William Congreve’s The Way of the World [1700]. Reading Guide

This guide is intended for you to make the most of your reading of William Congreve’s The Way of the World. You are not expected to answer all the exercises and questions below, nor to write full or elaborate answers. There are no model or suggested answers. The purpose of the following sections and items is to help you explore and study the play in an autonomous way; you can use them to write your own notes. Answers are not to be submitted or published on the online course, but the Unit 1 forum can be used to clarify any doubts.

1. TITLE & THEMES
   • Towards the end of acts III and V, Fainall and Mirabell explicitly use the phrase “the way of the world”. What are they referring to? Can you formulate the play’s main theme on the basis of these references? [A theme should express in abstract but specific terms a central idea in a literary ]
   • From the very beginning of the play, Mirabell and Fainall, the two main plotters, present love in terms that are central to the play: as a game, as deceit/trickery, and as a war/battle. Find specific images, metaphors and statements in Act 1 that convey these The song included, by way of interlude, in Act 3, conveys a metaphorical vision of love: first as disease, then as fight, competition or strategy.
   • In connection with the theme of “love as play / imposture / war,” marriage is presented as a wretchedly boring state or, by means of a witty reversal, as an immoral state. In one of the first scenes of Act 2, for example, Fainall refers to husband and wife walking together as “scandalous”. How are marriage and extra- marital relationships presented at other points in the play? What does this indicate about Restoration morality?

 

 

• Courting is an exchange conditioned by conventions and specific gender roles, as exemplified by Sir Rowland and Lady Wishfort in Act 3 [importunate men, coy and decorous women]. In what way[s] is Mirabell’s courting of Millamant different? Could we say that, in this instance, one wit is courting another? Are they trying to outwit each other in their famous pre-marriage negotiation scene [Act 4]? What does this scene [typical of Restoration comedy] tell us about social and married life in the period, for men and women like Millamant and Mirabell? What does Millamant’s witty image “dwindle into a wife” imply?

• For a commentary and a comparison of two different approaches to performing this memorable scene of The Way of the World, you may see this YouTube video.

 

2. PROLOGUE & EPILOGUE
   • Prologues and epilogues were highly conventional texts in Restoration plays, often spoken by the best or most popular actors in the company. What would you say is the purpose of the prologue and epilogue of The Way of the World? How do they try to influence reception?
   • What information about the theatre of the Restoration can you extract from the prologue and the epilogue, as regards reception, criticism, and the audiences’ behaviour in playhouses?
   • Together with the proverbial codas at the end of each act, and Millamant’s poetic quotations, the prologue and epilogue are the only parts of the play written in verse. More specifically, in heroic couplets [rhyming iambic pentameters]. Why do you think this is so?
   • How are “poets” presented in the Prologue? Consider the epithets [e.g. “scribbling fools”], metaphors [e.g. “bubbles, by the town drawn in”], and comparisons [e.g. with “Nature’s oafs”].

 

 

 

• Wit was a common word during the period, meaning “mental quickness, inventiveness or sharpness; intellectual ability; genius talent, cleverness”; “talent for speaking or writing amusingly” [OED]. In the Prologue, it is metonymically applied to writers [“peevish wits”]; what does this use tell us about the literature of the time? Two characters in the play are called “Witwoud,” and others are referred to as “wits”. Who are the wits in the play? Can differences be established between their wits?
• The Prologue presents the play’s strengths and purpose, but excludes satire. Considering that satire “exposes the failings of individuals, institutions, or societies to ridicule and scorn,”1 do you think that this exclusion of satire is ironic? In what way[s] is The Way of the World satirical?
• The Epilogue, as opposed to the Prologue, presents satire as a basic principle of the play, and opposes it to “libel”. How would you explain this opposition? How does satire operate, according to the epilogue?

