In William Congreve's play The Way of the
World Mirabell and Millamant, the main characters of the story, realize their
feelings for each other after Mirabell completes the verses from Suckling that Millamant
was reciting out of anxiety.
Reciting the poem together was
an allegory to the archetypal love affair between two distressed lovers who cannot
achieve the goal of being together. Yet, in a comical turning point, they suddenly begin
to negotiate what each of them, separately, expects their significant others to be
should they become married.
In the negotiation, they are
basically making a "pre-nuptial" agreement on how their behavior will be. Millamant says
that her freedom must be guaranteed before she is, in her own words, "dwindled" into
becoming a wife. On his part, Mirabell said that before he is "enlarged" into becoming a
husband, he wants a wife that is neither scandalous, nor "a slave of fashion". This,
Millamant does not like because she cannot believe that Mirabell would think of her that
way. However, the "negotiations" have to be hastened by the entrance of Mrs. Fainall on
stage.
No comments:
Post a Comment