English Restoration

8/6/2019 English Restoration

1/9

English Restoration

King Charles II, the first monarch to rule after the EnglishRestoration.

The English Restoration, or simply The Restoration, was anepisode in the history of Britain beginning in 1660 when theEnglish monarchy , Scottish monarchy and Irish monarchy were restored under King Charles II after the Interregnum thatfollowed the English Civil War . The term Restoration mayapply both to the actual event by which the monarchy was

restored, and to the period immediately following theaccession of Charles II.

RESTORATION DRAMAFROM 1642 onward for eighteen years, the theaters of England remained nominally closed. There was of courseevasion of the law; but whatever performances were offeredhad to be given in secrecy, before small companies in privatehouses, or in taverns located three or four miles out of town.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_monarchyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_monarchyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_monarchyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_Englandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interregnum_(England)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Civil_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Charles_II_of_England.jpeghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Charles_II_of_England.jpeghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_monarchyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_monarchyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_monarchyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_Englandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interregnum_(England)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Civil_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom


2/9

No actor or spectator was safe, especially during the earlydays of the Puritan rule. Least of all was there any inspirationfor dramatists. In 1660 the Stuart dynasty was restored to the

throne of England. Charles II, the king, had been in Franceduring the greater part of the Protectorate, together with manyof the royalist party, all of whom were familiar with Paris andits fashions. Thus it was natural, upon the return of the court,that French influence should be felt, particularly in the theater.In August, 1660, Charles issued patents for two companies of

players, and performances immediately began. Certain writers,

in the field before the civil war, survived the period of theatrical eclipse, and now had their chance. Among thesewere Thomas Killigrew and William Davenant, who werequickly provided with fine playhouses.

APPEARANCE OF WOMEN ON THE ENGLISH

STAGE

Great indignation was aroused among the English by theappearance of French actresses in 1629. London must havelearned to accept this innovation, however, for in one of thesemi-private entertainments given during the Protectorate atRutland House, the actress Mrs. Coleman took the principal

part. The Siege of Rhodes , a huge spectacle designed byDavenant in 1656 (arranged in part with a view of evading therestrictions against theatrical plays) is generally noted asmarking the entrance of women upon the English stage. It isalso remembered for its use of movable machinery, which wassomething of an innovation. The panorama of The Siegeoffered five changes of scene, presenting "the fleet of Solymanthe Magnificent, his army, the Island of Rhodes, and thevarieties attending the siege of the city."


3/9

DISAPPEARANCE OF NATIONAL TYPES

By the time the theaters were reopened in England, Corneille

and Racine in France had established the neo-classic standardfor tragedy, and Molire was in the full tide of his success.These playwrights, with Quinault and others, for a timesupplied the English with plots. The first French opera,Cadmus and Hermione , by Lully and Quinault, performed inParis in 1673, crossed the channel almost immediately,influencing Dryden in his attempts at opera. The romantic,

semi-historical romances of Madeleine de Scudry and theCountess de la Fayette afforded a second supply of storymaterial, while Spanish plays and tales opened up still another.Sometimes the plots of Caldern or Lope de Vega came to theEnglish at second-hand through French versions. Whatever thecase, it was now evident that the national type of play hadceased to be written. From this time on every European nationwas influence by, and exerted an influence upon, the drama of every other nation. Characters, situations, plots, themes--thesethings traveled from country to country, always modifying andsometimes supplanting the home product.

PERSISTENCE OF ELIZABETHAN PLAYS

With this influx of foreign drama, there was still a steady production of the masterpieces of the Elizabethan andJacobean periods. The diarist Samuel Pepys, an ardent lover of the theatre, relates that during the first three years after theopening of the playhouses he saw Othello , Henry IV, A Midsummer Night's Dream , two plays by Ben Jonson , andothers by Beaumont , Fletcher , Middleton, Shirley , andMassinger . It must have been about this time that the practiceof "improving" Shakespeare was begun, and his plays were
http://www.theatrehistory.com/french/corneille001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/french/racine001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/french/moliere006.htmlhttp://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc76.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/spanish/calderon001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/spanish/lope001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/othello001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/midsummer001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/midsummer001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/jonson001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/beaumont001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/fletcher001.htmlhttp://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc82.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/massinger001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/shakespeare025.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/french/corneille001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/french/racine001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/french/moliere006.htmlhttp://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc76.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/spanish/calderon001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/spanish/lope001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/othello001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/midsummer001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/midsummer001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/jonson001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/beaumont001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/fletcher001.htmlhttp://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc82.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/massinger001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/shakespeare025.html


