The Way of the World (New Mermaids) - Softcover

Congreve, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0713666625 ISBN 13: 9780713666625

Publisher: Methuen Drama, 2009

Synopsis

If seventeenth- and eighteenth-century comedy differ in that the former
is about sex (and adultery actually happens) while the latter is about
love (and adultery is merely threatened), then Congreve - writing at
the turn of the century - occupies a phase of transition. Mirabell is
no saint, but he deserves the title of 'hero' for masterminding the
action with the same wit and humanity with which the dramatist designed
the play. Mirabell is both financially and amorously interested in the
skittish Millamant, who declares that she might, with certain provisos,
'dwindle into a wife'. The introduction to this edition clarifies the
playwright's and his characters' highly intricate plotting and argues
that the key metaphor of the play is card-playing, in which fortune,
cunning, concealment and a high trump drawn from the sleeve at the
right moment will win the game - and the heiress.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

First performed in 1700, The Way Of The World has since earned a reputation as a play for connoisseurs, a satire whose every word pricks or scratches. Its portrayal of the petty intrigues and duplicity of genteel society spares neither coquette nor rascal.

About the Author:

Brian Gibbons is a distinguished scholar and editor of Shakespeare and other early modern dramatists. He is the author of many critical studies and a General Editor of the New Mermaids and the New Cambridge Shakespeare series.

About this edition

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0713666625
• ISBN 13: 9780713666625
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 176
• Editor: Gibbons Brian