The Man of Mode

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Frontispiece to George Etherege's The Man of Mode (1676).
Frontispiece to George Etherege's The Man of Mode (1676).

The Man of Mode is a Restoration comedy by George Etherege, written in 1676 and first performed March 2 of the same year. Gibbons argues that the play "offers the comedy of manners in its most concentrated form".[1] Despite the subtitle, the fop Sir Fopling is only a marginal character; the rake Dorimant is the protagonist.

Dorimant was based on the real life John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, and was first played by Thomas Betterton. Sir Fopling, the flamboyant flop of the hour, by William Smith. Freshly returned from being "cultured" in Paris, Fopling attempts to emulate the love 'em and leave 'em style of Dorimant. Meanwhile Dorimant has plans to use Fopling in a scheme to lose his current lover Miss Loveit in order to seek out a new conquest.

In 2007, the National Theatre produced a modern dress production of the play, starring Tom Hardy as Dorimant.


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[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Gibbons (1984, xv).

The association with Rochester is supposition, there is no actual verfiable proof of this. The possibility is not remote, but is not proven.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Gibbons, Brian. 1984. Introduction. Five Restoration Comedies. New Mermaids Ser. London: A&C Black. ISBN 0713626100. p.viii-xxiii.
  • Lawrence, Robert G. 1994. Introduction to The Man of Mode. Restoration Plays. Everyman Ser. London: JM Dent. ISBN 0460874322. p.107-110.

[edit] External links


The Restoration comedy of manners
v • d • e
• Marriage A-la-Mode • The Country Wife • The Libertine • The Man of Mode • The Plain-Dealer • The Rover •
• The Kind Keeper • The Rover, Part II • The Feigned Courtesans • The Lucky Chance • Bury Fair • Sir Anthony Love •
• The Wives Excuse • The Old Bachelor • The Double-Dealer • Love For Love • She Ventures and He Wins • Love's Last Shift •
• The Relapse • The Provoked Wife • Love and a Bottle • The Constant Couple • The Way of the World • The Perjured Husband •
• The Beau Defeated • Sir Harry Wildair • The Basset Table • The Recruiting Officer • The Beaux' Stratagem • The Busybody