4/9

often altered so as to be almost beyond recognition. From thetime of the Restoration actors and managers, also dramatists,were good royalists; and new pieces, or refurbished old ones,

were likely to acquire a political slant. The Puritans weresatirized, the monarch and his wishes were flattered, and theroyal order thoroughly supported by the people of the stage.Richard Boyle, Earl of Orrery (1621-1679), seems to have thedoubtful glory of re-introducing the use of rhymed verse.Boyle was a statesman, as well as a soldier and a dramatist.During the ten years or so following the Restoration, he wrote

at least four tragedies on historical or legendary subjects,using the ten-syllabled rhymed couplet which (at the moment)he borrowed from France. It runs like this: "Reason's a staff for age, when nature's gone;/But youth is strong enough towalk alone." No more stilted sort of verse could well becontrived for dialogue. Monotonous as well as prosy, it waswell suited to Orrery's plots. He took a semi-historical story,filled it with bombastic sentiments and strutting figures,

producing what was known as "heroic drama." Dryden, whoidentified himself with this type of play, described it asconcerned not with probabilities but with love and valour. Agood heroic play is exciting, with perpetual bustle andcommotion. The characters are extricated out of their amazingsituations only by violence. Deaths are numerous. The moreremote and unfamiliar the setting the better; and the speechshould be suited to the action: hence the "heroic couplet."Pepys saw Guzman , by Orrery, and with his engagingfrankness said it was as mean a thing as had been seen on thestage for a great while.

PARODY OF HEROIC DRAMA


5/9

Other writers, Davenant, Etherege, and Sir Robert Howard,had also produced specimens of heroic plays, and by the time

The Conquest of Granada reached the stage these clever gentlemen had grown tired of the species. Compared toDryden they were nobodies in the literary world; but amongthem they contrived a hilarious burlesque called The

Rehearsal , in which these showy but shallow productionswere smartly ridiculed. Dryden is represented as Bayes (inreference to his position as poet laureate), and his peculiarities

of speech and plot are amusingly derided. Though The Rehearsal was condemned as "scurrilous and ill-bred," yet itserved a useful turn in puncturing an empty and overblownstyle.

NATURE OF RESTORATION COMEDY

TRADITIONAL VIEW:In almost every important respect, Restoration drama was far inferior to the Elizabethan. Where the earlier playwrightscreated powerful and original characters, the Restorationwriters were content to portray repeatedly a few artificialtypes; where the former were imaginative, the latter wereclever and ingenious. The Elizabethan dramatists were steepedin poetry, the later ones in the sophistication of the fashionableworld. The drama of Wycherley and Congreve was thereflection of a small section of life, and it was like life in thesame sense that the mirage is like the oasis. It had polish, anedge, a perfection in its own field; but both its perfection andits naughtiness now seem unreal.

General View of Restoration Comedy:
http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/congreve001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/congreve001.html


6/9

The male protagonists of the Restoration comedies were livelygentlemen of the city, profligates and loose livers, with astrong tendency to make love to their neighbours' wives.

Husbands and fathers were dull, stupid creatures. Theheroines, for the most part, were lovely and pert, too frail for any purpose beyond the glittering tinsel in which they wereclothed. Their companions were busybodies and gossips,amorous widows or jealous wives. The intrigues which occupythem are not, on the whole, of so low a nature as those

depicted in the Italian court comedies; but still they aresufficiently coarse.