 

3. TEMPORAL, SPATIAL AND SOCIAL SETTINGS
   • The Way of the World conforms to the classical three dramatic unities. All scenes are set in the same place [different locations, but all in London], the same period of time, and contribute to the development of a unified dramatic action that involves all Can you briefly summarise the action [ideally in one sentence]?
   • The temporal setting is “equal to that of the presentation,”

i.e. early eighteenth century. Is this important for the audience’s reception of the play? As you read, you may want to make a note of specific temporal references. For example, when Sir Wilfull appears

1 Christopher Baldick, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, Oxford UP, 2008, p. 299.

 

 

towards the end of Act 3, Witwoud remarks that he has not seen his

brother “since the Revolution” [i.e. the 1688 Glorious Revolution,

which dethroned the last Catholic king in England, James II].

• The spatial setting or “scene” is the city of London. How important is the urban setting, considering the characters’ behaviour and their relationships? As you read, you may want to make a note of specific places in the city where characters meet or which they Sir Wilfull, however, comes from the country. In what ways is the opposition city-country comically exploited?
• The play combines outdoor and indoor settings in London. The first scene of Act 1 is set in a chocolate-house. Chocolate- or coffee-houses were important urban centres of masculine socialisation, as well as debate on current affairs or literary topics. The play’s “cabal-nights,” on the other hand, mentioned in the same scene, are occasions for eminently female socialisation, to which certain men may be admitted [only “coxcombs,” i.e. fool, conceited, empty-headed men]. Contrast the chocolate-house and the Cabal-
• Comedy of manners “depicts the complex and sophisticated code of behaviour current in fashionable circles of society, where appearances count for more than true moral character” [Baldick 63]. Does the term apply to The Way of the World? To the presentation of any characters in particular?
• How do the temporal and spatial settings relate with the social settings depicted by the playwright? Do characters behave / relate in specific ways because they live in London, and during the Restoration? How would you describe the society reflected by The Way of the World? You may do this considering the following binary oppositions: [i] man-woman, [ii] aristocrats/bourgeois-servants and

[iii] city-country.

 

 

 

4. DRAMATIS PERSONAE / CHARACTERS
   • The Way of the World is a play in which relationships between characters are The list of characters [Dramatis Personae] gives you important clues, apart from specifying family ties: keep in mind the tags “enemy to,” “in love with,” or “friend to” [the latter euphemistically implying a flirtatious relationship]. Drawing a character chart may help you.
   • Characters are explicitly presented as belonging to two groups, “men” and “women”. Can they also be divided into two distinct social groups? As you read the play, consider whether this is relevant, in connection with its themes.
   • At the beginning of Act 2, in discussing their hate of men, Fainall and Mrs. Marwood identify with the Amazons [Greek female warriors, independent from men] and their Queen, Penthesilea. What does this classical reference tell us about the relationship between male and female characters in the play?
   • There are other variables [apart from clichés associated with gender and class] relevant for characterisation: urban / country origin, age [especially women’s] or marital status [e.g. Mirabell is single, Fainall is married].
   • Certain characters are defined as types by using terms of common use in Restoration drama: wit, coxcomb, fop, rake, country bumpkin… Write definitions for these dramatic types. Are these terms specifically male or female?
   • Another device used for characterisation is intertextual identification with other well-known literary characters or archetypes. For example, in Act 2, Waitwell is compared with Mosca in Ben Jonson’s Volpone; in Act 3, Peg, an uncouth servant, is identified with “Maritornes the Asturian” in Don Quijote.
   • Most names are suggestive of the character’s personality or

disposition. For example, Fainall obviously suggests fain, ‘pleased,

 

 

willing,’ and is also a homophone of feign, ‘to pretend’. Do the

names of other characters fulfil a similar characterising role?

• As in most works of literature, characters are defined through
  • their appearance [physical appearance, clothing], [ii] their actions/motivations, [iii] their language, and – importantly in this play – [iv] their relations. These categories are useful in describing “Language” includes what characters say [about] themselves, what others say about them, and the kind of language they use [e.g. “All’s one for that” is Petulant’s catchphrase].

