Play and Passion in The Man of Mode

Play and Passion in The Man of Mode Derek Hughes Discussions of The Man of Mode repeatedly, and properly, dwell on two of its most clearly important elements. One is the portrayal of life as a game. Unable to decide “what, if anything, Etherege wants us to take seriously,” Norman N. Holland concludes that “Virtually every action of every character be­ comes a gambit in a great and meaningless social game.” But for other critics the game is far from meaningless. Virginia Ogden Birdsall sees Restoration comedy as a celebration of play and argues that Dorimant and Harriet are rewarded for their mastery in “the love game” and “the game of life.” Countering moralistic readings of the play, Harriett Hawkins also argues that the hero and heroine are to be admired for their supremacy in “the game of love.” Finally, in an excellent discussion of the play, Roberta F. S. Borkat again studies “the game of love,” and shows that metaphors of game-playing provide one of Etherege’s most important and prominent pat­ terns of imagery. The other widely analyzed thematic pattern is that of the religious imagery. Hawkins sees this as essentially playful, and Borkat sees it as expressing the passion that, in a fully actualized human existence, must inform the rituals of play. But this imagery has also been used to support more earnestly moral readings. In particular, J. Douglas Canfield has recently maintained that Etherege’s diabolic and Christian imagery provides a sustained and serious ethical commentary on his characters’ conduct.1 Although Etherege’s portrayal of play has been ably dis­ cussed, critics have treated the game imagery en bloc, as though each component of the pattern carried the same meaning as all the others. Variations of meaning, expressing contrasts of view­ point and changes of character, have been ignored, and a rigid simplicity has been imposed on an intricately shifting pattern. Similarly, discussion of the religious imagery has been conducted 231 232 Comparative Drama in too general terms, with too little attention to its variety of specific meanings. Indeed, the moralistic reading depends on such inattention. My own aim is to re-examine these two cardinal components of the play with the detailed attention that they require. I shall dissent from the solemnly Christian readings. But I shall also argue that Etherege’s attitude towards the life of play—and the losers in its games—is more subtle and divided than earlier accounts have suggested. He certainly affirms the importance of play; but he is aware that play can take many forms, and that not all of them are permissible. I Varieties of play. Entertaining the company assembled at Lady Townley’s, Medley commences with a mocking character­ ization of the obsessive card player, Lady Dealer (n.i.99-107).2 And, when he has finished satirizing her passion for play, Emilia wittily turns the game image onto the satirist: “ ’Tis as pretty sport to her as persuading masks off is to you, to make dis­ coveries” (11. 108-09). Medley himself then deals with the sports of his own circle, relating Dorimant’s latest prank against Loveit: “A Danish serenade, with kettledrums and trumpets” (1. 122). From the subversive japes of the young he proceeds to the staid amusements of the elderly, describing “The Diver­ sions of Brussels—very necessary to be read by all old ladies who are desirous to improve themselves at questions and com­ mands, blindman’s buff, and the like fashionable recreations” (11. 130-33). This manual of dreary party games for the old is in turn paired with one of absurd social mannerisms for the young and would-be young: “The Art of Affectation. . . . teaching you how to draw up your breasts, stretch up your neck, to thrust out your breech,” and so on (11. 135-37). And, finally, Medley promises to divert the company with an account of “some new lovers, whom malice, indiscretion, and misfor­ tune have luckily brought into play” (11. 154-56; my italics). This short passage displays the characters’ life of play in virtually all its aspects: gambling and the duel of the sexes (parallel notions elsewhere); the transformation of life into extravagant...