45 pages • 1 hour read
The Way of the World
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
The Way of the World is a play by William Congreve, first performed in 1700 at Lincoln’s Inn Fields. The Way of the World is a Restoration comedy, meaning it is a comedy written and performed in the boom of theater following the restoration of the Stuart Dynasty after the Interregnum period in England. As with many Restoration comedies, Congreve focuses his satire on the upper classes, but The Way of the World is notable in that it does not employ the lewd or “bawdy” devices used by most other Restoration playwrights. The Way of the World is notable as a successful Restoration play, often listed among the most important works from the period alongside Aphra Behn’s The Rover, William Wycherley’s The Country Wife, and George Etherege’s The Man of Mode. Part of what makes The Way of the World an important play is that it premiered after Jeremy Collier’s “Short View on the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage,” published in 1698.
The play follows Fainall and Mirabell, two gentlemen attempting to secure the wealth of Unlock all 45 pages of this Study Guide Plus, gain access to 8,900+ more expert-written Study Guides. Including features:
