William Congreve as a dramatist William Congreve’s life Will Willia iam m Cong ongreve reve was was born orn in Febru ebruar ary, y, 1670 1670,, in a good good Staffordshire family seated at a place whence it took its name, at a house in Bardsey, Yorkshire, near Leeds (the house belonged to his mother’s uncle ). Congreve’s father was an army officer, posted at youghal in Ireland, commanding a garrison there. He later joined the Earl of Cork to become the agent of his estates. Understandably Congreve was educated in Ireland. First he went to Kilkenny school the best grammar School, and later to Trinity College, Dublin, form where he took M.A. sgree. At both these institution, Jonathan Swift was his senior by two years and they were intimate friends. From Trinity College, Dublin, Congreve went to Middle Temple, London to study law. But he was not interested in a career in law. He soon turned to literatrure and
began his career with publication of a prose romance ‘ Incognita or Love and Duty Reconciled’ under the pseudonym Cleophil, in the year 1692. William Congreve enjoyed fame and wielded considerable influence during his life-time he was in affluent circumstances. He was very popular and his friendships were very warm and constant besides being numerous. Dryden and Swift loved and patronized him. He was singled out by Pope for the signal honour of dedicating his translation of ‘Iliad’ to him. Similarly Richard Steele also dedicated his edition of Addison’s The Drummer to Congreve.
His work Contrive wrote FOUR comedies and one tragedy: Comedies:
The Old Bachelor
1690
The Double dealer
1693
Love for Love
1695
Thy Way of the World 1700 Tragedy :
The Mourning Bride
1697
COMEDIES
Congreve’s four comedies advance with a singularly even and rapid progression. ‘THE OLD BACHELOR’ It was written by Congreve to amuse himself during his convalescence in 1690 but it was staged in 1693. This play is not much better than Wycherley’s. its hero ( not the title hero) ,
Vainlove, is, with a young man’s exaggeation, made to out do all the other heroes from Dorimant downward, whom he copies, in loveless and joyless debauchery. Its plot is indifferent and it is written under the influence of Ben Jonson. ‘THE DOUBLE DEALER’
Encouraged by the warm reception and success of this first play The Old Bachelor, Congreve produced this play the same year, 1693. This play was better than The Bachelor although it could not get the applause due to it. This play was saved from disaster by the generous praise of john Dryden and by the patronage of the Queen. Love for Love
Love for Love, was Congreve’s nest play Congreve was gaining in confidence, and was also maturing as a dramatist of great power. This play was staged at the New Theatre, in Lincoln’s
Inn Fields in April, 1695. It was a grand success and Congreve became on of the managers of the New Theatre. Many critics consider love for love as Congreve’s masterpiece. The plot is compact and well-defined; characters are natural and interesting; and dialogues are scintillating. ‘THE WAY OF THE WORLD’
This play ushered in the new century for it was staged in the year 1700 and was a failure with the audience , this is the last and perhaps the most highly esteemed of Congreve’s plays today. Smarting with disappointment, Congreve abruptly gave up his dramatic writing. In the way of world, in some points Congreve returns to the mixed and semi-tragic, or at least serious, cast of The Double Dealer. it is a better-knit play than love for love, and contains Millamant , the coquettish heroine, the queen of all her kind.
Congreve has indeed borrowed the lay figure for her – and something more- from and excellent paly which nobody reads. Dryden’s ‘Marriage a la Mode’ but he has given her a tenfold portion of air ad fire, and indeed left nothing to be done the same direction. Lady Wishfort, too, is another masterly personage, and the more sinister figures of fainall and Mrs. Marwood are full of power , which indeed, in one way or another, few of the characters lack. What one of them lack is wit, the mere writing of the play being better than that of love for love itself. WILLIAM CONGREVE- THE ARTIST
Congreve is , of course, above all , a master of comedy. In construction and grasp of character, Congreve improved steadily with each succeeding play. But it must be said to the credit of Congreve that from the very first he exhibited himself as a
master of light and witty dialogue . it was there that Congreve’s greatness and strength lay. The construction of The Double Dealer is greatly superior to that of The old Bachelor, and the Dialogue is rich in happy conceits, but the characterization is of small account. It is merely a peg for the author’s wit. Love for love is on a higher plane. Here within well-defined limits, many of the characters have vitality and distinctiveness. The surly-tempered Sir Samson Legend, the fine-natured youthful Valentine, the pretentious impostor, astrologer, and palmist,
foresight,
are
acutely
observed
and
admirably
portrayed. There is a farcical strain in the story, less happy in invention, but the play as a whole deserves much of the tremendous praise poured upon it by John Dryden.
