ENGL 340-01, Restoration Drama, Fall 2007

Abstract

This course explores English literature after the restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660. Topics include: the reopening of the theaters; the introduction of the actress to the stage in lieu of the boy actors who had played women's roles in the Renaissance; the flourishing of drama, especially satiric comedy, after the interregnum. Our focus will be onplays by important dramatists, including Wycherley, Etherege, Behn, Dryden, Otway, Cibber, Vanbrugh, and Congreve, and on the unique conditions of the theater they wrote for between 1660 and 1700. We will examine royal sponsorship of the theater of this period and the atmosphere of Charles II's court, as depicted in Halifaz's brilliant portait of the monarch and in satires by the king's godson, the dissolute courtier, the Earl of Rochester.