The Man of Mode by Sir George Etherege

First produced: 1676; first published, 1676

Type of work: Drama

Type of plot: Comedy of manners

Time of plot: 1670’s

Locale: London

Principal characters

• Dorimant, a young man about town
• Lady Loveit, Dorimant’s mistress
• Bellinda, a young woman in love with Dorimant
• Young Bellair, Dorimant’s friend
• Old Bellair, young Bellair’s father
• Emilia, a young woman in love with young Bellair
• Harriet Woodvill, a young countrywoman who loves Dorimant
• Sir Fopling Flutter, a dandy

The Story:

One morning, Dorimant is lounging in his room when an orange-woman appears. In the course of buying some fruit, Dorimant, who has a remarkable reputation as a lover, hears that a young woman of quality and fortune from the country had fallen in love with him at sight, despite her mother’s attempts to keep her daughter away from thoughts of loving any heartless man of the fashionable world. Although he is in the process of ending an affair with Lady Loveit and beginning a new one with Bellinda, Dorimant is interested. Shortly afterward he receives his friend Bellair, a fop who is very much in love with a young woman named Emilia and wishes to marry her instead of the wealthy bride his father has picked out for him. The father’s choice is Harriet, the young woman who was so taken with Dorimant.

To complicate matters for young Bellair, his father arrives in town to hasten the marriage. Lodging in the same house with Emilia and unaware of his son’s affection for her, the old gentleman has fallen in love with her and wishes to make her his own bride. Young Bellair, with the help of his aunt, Lady Townley, hopes to win his father’s consent to marrying Emilia.

Meanwhile, Lady Loveit is beside herself at the neglect she suffers at the hands of her lover. She complains bitterly to Bellinda, not knowing that it is Bellinda who has won the recent attentions of Dorimant and is about to become his mistress. True to his promise to Bellinda, Dorimant visits that afternoon and notifies Lady Loveit that he is finished with her. His action frightens Bellinda, although the deed was done at her request.

At Lady Woodvill’s lodgings that day, the lady herself is preparing Harriet to meet young Bellair, for Harriet’s mother is as anxious for the match as is his father. That Harriet does not wish to marry him makes little difference to the mother. When the two young people meet, they quickly confide their dislike of the match to each other. Then they proceed to play a mock love scene for the benefit of the parents, to throw them off the track.

That same afternoon, Bellinda and Dorimant meet at the home of Lady Townley. Dorimant makes Bellinda promise to have Lady Loveit walk on the Mall that evening so that Dorimant can confront her with Sir Fopling Flutter, a fool of a fop, and accuse her of being unfaithful. As they speak, Sir Fopling Flutter enters the company and then demonstrates what a fool he is by the oddities and fooleries of his dress, deportment, and speech.

That evening, young Bellair and Harriet go for a walk on the Mall. There they meet Dorimant, who is forced to leave when Harriet’s mother appears. Lady Loveit tries to make Dorimant jealous by flirting, but only succeeds in bringing Dorimant’s reproaches on her head.

Later that same night there is a party at Lady Townley’s house. Dorimant is one of the group, under the alias of Courtage, so that Harriet’s mother will not realize that he is the gallant who is trying to woo her daughter. Under his false name, Dorimant succeeds in ingratiating himself with the mother. Harriet, trying to hide her love and admiration from him, shows that her wit is as sharp as that of Dorimant. Sir Fopling Flutter joins the party late and shows himself to be even more of a fool.

By the time the party breaks up, it is five o’clock in the morning. Dorimant has to hurry home to keep a rendezvous he had made with Bellinda, who had promised to spend part of the night with him in his rooms. In the morning, as she is ready to leave, she is almost discovered there by several of Dorimant’s friends. Bellinda escapes by going down the back stairs and stepping into a sedan chair. Her danger is not past, however, for the carriers, accustomed to taking Lady Loveit from Dorimant’s house, take Bellinda to the former’s lodging. Lady Loveit, still awake, sees Bellinda step from the chair. Only quick wit on the part of Bellinda, who tells the men to say they had picked her up elsewhere, prevents her assignation with Dorimant from being known to Lady Loveit, who does not suspect that Bellinda is her rival.

