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45 pages 1 hour read

William Congreve

The Way of the World

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1700

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Dedication, Prologue, and Act IChapter Summaries & Analyses

Dedication Summary

In a letter to Ralph, the Earl of Montague, William Congreve requests the Earl’s patronage, complimenting him on his intelligence and his potential to improve the play. Congreve expresses shock at the play’s success, noting the Restoration’s reputation for bawdy plays. Congreve says he thinks most fools in Restoration comedy should disturb audiences, and he says he wants to make characters whose flaw is that they pretend to be wittier than they are. Congreve notes that early critics of the play mistook the foolish characters for the truly witty ones. Congreve compares himself to the Roman comic dramatist Terence, praising Terence, his Greek predecessor Menander, and his patrons: Scipio and Laelius. Congreve credits any improvement in The Way of the World from his prior plays to a conversation with the Earl and his company. Congreve notes the Earl is a patron of architecture and painting, and he laments that poetry has not yet earned the respect of the Earl. Congreve apologizes on behalf of other writers who dedicate their works to wealthy men, but he insists that he is devoted to the Earl.

Prologue Summary

The actor playing Fainall makes the Prologue address. He says Fortune makes and takes away the success of poets, whom Fainall calls fools. However, Fortune favors “Nature’s oafs,” even though they are not her true children. Poets risk their fortune with each new writing, and Fainall says Congreve does not want the audience to judge his current play on his previous works. Fainall denies that the play contains any farce or satire, adding that no one in the audience is a fool. He says Congreve leaves the quality of the play up to the audience’s discretion.

Act I Summary

Fainall and Mirabell play cards, and Fainall can tell Mirabell is in a bad mood. Mirabell explains that Fainall’s mother-in-law, Lady Wishfort, shunned Mirabell the previous night, and her niece, Millamant, joined in shunning him. Mirabell is in love with Millamant, but he tried to flatter Lady Wishfort to hide his affection to Millamant. Fainall thinks Mirabell should have lied better, but Mirabell reveals that Fainall’s friend, Mrs. Marwood, revealed Mirabell’s true feelings. Fainall leaves, and a servant tells Mirabell that one of his servants, Waitwell, got married to another of Lady Wishfort’s servants, Foible. Fainall returns and asks if Mirabell feels jealous of Witwoud, who is also courting Millamant. Mirabell praises Millamant’s wit and beauty, noting that he wanted to hate her but could not. A servant announces a letter from Wilfull, the half-brother of Witwoud, and Fainall and Mirabell ridicule Witwoud’s foolishness, part of which is his tendency to take insults as jokes.

Witwoud enters and praises Fainall, Mrs. Fainall, and Mirabell. Fainall and Mirabell insult Witwoud, who laughs in response. Witwoud complains that he lost money to Petulant, and Fainall and Mirabell prod Witwoud to insult Petulant. Witwoud refuses, but he confesses the Petulant disagrees with people for fun, lies, and lacks wit. A coach calls with three women looking for Petulant, and Witwoud reveals that Petulant hires people to call for him to appear more popular. Petulant enters and sends the women away, and Fainall accuses him of hiring women to reject in favor of Millamant. Petulant implies that Mirabell’s uncle could remarry, have children, and disown Mirabell. Mirabell and Petulant speak separately. Witwoud tells Fainall that Lady Wishfort is planning to marry Millamant to Mirabell’s uncle. The men rejoin a single group and plan to go to the Mall, but Mirabell tells Petulant to walk on his own to avoid embarrassing the group. Mirabell recites a couplet about Petulant’s reversal of modesty and impudence.

Dedication, Prologue, and Act I Analysis

The published version of the play opens with a dedication to the Earl of Montague, which is a convention of Early Modern and 18th-century writing. Essentially, a dedication is a letter asking for or thanking a patron, a wealthy person who directly supports artists with financial and social assistance. The dedication is an example of The Performative Aspects of Social Interaction, as Congreve notes the Earl’s influence on the work. Congreve praises the Earl and says he must “ascribe” the play’s realism “to the honor of your Lordship’s admitting me into your conversation” (253). Part of patronage is networking, and Congreve’s discussion of attending a gathering at the Earl’s country home is a potential opportunity for financial patronage. Though the letter praises the Earl and asks for further support, Congreve also hints at a sarcastic tone, noting that the visit with the Earl’s company, which was “so well worthy of [the Earl]” (253), also inspired the foolish characters of the play.

The prologue, like the dedication, notes the foolishness of Congreve’s characters. As with many prologues from this period, an actor from the play addresses the audience with commentary on the play they are about to watch. In part, Congreve’s prologue examines the difficulty of social interaction while noting the playwright’s own struggle with The Manipulation of Appearances for Personal Gain. Discussing the poet’s profession, Congreve writes, “Each time they write they venture all they’ve won” (254). In manipulating his own appearance to critics and audiences, much as he does to the Earl in his letter, Congreve exposes the way playwrights are judged by their most recent works rather than by the body of their work. Of the audience, however, Congreve inserts a critical note, saying that the fools in the play will not try to instruct anyone. He adds, “Should he by chance a knave or fool expose / That hurts none here; sure here are none of those” (254). These lines are sarcastic, as Congreve fully expects that many of the kinds of fools in the play will be in the audience, though he is confident they will not all see themselves in the characters.

Act I introduces the primary male characters in the work: Fainall, Mirabell, Witwoud, and Petulant. Each of them tries to bolster their appearance in different ways in front of others, all with varying degrees of success. Petulant is uncouth, but he tries to create interest in himself by hiring a carriage of women for him to send away. Witwoud criticizes this action, but he also tries to perform as a “wit,” in which he fails. Fainall and Mirabell are more complex, as they are confident in their own standing, charm, and influence; however, they are both engaged in deceptions aimed at Lady Wishfort’s family. Mirabell lists the ways he tried to convince Lady Wishfort that he was in love with her, which was a subterfuge to distract from his courting of Millamant. Fainall, in this scene, complicates the exchange by suggesting to Witwoud, “Petulant and you both will find Mirabell as a warm rival as a lover” (264), implying that Witwoud, Petulant, and Mirabell are in competition for Millamant’s love. Fainall’s goal in encouraging this competition is revealed later, as he wants to secure Millamant’s fortune for himself.

The Complexities of Gender Dynamics in Personal and Financial Power begin to develop in the opening act, though most of the characters present are men. Discussing how Lady Wishfort found out about Mirabell’s deception, Mirabell tells Fainall, “But for the discovery of that amour, I am indebted to your friend, or your wife’s friend, Mrs. Marwood” (257). Though the men are essentially fighting for money, the money belongs to the women in their lives. Marwood provides an early example of how the women in the play engage in the action, which is usually by providing information, going along with the men’s plans, or rejecting and accepting marriages. Mirabell’s implication in saying, “your friend, or your wife’s friend” (257) is to highlight how Fainall likely told Marwood about the deception.

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Related Titles

By William Congreve