The Conscious Lovers (Richard Steele)

The purpose of this research is to examine in detail The Conscious Lovers by Sir Richard Steele. The plan of the research will be to set forth the social milieu in which The Conscious Lovers first appeared, and then, with reference to the pattern of ideas and events emerging in the work, to discuss the importance and standing of The Conscious Lovers as a representative drama of its type (sentimental comedy). As appropriate, reference will be made to the role that prevailing or emerging social mores played in positioning the play in the postRestoration period.

A useful way of appreciating the social milieu of The Conscious Lovers is to refer, first to the milieu of the play, then to evidence of the societal environment in which it appeared, and then to judgments of both play and society. Steele's preface to the published play is framed by a deliberate consciousness of its utility as a dramatic piece of what today might be called social documentary. After declaring that its performance was "received with universal acceptance," he adds a brief discussion of what seems to be his "take" on the comedy of manners.

The chief design of this was to be an innocent performance, and

the audience have abundantly showed how ready they are to support

what is visibly intended that way. Nor do I make any difficulty

to acknowledge that the whole was writ for the sake of the scene

of the fourth act, wherein Mr. Bevil evades the quarrel wi

t of an Audience, which, says he, 'tis no easy Matter to do" (Dennis 448). In other words, Steele has violated the first principle of authentic comedy, which is to take an ironic attitude toward the comic drama's characters. Sentimental comedy, in this view, is a violation of the comic spirit. It comforts rather than afflicts, and in so doing denies comedy its mission. This is a description of the difference between wit and "feelgood" dramatic technique. A further elaboration of negative criticism of The Conscious Lovers comes from Hazlitt. In a lecture delivered in 1819, nearly 100 years after the premiere of the play, Hazlitt positions Steele's comedies as an intentional departure from the prevailing form of Restoration drama, and his judgment, here abridged, is not particularly generous: The comedies of Steele were the first that were written expressly with a view not to imitate the manners, but to reform the morals of the age. The author seems to be all the time on his good behavior, as if writing a comedy was no very creditable employment, and as if the ultimate object of his ambition was a dedication to the queen. Nothing can be better meant, or more inef