 

• You may need to refer to the dramatis personae and its details as you read, since The Way of the World weaves a rather complicated web of

 

5. PLOT & STRUCTURE
   • The first scene provides important previous information, crucial to understand what comes next: Why does Lady Wishfort hate Mirabell? Whose approval does Millamant need for marrying? What are Marwood’s feelings for Fainall and for Mirabell respectively?
   • The play is divided into a prologue, five acts and an In some editions, these three acts are divided into scenes. Changes of scene are usually marked by a change of location, or by the entrance / exit of a character. It may be useful for you to summarise in a single sentence what the main scenes add, in terms of the general plot. For example, in one of the first scenes of Act 1, “Sir Wilfull Witwoud is introduced and characterised by Mirabell and Fainall”.
   • Each act ends with a proverbial rhyming couplet. Why do you think these verse lines are included in a prose play? Who are they addressed to? How relevant are they in relation to the play’s themes and the progress of the plot?

 

 

 

6. LANGUAGE & WIT
   • Witty characters are obviously characterised by their use of witty language, clever and Early in Act 1, for example, Mirabell refers to Millamant’s defects in such endearing terms that he makes them appear as virtues. Apart from these rhetorical reversals, other manifestations of wit include [abundant] comparisons, elaborate contradictions, conceits [unusual similes or metaphors] or a proverbial tone. Find and compare examples of the language of wit in other scenes.
   • Towards the end of Act 4, Petulant and Witwoud’s argument exemplifies how wit can be used to attack/satirise someone else’s wit. Comment on the phrases: “epitomizer of words,” “annihilator of sense,” “retailer of phrases,” “speaker of shorthand”.
   • Like most Restoration comedies, The Way of the World is characterised by quick and witty dialogue. Dialogues evidence relationships between characters, and their attitudes. Register is a marker of this: note how different Lady Wishfort’s language is when she talks to Sir Wilfull and to Sir Rowland [Waitwell] in Act 4, or to Foible at the beginning of Act 5. Asides and monologues convey a characters’ private thoughts to the audience [towards the end of Act 5, Lady Wishfort confesses that she still finds Mirabell attractive; in a moment of loneliness, Mirabell reflects on the trepidation of love, as Act 2 ends].

 

7. GENERAL CULTURAL REFERENCES
   • The play contains references to fashions of the period, such as the wearing of masks [apart from being used in real life in certain spheres, masks allow characters in plays to see without being recognised, and thus discover secrets relevant for the dramatic action]. At the beginning of Act 3, we read about Lady Wishfort’s

 

 

toilette: hairstyle [wigs], make-up [“paint”], drinking liqueur [ratafia,

“cherry brandy”] to bring colour to her cheeks, using “Spanish paper”.

• Later in Act 3, Witwoud instructs his half-brother, Sir Wilfull, on fashion and city life. Consider the relevance of fashion and urbane / unrefined behaviour as effective comedic
• The Way of the World contains interesting references to the literary and theatrical scene. Lady Wishfort’s seems to have a preference for texts of Puritanical influence that denounced the “immorality” of theatre [Act 3], including Jeremy Collier’s Short View of the Stage [1698], which had a wide circulation [Puritan control of Parliament had resulted in a ban of public theatrical performances, from 1642 until the Restoration]. Can you find further examples of this censoring attitude [represented by Lady Wishfort and satirised by Congreve] in other scenes?
• In Act 4, Millamant quotes love lyrics, mainly by Sir John Suckling [1609-1641], one of the “Cavalier poets”. How do these quotes characterise Millamant, or how do they express her mood? How do Mirabell and Sir Wilfull react to Millamant’s poetic quotes? How do they contrast with Sir Wilfull’s drunken singing in Act Four?

 

 

FURTHER READING

Check bibliography and links on the online course.