The play is set in seventeenth century England but is very modern in tone. It tells of the 'foibles' of having an extra-marital affair: its pitfalls and its benefits (if you are in a dead marriage). The wisdom of course is that you should marry for love if possible and get out of a bad marriage.
It also sheds light on how people's compliments about one's looks can influence your thinking about youself, especially if you are in a relationship, and the fact that you can feel young when you are in one. It believes that even if the affair is brief at least your memory of that relationship will stay in your mind forever and that is a bonus - not that it didn't work out.
Other 'pearls of wisdom' that I fathomed were that cruelty to one's lover / former lover is in itself a sense of power which soon dissipates once the person has terminated the relationship. So does the cruel lover's fame or good looks if she / he stops liking her / him, as others will follow suit and no one will like her / him. There is a lot of truth to this even to this day, as people are so influenced by what other people are thinking and not at all sure of themselves.
The play is very famous in its own right and has influenced other less well-known works such as Sheridan's 'School For Scandal' and 'The Rivals'. I can also see its influence in Oscar Wilde's 'An Ideal Husband'. The play is fast paced, full of wit, upbeat and certainly what in literature is known as a Satire or even a Burleque.
I am reading it for personal interest and initially read it to find some anwsers of some of the problems I have faced in British society as an Asian journalist, but it did not shed any light on this aspect but certainly some of the things I have experienced in other parts of the world in a society guided by gossip, hearsay and reputation. I think the play has universal application to societies similar to Congreve's play, no matter what age we live in.
Although the play had been staged quite often, it is not either a GCSE text or an 'A' Level text as this would not only be fairly easy to study but enourmous fun due to the wit and the manner in which the subject has been treated. It certainly would interest any children whether they are into literature or not.
It also sheds light on how people's compliments about one's looks can influence your thinking about youself, especially if you are in a relationship, and the fact that you can feel young when you are in one. It believes that even if the affair is brief at least your memory of that relationship will stay in your mind forever and that is a bonus - not that it didn't work out.
Other 'pearls of wisdom' that I fathomed were that cruelty to one's lover / former lover is in itself a sense of power which soon dissipates once the person has terminated the relationship. So does the cruel lover's fame or good looks if she / he stops liking her / him, as others will follow suit and no one will like her / him. There is a lot of truth to this even to this day, as people are so influenced by what other people are thinking and not at all sure of themselves.
The play is very famous in its own right and has influenced other less well-known works such as Sheridan's 'School For Scandal' and 'The Rivals'. I can also see its influence in Oscar Wilde's 'An Ideal Husband'. The play is fast paced, full of wit, upbeat and certainly what in literature is known as a Satire or even a Burleque.
I am reading it for personal interest and initially read it to find some anwsers of some of the problems I have faced in British society as an Asian journalist, but it did not shed any light on this aspect but certainly some of the things I have experienced in other parts of the world in a society guided by gossip, hearsay and reputation. I think the play has universal application to societies similar to Congreve's play, no matter what age we live in.
Although the play had been staged quite often, it is not either a GCSE text or an 'A' Level text as this would not only be fairly easy to study but enourmous fun due to the wit and the manner in which the subject has been treated. It certainly would interest any children whether they are into literature or not.