Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Topic: Characteristics of an Anti-sentimental Comedy.
Paper No: 2,
The neo-classical age.
Name: Gohil Khanjaniba M.
Roll No: 17.
Class: MA (Part-1).
Semester: 1.
Year: 2013/2014.
Submitted to: Dr. Dilip Barad and Heenaba Jhala.
Department of English,
MKBU,
Bhavnagar.
What is ‘sentimentalism and anti-sentimentalism’?
Sentimentalism can be defined as an overindulgence of emotions and pathos also of sympathy. It depends upon individuals interpretations. Percy B. Shelly tries to evoke responses from the reader for a lover in his “Epipsychidion” –a poem. There is an autobiographical element in his work.
He has written that it is “an idealized history of my life and feelings.” Shelly introduces free love by criticizing conventional marriage. He thinks of marriages as a long journey. This works and thinking may be means for sentimentalism for new critics of 1930’s and later.
Moreover it has relation with pathos. ‘Pathos’ is a Greek word and its meaning is passion and suffering or deep feeling, but in modern criticism it is applied in much more limited way to a scene or passage that is designed to evoke the feelings in tenderness. Pity and sympathetic sorrow comes from the audience.
In the sentimental comedy; sentiments generally degenerated into sentimentality. Coley Cibber and Steele were the major dramatists of ancient era and when this kind of dramas spread in the world. These dramatists aimed at to moralize the lessons in a tedious way by restoring suffering innocent virtue to happiness and converting a vagrant into good characters.
Thus these comedies like sentimental and an anti-sentimental comedy lost the true spirit of comedy. In these comedies we cannot find out gaiety and merriment created by the wit or fun. But in this kind of dramas generally it shows us the false morality of the middle-class. “She Stoops to Conquer”, is refers to the ‘Age of sensibility’. Many works presented between the years of 1750 to 1798, more emphasized on emotions pathos, instead of drama and humor. Sentimental comedy called as a comedy not because of its humor but the reason is that it had a happy ending.
On 15, March in the year of 1773 a new comedy published named as “She stoops to conquer” or “The Mistakes of Night” written by Dr. Oliver Goldsmith. In this comedy there is such comedy of manners like farce which also creates poking fun at the manners aristocratic and sophisticated society. While he wrote this comedy he adopted many styles like epilogue, foreshadowing, irony, poetic justice and prologue.
Sentimental comedy is related to our emotions and it delivered to the human’s falling of pity, sorrow and feeling which is more puts stress on piteous sympathy. Richard Steele’s “The Conscious Lovers”, is well known for a sentimental comedy. Sentimental comedy established over the world, in the early Eighteenth century.
Comedy of Manners:
Comedy has many different aspects, rules and regulations. Here is the different types of the comedy, they are: Romantic Comedy, Satiric Comedy, in the comedy of manners it is divided into two parts are-old comedy and new comedy, etc. Another one is Farce and it is a type of comedy designed to provoke the audience to simple, hearty laughter-“belly laughs”, in the parlance of theater. A useful difference of the sentimental and the non-sentimental.
Whereas, Oliver Goldsmith’s “The Vicar of Wake Field” and “The Deserted Village” are also raised in the eighteenth century and also in the form of novel, plays and poem. Whereas, his famous work “She Stoops to Conquer” and Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s “The Rivals” and “School for Scandal”: are refers to the Anti Sentimental Comedy. Originated in the new comedy of the Greek Menander and developed by the Roman dramatics like Plautus and Terence in the third and second centuries BC. It deals with vicissitudes of young lovers, highly polished in Restoration comedy and deals with the relations and intrigues of men and women living in a violation of social standard and decorum. In the comedy of manners there should be immorality of situation. Sheridan’s “The Rival” and “School for Scandal”- are the best examples of this term.
