Major Restoration Plays

Why This Matters

Restoration drama isn't just a list of plays to memorize—it's a window into how English society reinvented itself after the Puritan interregnum. When Charles II reopened the theaters in 1660, playwrights seized the opportunity to explore sexual politics, class anxiety, marriage economics, and the performance of identity in ways that had been impossible under Cromwell. You're being tested on your ability to recognize how these plays reflect and critique their historical moment, from the libertine rake figure to the emergence of female playwrights and actresses on the English stage.

The key concepts examiners want you to demonstrate include wit as social currency, the marriage market as economic negotiation, gender performance and transgression, and the tension between surface appearance and authentic feeling. Don't just memorize plot summaries—know what each play reveals about Restoration values and how playwrights used comedy, satire, and even tragedy to interrogate their society. When you can explain why a character like Horner succeeds through deception or how Millamant's proviso scene rewrites marriage expectations, you're thinking like a literary scholar.

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The Libertine Rake and Sexual Politics

These plays center on the rake figure—a witty, sexually aggressive aristocrat who manipulates social conventions to pursue pleasure. The rake exposes the hypocrisy of a society that publicly condemns libertinism while privately enabling it.

The Country Wife by William Wycherley

• Horner's impotence ruse—he spreads a rumor that he's sexually incapable, gaining unrestricted access to married women whose husbands consider him "safe"
• The "china scene" uses double entendre to stage an offstage seduction while characters onstage remain oblivious, showcasing Wycherley's mastery of innuendo
• Critiques marriage as property exchange—wives are guarded like possessions, and the play suggests their "virtue" is merely performance for male benefit

The Man of Mode by George Etherege

• Dorimant as the archetypal rake—modeled on the Earl of Rochester, he juggles multiple women while pursuing the wealthy Harriet
• Wit functions as seduction—Dorimant's charm lies in his verbal dexterity, reflecting how social performance replaced sincerity in Restoration culture
• Ambiguous ending leaves unclear whether Dorimant will reform, raising questions about whether libertine values can coexist with marriage

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Marriage as Economic Negotiation

Restoration comedy obsesses over the marriage market—the transactional reality beneath romantic courtship. These plays reveal how love, money, and social status were inseparable concerns for the propertied classes.

The Way of the World by William Congreve

• The proviso scene between Mirabell and Millamant—they negotiate marriage terms like a contract, establishing boundaries for autonomy within wedlock
• Lady Wishfort controls the inheritance, making her consent essential; the plot hinges on economic leverage rather than romantic feeling
• Congreve's intricate plotting and epigrammatic wit represent the height of Restoration comedy's formal sophistication

Love for Love by William Congreve

• Valentine feigns madness to escape disinheritance, illustrating how financial desperation drives romantic plots
• Angelica tests Valentine's sincerity—she demands proof that his love isn't merely mercenary before accepting him
• Blends sentiment with satire, anticipating the shift toward sentimental comedy in the eighteenth century

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Female Agency and Transgression

These plays foreground women who resist patriarchal control, reflecting the unprecedented presence of actresses on the Restoration stage and the emergence of female playwrights like Aphra Behn.

The Rover by Aphra Behn

• Hellena rejects the convent her family has chosen, pursuing the rake Willmore on her own terms—she's witty, sexually curious, and unapologetic
• Behn critiques the sexual double standard—men like Willmore are celebrated for libertinism while women risk ruin for the same behavior
• Carnival setting in Naples enables masking and disguise, allowing characters to transgress social boundaries temporarily

The Beaux' Stratagem by George Farquhar

• Mrs. Sullen's unhappy marriage drives the plot—she's trapped with a drunken husband and openly seeks escape
• The play ends with an implied divorce, remarkably progressive for its time and reflecting debates about marriage reform
• Provincial setting contrasts with London-centric comedies, exploring how class mobility operates outside the capital

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Satire and Metatheatricality

Some Restoration plays turn their wit on theater itself, mocking dramatic conventions and engaging audiences in self-aware commentary on performance.

The Rehearsal by George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham

• Parodies heroic drama, especially Dryden's bombastic tragedies—the playwright character "Bayes" stages absurd scenes that mock theatrical excess
• Metatheatrical structure—characters watch and critique a play-within-a-play, making the audience complicit in the satire
• Collaborative authorship (Buckingham worked with others) reflects Restoration theater's social, collective nature

The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar

• Provincial Shrewsbury setting satirizes both military recruitment and rural society, contrasting country simplicity with urban sophistication
• Captain Plume's seductions parallel his recruitment tactics—both involve persuasion, deception, and promises
• Balances social comedy with patriotic themes, written during the War of Spanish Succession when military service was a live political issue

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Tragedy and Moral Seriousness

Not all Restoration drama is comedy—heroic tragedy and she-tragedy explored duty, honor, and passion in elevated verse, offering alternatives to the wit-driven comedies.

All for Love by John Dryden

• Neoclassical unities observed—single day, single location, focused action—contrasting with Shakespeare's sprawling Antony and Cleopatra
• Antony torn between love and duty—Dryden emphasizes the tragic cost of choosing passion over Roman honor
• Blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) marks a shift from Dryden's earlier rhymed heroic couplets, showing his evolving dramatic theory

The Relapse by John Vanbrugh

• Sequel to Cibber's Love's Last Shift—Vanbrugh cynically undercuts Cibber's sentimental ending by showing the reformed rake relapsing into infidelity
• Lord Foppington became an iconic comic role, representing aristocratic vanity taken to absurd extremes
• Moral ambiguity refuses easy resolution—the play neither condemns nor endorses its characters' behavior

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Quick Reference Table

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Self-Check Questions

1. Which two plays feature characters who use disguise or deception to gain sexual access, and how do their strategies differ in what they reveal about gender and power?

2. Compare the proviso scene in The Way of the World with Angelica's test of Valentine in Love for Love—what do both suggest about women's leverage in the marriage market?

3. How does Aphra Behn's perspective as a female playwright shape The Rover differently from male-authored comedies featuring similar libertine plots?

4. If an FRQ asked you to discuss how Restoration drama critiques its own theatrical conventions, which play would you choose and why?

5. Contrast Dryden's treatment of passion in All for Love with how passion functions in a Restoration comedy like The Man of Mode—what does each genre suggest about the relationship between desire and social order?