Marriage A-La-Mode

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Synopsis

Dryden's audiences in 1671, both aristocratic and middle-class, wouldhave been quick to respond to the themes of disputed royal succession,Francophilia and loyalty among subjects in his most successfultragicomedy. In the tragic plot, written in verse, young Leonidas hasto struggle to assert his place as the rightful heir to the throne ofSicily and to the hand of the usurper's daughter. In the comic plot,written in prose, two fashionable couples (much more at home in Londondrawing-rooms than at the Sicilian court) play at switching partners inthe 'modern' style. The introduction of this edition argues thatDryden's own ambivalence about King Charles and his entourage, on whomhe came to rely more on more for patronage, manifests itself in bothplots; most of all perhaps in the excessively Francophile Melantha,whose affectation cannot quite hide her endearing joie-de-vivre.

Book details

Series:
New Mermaids
Author:
John Dryden, David Crane
ISBN:
9781408144251
Related ISBNs:
9780713666663, 9780713666663
Publisher:
Bloomsbury Publishing
Pages:
144
Reading age:
Not specified
Includes images:
No
Date of addition:
2018-10-14
Usage restrictions:
Copyright
Copyright date:
2014
Copyright by:
N/A 
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Categories:
Drama, Plays and Theater, Literature and Fiction