Comedy of Manners: Genre Overview and Evolution

Comedy of Manners: A Witty and Cerebral Form of Dramatic Comedy

Comedy of Manners is a witty, cerebral form of dramatic comedy that satirizes the manners, affectations, and social conventions of a contemporary society. This genre, which originated in Ancient Greece, is concerned with social usage and the question of whether or not characters meet certain social standards. The governing social standard may be morally trivial but exacting. The plot of a comedy of manners, typically involving an illicit love affair or similarly scandalous matter, is subordinate to the play's brittle atmosphere, witty dialogue, and pungent commentary on human foibles.

Definition

Comedy of manners is a genre of realistic, satirical comedy that questions and comments upon the manners and social conventions of artificial society. It originated in the New Comedy period of Classical Greece and is known from fragments of works by the playwright Menander.

History

Menander, a Greek playwright, is considered one of the earliest exponents of this genre. He inaugurated New Comedy, the forerunner of comedy of manners, with his smooth style, elaborate plots, and stock characters. Roman poets Plautus and Terence imitated Menander's work, and their comedies were widely known and copied during the Renaissance.

In the 17th century, the comedy of manners was best realized in the plays of Molière, such as L’École des femmes and Le Misanthrope, which satirized the hypocrisies and pretensions of the ancien régime that ruled France from the late 15th century to the late 18th century.

In England, the comedy of manners had its greatest day during the Restoration period. Playwrights such as George Etherege, William Congreve, William Wycherley, Oliver Goldsmith, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan satirized affected wit and acquired follies in caricature characters with label-like names. The masterpieces of the genre were Wycherley's The Country-Wife and Congreve's The Way of the World. In the late 18th century, Goldsmith and Sheridan revived the form.

The tradition of elaborate, artificial plotting and epigrammatic dialogue was carried on by Oscar Wilde in Lady Windermere’s Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest. In the 20th century, the comedy of manners reappeared in the witty, sophisticated drawing-room plays of British dramatists Noël Coward and Somerset Maugham and American playwrights Philip Barry and S.N. Behrman.

Characteristics

Comedy of manners is characterized by its focus on social usage and the question of whether or not characters meet certain social standards. The governing social standard may be morally trivial but exacting. The plot of a comedy of manners is typically subordinate to the play's brittle atmosphere, witty dialogue, and pungent commentary on human foibles.

Examples

Early examples of the comedy of manners include Horace's Satire 1.9, in which the persona is unable to express his wish for his companion to leave, but instead subtly implies so through wit, and William Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing. In England, the genre really flourished during the Restoration period, with plays like Wycherley's The Country Wife and Congreve's The Way of the World.

Evolution

The comedy of manners has been employed by Roman satirists since as early as the first century BC and has continued to evolve throughout history. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, it often took aim at the insincerity and shallowness of the British aristocracy, using wit, wordplay, and irony to highlight the absurdities of social conventions, manners, and attitudes of the time.

Today, the comedy of manners is still relevant as social conventions and values continue to evolve and be challenged. It provides a way to reflect on and critique societal norms with humor and wit, making it a valuable tool for creative writers to explore contemporary issues and attitudes.