In the way of the world we find Congreve at his happiest. Construction, characterization, dialogue are alike brilliant. The story scarcely matters. There is never much resemblance to real life in the plots and machinations of the Restoration Drama. This play is no exception in this respect. But such scenes as those where reputations are murdered by gossip, such characters as Mrs. Millamant and Mirabell, such flashes of witr in the talk between Mrs. Marwood and Mrs. Millamant- or for the matter of that any scene where Mrs. Millamant is to the fore- reveal the Restoration Drama at its highest point. Congreve is master of dialogue. He is clever, ingenious, brilliant and he reveals the finer shades of character. He has not much to do with the mechanical construction of a plot. At times he puts together several episodes, and sometimes they remain separate. It is by interlocking of dialogues that they are brought into
relation. It is the dialogue which is of the vital importance, the connecting link, in the whole drama. The whole drift of the play, the conic tone and spirit are imparted through dialogue.
William Congreve – his style In his famous ‘ Lectures on the English Comic writers’, William Hazlitt observes, “ his style is inimitable, very perfect. It is the highest model of comic dialogue. Every sentence is replete with sense and satire conveyed in the most polished and pointed terms. Every page presents a shower of brilliant conceits, is a tissue in prose, is a new triumph of wit, a new conquest over dullness. It bears every mark of being what he himself, in dedication to one of his plays , tells us that it was a spirited copy taken off and carefully revised from the most select society of his time, exhibiting all the sprightliness, care and animation of familiar
conversation, with the correctness and delicacy of most finished composition. .. As we look at William Congreve’s language in order to study his STYLE we notice that much of his language (like the language of other Restoration Age dramatists) is borrowed from real life, and possesses the charm of the ordinary speech turned rhetorical. It is simple and direct. The real beauty and power of his language lie in its concision, lucidity, economy and brilliance. About William Congreve’s style George Meredith writes: “….. [ Congreve ] hits the mean of a fine style and a natural dialogue. He is, at once, precise and voluble.” And at another place he observes: “Where Congreve excels all his English rivals in his literary force, and a succinctness of style peculiar to him. He had correct
judgment, a correct ear, readiness of illustration within a narrow range, in snapshots of the obvious, at the obvious and copious language…. If you have ever thought upon style you will acknowledge it to be a single achievement. In this he is a classic and is worthy of treading a measure with Moliere.” William Congreve was a genius. Yes, it was stroke of genius that he chose to use prose in preference to the Heroic couplet for his comedy. Congreve’s prose is poetic, marked, like poetry, by shifting cadence , by sound echoing sense, by balance and antithesis and by melodic rhythm. His wit is exquisite, unmatched and it tempered his style. There is no sense strain , so fluid and easy elegant. The signal achievement of Congreve is his dialogue. Congreve’s style is non-metaphoric but sometimes it (in comparisons, mainly) has the power and effect of metaphor. His
language is not concerned with the immediate and sensory world of experience. It is clear, rational and logical. Shakespeare’s language is the language of literature while that of Congreve is the language of logic.
Conclusion William Congreve is undeniably a great writer whose worth is acknowledged and recognized by such great masters as Haztitt, Macaulay and Meredith. Congreve’s greatness as a dramatist lies in the completeness of his vision. In the vision of a very shallow world, he has an exquisite accuracy in depiction its values. His words shone like diamonds in the witty setting of his dialogues. He had the eye to discern the real potential of words and sounds and exploited them to the full to make his prose what is really is. The source of Congreve’s imagery are vast and varied from life, literature, birds and animals trees and fruits ,
nature , music , love etc. Congreve is a great comic artist. The way of the world possesses wit, humour art , vivacity and it is equal to the best comedies. Denis says “ comedy left it with him” when Congreve left the stage.
