The Conscious Lovers is a sentimental comedy written in five acts by the Irish author Richard Steele. The Conscious Lovers appeared on stage on 7 November 1722, at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and was an immediate success, with an initial run of eighteen consecutive nights.The Broadview Anthology of Restoration and Early Eighteenth Century Drama. Ed. J. Douglas Canfield. 2001
The original Drury Lane cast included John Mills as Sir John Bevil, Robert Wilks as Mrytle, Barton Booth as Bevil Junior, Benjamin Griffin as Cimberton, Colley Cibber as Tom, Theophilus Cibber as Daniel, Sarah Thurmond as Isabella, Anne Oldfield as Indiana, Hester Santlow as Lucinda and Elizabeth Younger as Phyllis. The prologue and epilogue were written by Leonard Welsted.
Character list Men Sir John Bevil Mr. Sealand Bevil Junior, in love with Indiana but betrothed to Lucinda Myrtle, in love with Lucinda Cimberton, a coxcomb Humphrey, an old servant to Sir John Tom, servant to Bevil Junior Daniel, a country boy, servant to Indiana
Women Mrs. Sealand, second wife to Sealand Isabella, sister to Sealand Indiana, Sealand's daughter by his first wife Lucinda, Sealand's daughter by his second wife Phillis, maid to Lucinda
Colley Cibber played Tom in original 1722 production.
Plot
The preface to the play, written by Leonard Welsted, asserts that the play is departing from popular comedies of the day and impresses upon the audience the primacy of morality and manners over lewd jokes and licentious behavior.
In the play, Sir John Bevil is encouraging his son, Bevil Jr., to marry the wealthy Lucinda, daughter of Mr. Sealand. John Bevil was quite the rake in his day, and he is trying to encourage his son to settle down with a wife and start a family. Bevil Jr., however, is faced with a dilemma, for though he is set to marry Lucinda, he is not in love with her, but his good friend Myrtle is. Bevil Jr. is in love with Indiana, a poor woman whose mother died when Indiana was seven. Indiana has been raised by her Aunt Isabella (Mr. Sealand's sister). She is the daughter of Mr. Sealand by his first wife, though no one realizes it.
Mr. Sealand is intent on marrying his daughter Lucinda to Bevil Jr., but Mrs. Sealand, Mr. Sealand's second wife and Lucinda's mother, is intent on her marrying the young coxcomb Cimberton, because of his vast fortune and also because he is Mrs. Sealand's cousin. However, because of his fortune, Cimberton cannot marry without the consent of his Uncle Geoffrey or his counsel of lawyers. So Bevil Jr. and Myrtle devise a scheme where Myrtle and Bevil Jr.'s servant, Tom, will disguise themselves as Sir Geoffrey's lawyers, Bramble and Target, in order to delay the wedding proceedings. They arrive at Mr. Sealand's house in disguise, and convince Cimberton and Mrs. Sealand that the marriage absolutely cannot proceed without Sir Geoffrey's physical presence to sign away part of the estate. In the meantime, Sir John and Mr. Sealand discuss Bevil Jr.'s morals, for it has been discovered that he has been visiting a woman of lower class on a frequent basis. Mr. Sealand decides to go and visit this young woman so that he may judge Bevil Jr.'s moral conduct for himself, and Sir John and his servant Humphrey discuss the implication of marrying his son off as a bargaining chip to double the estate rather than letting Bevil Jr. choose a wife of his own.
The next day, Phillis, Lucinda's maid, arrives at Bevil Jr.'s lodgings with news that Sir Geoffrey is expected in town at any moment, and suggests that Myrtle disguise himself as Sir Geoffrey in order to further delay the marriage proceedings. Myrtle arrives at Mr. Sealand's house disguised at Sir Geoffrey. Mrs. Sealand is in a hurry to marry Lucinda to Cimberton while her husband is away, she begins proceedings for a wedding. When Mr. Sealand arrives at Isabella and Indiana's lodgings, Isabella recognizes him, but he does not recognize her. He talks to Indiana, listens to her sad story, and while she is in a crying fit she drops a bracelet on the floor, and Mr. Sealand recognizes it as the bracelet he gave his first wife just before they were separated. Mr. Sealand is happy to be reunited with his daughter and sister, and in this moment insists that Indiana marry Bevil Jr. Isabella leaves that instant to get Bevil Jr. and arrives with Sir John Bevil, Bevil Jr., Mrs. Sealand, Cimberton, Myrtle disguised as Sir Geoffrey, and Lucinda. In this final scene, Mr. Sealand says he would rather have Myrtle marry Lucinda because he never liked Cimberton, and Cimberton will not marry Lucinda because her dowry has just been halved by Mr. Sealand's discovery of his long-lost daughter Indiana. He leaves, and Myrtle reveals himself. In the end, the moral of the story, given by Sir John, is that the happiness of the young is provided by good virtue, honesty and "Providence."
