The Way of the World and Other Plays

With piercing accuracy William ongreve depicted the shallow, brittle world of "society" where the right artifice in manners, fashion and conversation—and money—eased the passage to success. Through sparkling, witty dialogue and brilliant characterisation—Lady Plyant, Valentine, Lady Touchwood, Mirabell and Millamant—Congreve exposed the follies and vanities of that world, and suggested that behind the glinting mirror lay something more brutal.

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William Congreve (1670-1729) established his reputation at the age of 23 with The Old Bachelor. A master of the comedy of manners, Congreve was the most elegant of the Restoration dramatists.