Re-reading The Way of The World With Its Contemporary Relevance

Abstract

The present research focuses on the study of the people and scenario of the Restoration Era and how the contemporary society is very much similar to the drama under study, The Way of the World by William Congreve.  Congreve’s Comedy of Manners takes the fashionable or conventional social behavior of the time as the principle subject of satire. Conflicts that arise between and among characters are prompted by affected and artificial social mores, especially with respect to relationships between the sexes.  The drama shows the various characters, how they act in the society and what their true colors are. There is not only one but many characters in the drama that has a vivid personality and which can also be found in our contemporary society. Deception is portrayed in several ways, for example, when Waitwell disguises himself as Sir Rowland, in Fainall’s affair with Mrs Marwood and in Mirabell’s attempt to trick Lady Wishfort into allowing him to marry Millamant. Congreve presents us with a world where morals values and principles are exchanged for prestige and wealth. In addition, the deceit is practiced by all characters make this play incredibly comic. Apart from the presentation of incidental wit, Restoration comedy has two main interests: the behavior of the polite society and of pretenders to polite society, and particular aspects of sexual relationships, which is, to some or more extent seen in our contemporary society.