Roman origins Sir Richard Steele considered himself an innovator and an educator in 18th-century England, working to replace the lewd comedies of the Restoration era with a new type of drama that would be more effective in providing moral education for the public.1. Hynes, Peter. "Richard Steele and the Genealogy of Sentimental Drama: A Reading of The Conscious Lovers." Papers on Language and Literature: A Journal for Scholars and Critics of Language and Literature 40.2 (2004): 142-66 Steele's innovation in this play comes from strategically implemented changes to the traditional Greek and Roman theories of comedy. The Conscious Lovers is a very loose adaptation of Terence's Andria, or The Woman of Andros, itself a translation of an older Greek play.2. Horejsi, Nicole. "(Re)Valuing the 'Foreign Trinket': Sentimentalizing the Language of Economics in Steele's Conscious Lovers." Restoration and 18th Century Theatre Research 18.2 (2003): 11-36 Many other 18th-century playwrights created adaptations of ancient Roman plays, particularly favoring the works of Plautus and Terence. Steele knew that his audience would be familiar with the Roman source, as Terence's plays were in heavy circulation during this time, being published in hundreds of editions between 1700 and 1800. These adaptations were an attempt among playwrights to lend a type of legitimacy and authority to the contemporary theater by drawing from a body of familiar classical stories.Steele was also aware that comparisons would be made between his adaptation and the original.
The seriousness of Terence was noted by many contemporaries to be one important element of traditional tragedy that Steele incorporated into his revised version of comedy, known today as sentimental comedy. Steele considered Terence's serious tone, and the different effect it produces on the viewing audience from the more light-hearted comedy of the era, to be an essential component in the function of his new dramatic form as a "radical correction to the libidinous exuberance of Restoration comedy". Some critics have suggested that deeper parallels to the Romans are deliberately constructed into the play. Rather than simply adopting the emotional tone of classical works, it has been argued that Steele idealizes the Roman empire as a model for the developing British empire. In this reading, the goal of his new dramatic style is for the audience to throw off the barbarous traditions of the past, both theatrical and political, and become more like the civilized Romans. By drawing from the classical dramatic tradition and refining its models, Steele hoped that he could refine British culture in the same way that his journalistic publications provided readers with moral guidance. The Conscious Lovers builds on the history of drama while attempting to eschew contemporary principles of morality and theatricality to create new sets of values.
The innovation of sentimental comedy The new values of Steele's "sentimental comedy" are expressed in The Conscious Lovers by two significant innovations to Restoration drama. One of these innovations is a new conception of social morality that values restrained passion and patient reflection over bold, contentious behavior. The play marks an attempt by Steele to distinctly separate his work from the moral baseness of the comedies that preceded it. He claimed in the preface that the whole play was written around the scene in act 4 where Bevil Junior overcomes his passions and thus avoids a duel with his friend Myrtle. The ethics of dueling was an issue of debate in the public sphere during this time, including other publications by Steele himself. However, critics analyzing the history and development of sentimental comedy have found Steele's self-professed key scene to be about more than disapproval of the evil and waste of human life that results from dueling. Steele's assertion in the preface suggests that the play's purpose is not only to move the audience by depicting scenes of emotional distress , but also to provide a model for more restrained and refined behavior in the emerging English middle class. The play argues that the greatest rewards are reaped by those who maintain the virtue of patience. Bevil Junior and his indifferent restraint represent an ideal of peaceable behavior in sharp contrast to the British theatrical norm of aggressive masculinity and assertiveness. The Conscious Lovers offers a new system of morals, one that can guide the nation into the future and protect its integrity under the weight of the growing empire. In another major innovation, the classical theory of comedy is altered by making the protagonist a positive, exemplary hero rather than a negative example of how not to behave.
Steele also claimed in the preface to The Conscious Lovers that the play had a particular and deliberate purpose to be an "Example and Precept" to the audience. By providing paragons of upstanding and righteous character, Steele wanted sentimental comedy to be a source of role models that the public could embrace and emulate. As the ridiculousness of comedic protagonists is stripped away, so is much of the lightheartedness and wit of Restoration comedies. The Conscious Lovers, while not humorless, replaces laughter with a serious attitude and a new set of comedic values. The fops and the rakes of the previous era are made relics, costumes that are to be ridiculed in public, as is Bevil's father when he attends the masquerade. Formally, the new sentimental comedy "tends to the monumental, both in plot details and dialogue". Characters speak in "sentiments", or pithy moral statements of high theatricality that bear greater resemblance to tragedy than to the older comedies. These sentiments were easily quotable, widely circulated and often republished in collections.
The ideal of reform and social critique in The Conscious Lovers functions similarly to Steele's work in periodicals like the Spectator, the Tatler, and the Guardian. Steele was able to compound the moral authority he commanded from adapting a traditional Roman play with the recognition he already possessed as a cultural critic from these journalistic works in order to establish this new type of drama.
Analysis