Born on
January 24, 1670, William Congreve was educated at Trinity College,
Dublin, and the Middle Temple where he studied law. His literary
apprenticeship was served under the tutelage of John Dryden,
the leading playwright of the day. Congreve's first play, The
Old Bachelor (1693) was an enormous success when it was produced
at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Dryden
wrote that he had never read so brilliant a first play. Congreve's
next effort, however, was not so successful. The Double-Dealer
(1693) revolves around a socialite who deceives everyone with
the simple device of telling the plain truth. Although most modern
critics consider The Double-Dealer an improvement
over Congreve's first play, it was snubbed by critics and audiences
alike. Congreve was irritated by what he perceived as the obtuseness
of the public. Love for Love (1695) returned Congreve
temporarily to the public favor, and his reputation improved
still further with the production of his only tragedy, The
Mourning Bride, in 1697. But Congreve's masterpiece was still
to come.
Although The Way of the World (1700) was coolly received
when it was first acted at Lincoln's Inn Fields, it has since
come to be considered one of the most intellectually accomplished
of English comedies. The story revolves around a pair of lovers,
Millamant and Mirabell, who establish a rather unconventional
marriage arrangement based on their knowledge of the way of the
world which, as they know, is inhabited primarily by intriguers,
fops, and fools. Unfortunately, Congreve's wit and his characters'
sexual freedom and experimentation was at odds with the thinking
of certain moralists of the day. Jeremy Collier's A Short
View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage
(1698) was a direct attack on writers such as Congreve and Dryden.
Collier succeeded in garnering public support for his cause by
beginning with the accepted neoclassical doctrine that the purpose
of drama is to teach and please and then pointing out the disparity
between theory and practice. Congreve responded to Collier's
accusations in Amendments of Mr. Collier's False and Imperfect
Citations (1698), but the conservative middle class, determined
to make its tastes felt, sided with Collier and the Society for
the Reformation of Manners. It became increasingly difficult
to get a play produced unless it conformed to Collier's doctrine.
Realizing that his protests were in vain, Congreve gave up playwriting
altogether, resolving to "commit his quiet and his fame
no more to the caprices of an audience." He was only thirty
years of age.
Although, he would write no more plays, Congreve did not retire
entirely from the theatre. He wrote the libretto for two operas
and collaborated, in 1704, in translating Molière's
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac for Lincoln's Inn Fields. However,
for the next twenty-nine years, he lived mostly on his reputation
and the royalties from his plays. He died on January 19, 1729,
in a carriage accident and was buried in Westminster Abbey. The
Duchess of Marlborough, with whom he was rumored to have been
romantically involved, erected a monument over his grave.
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