THAR 281 1st Edition Lecture 5 Outline of Last Lecture I Tartuffe characters II Analyzing themes in Tartuffe III Deus Ex Machina IV Neoclassicism ideas a Verisimilitude b Unities c Decorum d Separation e Didacticism V Catholics vs Huguenots protestant a The Cid b Jean Recine c Moliere VI Dance Outline of Current Lecture I Restoration of England background II Characteristics of this period These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute III Comedy of Manners IV Aphra Behn V William Wycherly VI William Congreve VII The Busy Body Current Lecture I II III Restoration in England because in 1642 the puritans closed all England theaters In 1660 Charles II came back from France to reassume the English throne and theatre strikes up again In the world on theatre there is a huge influence of neo classicism from France because of Charles II but not completely neo classicism Producing theatre is now restricted to only approved companies The biggest change in the new English theatre is in content tone and appearance The tone is now light and the costumes are hugely different than before The settings are also very witty Characteristics of the restoration has changed since the Elizabethan time right before the Puritans closed the theatres Women are now allowed on stage whereas before men played women roles This was not easily establish rather very quickly The first known women on stage was in December 1660 by a lady named Margret Hughes These new plays were now aimed primarily to the upper classes There was a shift in thought that now theatre was a social event that people go to be seen gossip and watch the show The word play in these plays were highly valued making the language exciting to the audience These plays started close to the climax Plays were amoral especially at the beginning of the restoration in England This meant that there was not a common good or bad of the actions the characters took An example of this would be if a lady was sleeping around the audience did not classify this as a bad thing Comedy of Manners are comedies that are funny because of breeches in social etiquette Examples are sitcoms because they laugh at how people deal with certain situations These comedies poke fun at the audience These plays involve familiar plot devices such as overhearing incorrectly and spreading the rumor or losing a letter and the wrong person picks it up Plays were very sexually suggestive gossipy and witty A new character arises from these types of plays called the fob character This character is very courageous These comedies were in small theaters with distinct social class separation Since there were not many seats tickets were not easily available targeting a certain class of people IV V VI VII Aphra behn is the best known early female play writer Her style influenced by comedia and the Spanish golden age big dramatic romances and duals Her play were just as sexually influenced as the men s plays Her best known work is called Rover William Wycherly was an upper class man that watch plays out of the special box seats His plays used political language which made some people mad about some of the things that were said onstage He was also a naval officer and was very much liked by the king His best works were the Country Wife and the Plain Dealer The country wife has a distinct scene called the China Scene This is an example of a witty and sexual play of this era William Congreve wrote sentimental comedies that were softer and toward the middle class He was the best known restoration play writer but only wrote four plays His best playwrite and the most produced play in the restoration comedies was called The Way of the World The busy body was not like Tartuffe in ways that the characters in the Busy Body spoke short dialogues has not been modernized and was written without a rhyme scheme In the Busy Body the names of the characters tell us characteristics about them An example is Marplot mar and plot which mean he foils the plot just like he does in the story The Busy Body had many themes throughout the play such as Deception trickery as a tool to achieve goals Bargaining chip to marriage Old vs young women vs men servants vs upper class and public vs private In this play there were also many love triangles such as the one between Miranda Sir George and her master Sir Francis