The Man of Mode or Sir Fopling Flutter

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The Man of Mode or Sir Fopling Flutter: On Affectation In his play 'The Man of Mode', George Etherege is attacking the fragility of pretension. The Man of Mode or Sir Fopling Flutter by George Etherege is a play that portrays a society where flirtation is the only serious business in life. The characters indulge in an idle and libertine life, while pretense seems to spread all over the community. Men pretend to wit and women pretend to virtue. As Harold Love suggested, Restoration Comedy foregrounds “the tyranny of the passion and the fragility of pretension”. Plot Summary of The Man of Mode The Man of Mode has two main plots. Dorimant the “genteel rake” wants to break up with his lover Mrs Loveit because he is tired of her, and he intends to seduce her intimate friend Belinda. Meanwhile, Harriet Woodvill comes to town from the country and proves a more exciting conquest for Dorimant. Dorimant seems to fall in love with Harriet, however both of them do not want to let the other know of their feelings. Harriet declares, “I feel as great a change within, but he shall never know it”. Harriet is also pretending to be in love with young Bellair whose father had ordered him to marry her. Bellair however is in love with Emilia who vows constancy to his love. Consequently Harriet and Bellair pretend to be in love to outwit their parents. Flirtation and Affection in Sir Fopling Flutter There is thus a lot of affectation in Sir Fopling Flutter. Many of the characters are ranged across levels of affectation. Sir Fopling is the apex of affectation, he is ruled by his mannerisms pretending to modes of behaviour which are too pretentious: “He thinks himself the pattern of modern gallantry” but is indeed “the pattern of modern foppery”. Throughout Fopling is admiring himself – he is forever looking at how he walks, looks and acts. Fopling is so much controlled by

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