 Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
Key Literary Elements Setting The Way of the World reflects Congreve’s special view of the "the world" of Restoration society. Congreve follows the practice of the earlier Restoration dramatists by setting Act I in a public place, a fashionable chocolate-house where Mirabell and Fainall are engaged in a game of cards. Act II is set in St. James’ Park, which is again a fashionable outdoor location of the kind frequently used by the earlier dramatists. The remaining three acts are confined to a room in Lady Wishfort’s house, which results in the creation of a sort of domestic atmosphere. The urban setting of the play is very important. For Congreve, "the world" means the polite eighteenth-century society of the city with its artificiality, rigidity, and formality. This limited setting serves to provide a flat background against which the complex plot with its innumerable twists and turns is acted out. Table of Contents | |
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