thematically presented through the witty dialogue of the characters, e.g. ''[[The Importance of Being Earnest]]'' (1895), by [[Oscar Wilde]], which satirises the sexual hypocrisies of [[Victorian morality]]. The comedy-of-manners genre originated in the [[New Comedy]] period (325–260 BC) of [[Classical Greece]] (510–323 BC), and is known from fragments of works by the playwright [[Menander]], whose style of writing, elaborate plots, and stock characters were imitated by [[Theatre of ancient Rome|Roman playwrights]], such as [[Plautus]] and [[Terence]], whose comedies were known to and staged during the [[Renaissance]]. In the 17th century, the comedy of manners is best realised in the plays of [[Molière]], such as ''[[L'École des femmes|The School for Wives]]'' (1662), ''[[Tartuffe|The Imposter]]'' (1664), and ''[[Le Misanthrope|The Misanthrope]]'' (1666), which satirise the hypocrisies and pretensions of the ''[[ancien régime]]'' that ruled France from the late 15th century to the 18th century. In the early 18th century, [[William Congreve]]'s play ''[[The Way of the World]]'' (1700) became popular among the public for its strong depiction of the comedy of manners genre. == Early examples == The comedy of manners has been employed by Roman satirists since as early as the first century BC. [[Horace]]'s [[Satires (Horace)|Satire 1.9]] is a prominent example, in which the persona is unable to express his wish for his companion to leave, but instead subtly implies so through wit. [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Much Ado about Nothing]]'' might be considered the first comedy of manners In [[England]], but the genre really flourished during the [[English Restoration|Restoration]] period. [[Restoration comedy]], which was influenced by [[Ben Jonson]]'s [[comedy of humours]], made fun of affected wit and acquired follies of the time. The masterpieces of the genre were the plays of [[William Wycherley]] (''[[The Country Wife]]'', 1675) and [[William Congreve (playwright)|William Congreve]] (''[[The Way of the World]]'', 1700). In the late 18th century [[Oliver Goldsmith]] (''[[She Stoops to Conquer]]'', 1773) and [[Richard Brinsley Sheridan]] (''[[The Rivals]]'', 1775; ''[[The School for Scandal]]'', 1777) revived the form. == More recent examples == The tradition of elaborate, artificial plotting, and epigrammatic dialogue was carried on by the Irish playwright [[Oscar Wilde]] in ''[[Lady Windermere's Fan]]'' (1892) and ''[[The Importance of Being Earnest]]'' (1895). In the 20th century, the comedy of manners reappeared in the plays of the British dramatists [[Noël Coward]] (''[[Hay Fever (play)|Hay Fever]]'', 1925) and [[Somerset Maugham]]. Other early twentieth-century examples of comedies of manners include [[George Bernard Shaw]]'s 1913 play ''[[Pygmalion (play)|Pygmalion]]'' (later adapted into the musical ''[[My Fair Lady]]''), [[E. M. Forster]]'s ''[[A Room with a View]]'', and the [[Jeeves|Jeeves and Wooster]] stories of [[P. G. Wodehouse]]. The term ''[[comedy of menace]]'', which British drama critic [[Irving Wardle]] based on the subtitle of ''The Lunatic View: A Comedy of Menace'' (1958), by [[David Campton]], is a jocular play-on-words derived from the "comedy of manners" (''menace'' being ''manners'' pronounced with a somewhat [[Judeo-English]] accent).<ref name=Merritt>Susan Hollis Merritt, ''Pinter in Play: Critical Strategies and the Plays of Harold Pinter'' (Durham & London, 1990: Duke UP, 1995) 5, 9–10, 225–28, 240.</ref> Harold Pinter's play ''[[The Homecoming]]'' has been described as a mid-twentieth-century "comedy of manners".<ref name=Merritt/> Other more recent examples include [[Kazuo Ishiguro]]'s ''[[The Remains of the Day]]'', [[Barbara Pym]]'s ''[[Excellent Women]]'', [[Douglas Carter Beane]]'s ''[[As Bees in Honey Drown]]'', ''[[The Country Club (play)|The Country Club]]'', and ''[[The Little Dog Laughed (play)|The Little Dog Laughed]]''. In ''[[Boston Marriage (play)|Boston Marriage]]'' (1999), [[David Mamet]] chronicles a sexual relationship between two women, one of whom has her eye on yet another young woman (who never appears, but who is the target of a seduction scheme). Periodically, the two women make their serving woman the butt of haughty jokes, serving to point up the satire on class. Though displaying the verbal dexterity one associates with both the playwright and the genre, the patina of wit occasionally erupts into shocking crudity. Comedies of manners have been a staple of British film and television. The [[Carry On (franchise)|''Carry On'' films]] are a direct descendant of the comedy of manners style, and elements of the style can be found in [[The Beatles]]' films ''[[A Hard Day's Night (film)|A Hard Day's Night]]'' and ''[[Help! (film)|Help!]]''. Television series by [[David Croft (TV producer)|David Croft]] in collaboration with [[Jimmy Perry]] (''[[Dad's Army]]'') and with [[Jeremy Lloyd]] (''[[Are You Being Served?]]'') might also be considered examples of the genre. Television series such as ''[[George and Mildred]]'', ''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]'', ''[[The Young Ones (TV series)|The Young Ones]]'', ''[[Keeping Up Appearances]]'', and ''[[The League of Gentlemen (television series)|The League of Gentlemen]]'' also contain many elements of the genre. Though less common as a genre in American television, series such as ''[[Frasier]]'', ''[[King of the Hill]]'', ''[[Ugly Betty]]'', ''[[Soap (TV series)|Soap]]'', and ''[[The Nanny]]'' are also comedies of manners. [[Larry David]]'s ''[[Curb Your Enthusiasm]]'' has also been described as a comedy of manners.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Morris |first=Wesley |date=2024-04-05 |title=Larry David’s Rule Book for How (Not) to Live in Society |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/05/magazine/larry-david-curb-your-enthusiasm.html |access-date=2024-05-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2024-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521030703/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/05/magazine/larry-david-curb-your-enthusiasm.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Remnick |first=David |date=2024-04-08 |title=No Kaddish for “Curb” |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/curb-your-enthusiasm-finale-review |access-date=2024-05-21 |work=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X |archive-date=2024-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521030703/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/curb-your-enthusiasm-finale-review |url-status=live }}</ref> ==See also== *[[Drawing room play]] ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20071104051328/http://www.samuelfrench-london.co.uk/sf/Pages/feature/campton.html David Campton], ''Samuel French London'' (archived 4 November 2007). {{Comedy footer}} {{Authority control}} [[Category:Drama]] [[Category:Comedy genres]] [[Category:Satire]]
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