Over all the action is the gloss of superficial good breedingand social ease. Only rarely do these creatures betray the traitsof sympathy, faithfulness, kindness, honesty, or loyalty. Theyfollow a life of pleasure, bored, but yawning behind a delicatefan or a kerchief of lace.

Millamant and Mirabell, in Congreve's Way of the World , areamong the most charming of these Watteau figures.Everywhere in the Restoration plays are traces of Europeaninfluence.

The Plain Dealer of Wycherley was an English version of The Misanthrope of Molire; and there are many admirablequalities in the French play which are lacking in the English.The Double Dealer recalls scenes from The Learned Ladies(Les femmes savantes) ; and Mr. Bluffe, in The Old Bachelor ,is none other than our old friend Miles Gloriosus (thevainglorious soldier), who has travelled through Latin, Italianand French comedy. The national taste was coming intoharmony, to a considerable extent, with the standards of
http://www.theatrehistory.com/french/misanthrope001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/french/misanthrope001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/french/misanthrope001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/french/misanthrope001.html


7/9

Europe. Eccentricities were curbed; ideas, characters, andstory material were interchanged. The plays, however, werenot often mere imitations; in the majority of them there is

original observation and independence of thought. It was thisdrama that kept the doors of the theatre open and the love of the theatre alive in the face of great public opposition.

WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS

Soon after the Restoration women began to appear as writers

of drama. Mrs. Aphra Behn (1640-1689) was one of the firstand most industrious of English women playwrights. Her family name was Amis (some writers say Johnson). As thewife of a wealthy Dutch merchant she lived for some time inSurinam (British Guiana). Her novel, Oroonooko , was theoutcome of that. After the death of her husband, Aphra Behnwas for a time employed by the British government in a

political capacity. She was the author of eighteen plays, mostof them highly successful and fully as indecent as any byWycherley or Vanbrugh. Mrs. Manly and Mrs. Susannah Centlivre , both of whom lived until well into the eighteenthcentury, also achieved success as playwrights. The adaptationsfrom the French, made by Mrs. Centlivre, were very popular and kep the stage for nearly a century.

COLLIER'S ATTACK ON THE STAGE

Although the Puritans had lost their dominance as a political power, yet they had not lost courage in abusing the stage. Themost violent attack was made by the clergyman Jeremy Collier in 1698, in a pamphlet called A Short View of the Immoralityand Profaneness of the English Stage , in which he denouncednot only Congreve and Vanbrugh, but Shakespeare and mostof the Elizabethans. Three points especially drew forth his
http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/behn001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/centlivre001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/centlivre001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/behn001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/centlivre001.htmlhttp://www.theatrehistory.com/british/centlivre001.html


8/9

denunciations: the so-called lewdness of the plays, thefrequent references to the Bible and biblical characters, andthe criticism, slander and abuse flung from the stage upon the

clergy. He would not have any Desdemona, however chaste,show her love before the footlights; he would allow noreference in a comedy to anything connected with the Churchor religion; and especially would he prohibit any portrayal of the clergy. Next to the men in holy orders, Collier had a tender heart for the nobility. He said in effect that if any ridicule or satire were to be indulged in, it should be against persons of

low quality.Collier made the curiously stupid error of accusing the

playwrights of glorifying all the sins, passions, or peculiaritieswhich they portrayed in their characters. He had nounderstanding of the point of view of the literary artist, nor any desire to understand it.

Collier's attack, unjust as it was, and foolish as certain phasesof it appear today, yet it made an impression. The king, JamesII, was so wrought up over it that he issued a solemn

proclamation "against vice and profaneness." Congreve andVanbrugh, together with other writers, were persecuted, andfines were imposed on some of the most popular actors andactresses. Dryden, Congreve and Vanbrugh made an attemptat a justification of the stage, but it did little good. D'Urfey,Dennis, and others entered the controversy, which raged for many years. The public buzzed with the scandal set forth inThe Short View , but did not stay away altogether from the

playhouses. The poets answered the attack not by reformation, but by new plays in which the laughter, the satire, and theridicule were turned upon their enemies.


9/9

Documents

English Restoration