A few minutes afterward, Dorimant arrives. He begins berating Lady Loveit in a high-handed fashion, only to be embarrassed when Bellinda appears from an adjoining room. He is so discomfited that he can only mutter excuses and leave the house.

Early that morning, at Lady Townley’s house, young Bellair and Emilia are married, the bridegroom taking that drastic step before his father could force him to marry Harriet. As the ceremony is ending, Lady Woodvill, Harriet, old Bellair, and an attorney arrive. They had come to meet with young Bellair and to sign the marriage contract between the two families. Not knowing what to do, Lady Townley temporarily hides the clergyman in a closet. In the confusion of the moment, Emilia asks Harriet if she is in love with Dorimant. Harriet refuses still to admit that she is, saying that she only hates to think of leaving the pleasures of the town to be made a prisoner in the country. At that point, while the others are off in another room to go over the terms of the marriage contract, Dorimant himself arrives. When he confesses his love to Harriet, she admits that she is in love with him.

The others then return. Old Bellair, eager to have the marriage celebrated, calls for a parson. The clergyman, released from the closet, declares that he had already performed one ceremony when he married young Bellair to Emilia. Old Bellair is thunderstruck. Just then Lady Loveit and Bellinda arrive in pursuit of Dorimant. He makes his excuses to Lady Loveit by telling her that he intends to marry Harriet and thus improve his fortunes. Lady Loveit, who knows the value of money, admits that under the circumstances she can only wish him well. Bellinda is grateful because his excuse conceals her affair with him and keeps her honor intact. Lady Woodvill, overhearing the conversation, is furious with Dorimant for capturing Harriet’s heart, but when she learns that his intentions were honorable and that he is the same Courtage whom she had admired the evening before, she is mollified to the extent of inviting him to visit the Woodvill estate in Hampshire.

Old Bellair, not to be outdone in graciousness, gives his blessing to his son, who had gone against his will in marrying Emilia. The only person completely dismayed is Lady Loveit, who vows that she will never again trust a man or go out in society.

Bibliography

Holland, Norman N. The First Modern Comedies: The Significance of Etherege, Wycherley, and Congreve. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967. This masterful collection of essays underscores the conflict in The Man of Mode between personal fulfillment and social expectations. Holland contends that Etherege exposed false sentiments and pretentiousness as agents of hypocrisy.

Huseboe, Arthur R. Sir George Etherege. New York: Macmillan, 1987. Even though this is a literary biography, the author devotes nineteen pages and many more cross-references to The Man of Mode. Discusses character types and frames the discussion in the context of aristocratic manners and mores as defined by the court of Charles II. Carefully examines Etherege’s use of heroic couplets, blank verse, and prose.

Kachur, B. A. Etherege and Wycherley. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. Analyzes the two playwrights’ work within the context of the cultural and historical changes that took place during the early years of Charles II’s reign. Provides performance histories for the plays. Chapter 5 focuses on The Man of Mode.

Markley, Robert. “’Still on the Criminal’s Side, Against the Innocent’: Etherege, Wycherley, and the Ironies of Wit.” In A Companion to Restoration Drama, edited by Susan J. Owen. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2001. Markley examines The Man of Mode and other plays by Etherege. There are other references to this play, and to Etherege, throughout this collection of essays on Restoration drama. References are listed in the index.

Powell, Jocelyn. “George Etherege and the Form of Comedy.” In Restoration Dramatists: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Earl Miner. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1966. This wide-ranging essay links Etherege’s realism to the physical action and narrative promise in Anton Chekhov’s plays. Emphasizes dramatic technique and the naturalism of details.

Rosenfeld, Nancy. “The Mode of Man: The Man of Mode.” In The Human Satan in Seventeenth-Century English Literature: From Milton to Rochester. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2008. A study of the development of the Satanic character in English literature, describing how writers successively humanized these characters. The chapter on The Man of Mode focuses on Etherege’s treatment of Dorimant.

Underwood, Dale. Etherege and the Seventeenth-Century Comedy of Manners. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1957. Underwood justifies the critical and historical importance of The Man of Mode as a masterpiece of English comedy. Highlights Etherege’s distinction between nature and reason in terms of pre-Enlightenment idealism. Discusses the “comedy of values” motifs.