“She Stoops to Conquer”
This comedy was produced in 1773. There is many characters like Hardcastle, who loves everything that is old and Mrs. Hardcastle has one daughter and one son. The daughter’s name is Miss Hardcastle and son’s name is Tony Lumpkin, who was idle and ignorant, but he was mischievous and has mental feebleness of an old age on him by his mother. Whereas, Sir Charles Marlow has proposed a match between his son young Marlow and Miss Hardcastle. Young Marlow was one of the most bashful and reserved young fellows in the world. Tony was the son of Mrs. Hardcastle by her former marriage. Marlow’s friend Hastings goes to travel where he also pays the visit to the Hardcastle, after wondering here and there he arrives at night at the ‘Three Jolly Pigeons’, where Tony directs them to a neighboring inn, which is in reality the Hardcastle’ house. The fun of the play arises largely from the misunderstanding. Marlow treating Hardcastle as the land lord of the supposed inn and making violent love to Miss Hardcastle, whom he takes for one of the servants. His bashful attitude presented to Miss Hardcastle when he contrasted. The arrival of Marlow’s father clarifies the misunderstanding and all ends well. Although other characters played a vital role, example for ‘a subsidiary love affairs between Hastings and Miss Hardcastle’s cousin or between Miss Neville and Tony Lumpkin.
This comedy’s prologue of the play gives the conception of Goldsmith’s comedy. He directly satirized on sentimental comedy. But this kind of comedy achieved some popularity with middle class audiences in the eighteenth century.
“The Rivals”
“The Rival” is the example of an anti sentimental comedy. This comedy has only written to entertain people or for only make them laugh not for them making them shed tears. Though in this comedy there are some scenes and it regarded as a parody of sentimental. Sheridan revolted the trend of their time and also it was famous in those eras. We found both Faulkland and Julia absurd. The character of Faulkland is indicated to us by Absolute’s description of him as “the most teasing, captious, incorrigible lover”. Faulkland’s own description of his state of mind about his beloved Julia and also make him appear absurd. He says that every hour is an occasion for him to feel alarmed on Julia’s account. If it rains, he feels afraid lest some is over should have chilled her. The heat of the noon and the dews of the evening may endanger for health. All this funny and absurd things are presented here in very much funny tone. Sheridan ridicules at an excessive solitude and concern which an over sentimental lover like Faulkland experiences when he was separated from his beloved. Sheridan presents such mental condition of a lover for his beloved and it may happen even in the case of an ardent lover.
Sheridan continues to portray Faulkland in the satirical way. We expect the same reaction from Julia as Faulkland gives. But he had assured Absolute that he would feel happy “beyond measure” if he were certain that Julia was hale and hearty. But actually reacts in different manner and it amuses a lot by its absurdity.
In the first interview, Faulkland complains to her of the mirth and gaiety that she has been enjoying during his absence, her fixed to be “fixed and ardent”. In other words, his soliloquies are reveals at the end of the scene him in a more light comic way. Even Julia suffers from an excessive sentimentality and she is too is made to appear absurd and ridiculous for that reason. In the two interviews with Faulkland, Julia is again over-flowing with emotion. We look at her style, in which she behaves and we are amused by her excess of emotion. All this makes us laugh at her superficiality and silliness. This absurd notion has been derived by her from the sentimental and romantic stories to which she is addicted. The collapse of her romantic hopes disappoints her greatly but amuses us a good deal.
The manner in which other characters have been also an evidence of the sentiment characters of the play. Captain Absolute is a practical man and though he assumes the name and the status of Ensign Beverly, he would not like to forfeit the rich dowry in which Lydia will bring him. Mrs. Malaprop is a conventional, practical woman who’s a country boor with no romantic or sentiment pretension but towards the end of the play he shows that he is more practical than anybody else by saying:
“If I can’t get a wife without fighting for her, by any velour, I will live a bachelor.”
Then there is Sir Lucius who is absurd but not because of May sentimentality. One reason why he is absurd is because of his instance on fighting duels. But he does not want to fight duels for the sake of any sentiment. When Sheridan himself fought a couple of duels for the sake of Miss Elizabeth Linley, there was a strong emotion behind them, but here we have a mockery of dueling and we are made to laugh at the manner in which this duels are arranged.
Major characteristics of an ‘Anti Sentimental Comedy’:
In the anti sentimental comedy there are many characteristics established they are:
-Wit, laughter, farce, irony, verbal irony, situational irony and dramatic disguised. It is also called as comedy of manners.
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