Echoes of Socio-Political Forces in Jonson’s the Alchemist and Etherege’s the Man of Mode

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ECHOES OF SOCIO-POLITICAL FORCES IN JONSON’S THE ALCHEMIST AND ETHEREGE’S THE MAN OF MODE THE MAN OF MODE The Man Of Mode, or Sir Fopling Flutter, is one of the better known Restoration Comedies. The Puritan Cromwell, believing all acting and theater to be evil, abolished them at the outset of the Commonwealth. While many sought to clean up the theater, the Puritans distrusted all amusements as being a distraction from spiritual things and a waste of time; thus they sought to do away with ballad singers, dancing, game festivals, and even mirrors (due to concerns about vanity). England eventually got tired of the Puritan rule and was fed up enough to invite Charles back. When the Restoration came, the theaters were reopened and a floodgate of new works spilled forth. Of the new works, the one genre that lasted beyond the time was the so- called Restoration Comedy, which featured a new kind of character, the Rake. Short for “rakehell”, the rake was a man of wits and means, who wasted it all on wine, women, and son. Particularly the women, as the rake was always a notorious womanizer. In most cases, the rake was reformed to some degree, usually by marriage. The first recorded performance of The Man of Mode, which may also have been its premiere, was given before the King at the Duke’s Theatre, Dorset Gardens, on 11 March 1676. The King’s presence at this early performance, Sir Car Scroope’s prologue and song, Dryden’s epilogue, and the eventual dedication to the Duchess of York, all proclaim the comedy’s allegiance to the ethos and social assumptions surrounding the Court. Three days after the first recorded performance, a contemporary witness reported, ‘This Sr Fopling makes at present all the discourse, to discover the persons meant by it’,16 an account supported many years later by John Dennis. Identifications varied wildly. At least one member of the audience

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