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Charming satire of the sentimental comedies of the day has entertained audiences since 1773. A young lady poses as a serving girl to win the heart of a young gentleman too shy to court ladies of his own class. Many delightful deceits, hilarious turns of plot must be played out before the play concludes happily. This edition based on an authoritative edition published in 1773. Notes.
The action of She Stoops to Conquer (1773) is largely confined to a
night and a day in Squire Hardcastle's somewhat dilapidated country
house: Young Marlow, on his way there to meet the bride his father
has chosen for him, loses his way and arrives at the house assuming
it is an inn. The prospect of meeting the genteel Miss Hardcastle
terrifies the diffident youngster; but the serving-girl Kate - in
fact, Miss Hardcastle, who chooses not to clarify the
misunderstanding - immediately catches his fancy and cannot
complain of a lack of ardour in her well-born suitor. After a
series of trifling confusions and the inevitable
eavesdropping-from-behind-a-screen, all is resolved so pleasingly
that the comedy has been a favourite with amateur and professional
companies and their audiences for over 230 years.
The Modern Husband * The Clandestine Marriage * She Stoops to
Conquer * Wild Oats This edition brings together four
eighteenth-century comedies that illustrate the full variety of the
century's drama. Fielding's The Modern Husband , written before the
1737 Licensing Act that restricted political and social comment,
depicts wife-pandering and widespread social corruption. In Garrick
and Colman's The Clandestine Marriage two lovers marry in defiance
of parental wishes and rue the consequences. She Stoops to Conquer
explores the comic and not-so-comic consequences of mistaken
identity, and in Wild Oats, the 'strolling player' Rover is a
beacon of hope at a time of unrest. Part of the Oxford English
Drama series, this edition has modern-spelling texts, critical
introduction, wide-ranging annotation and an informative
bibliography. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's
Classics has made available the widest range of literature from
around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's
commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a
wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions
by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text,
up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
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The Vicar of Wakefield (Paperback)
Oliver Goldsmith; Edited by Stephen Coote; Introduction by Stephen Coote
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R395
R319
Discovery Miles 3 190
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Comic dramatist, poet and reviewer, Oliver Goldsmith wrote one novel, The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), now acknowledged as his finest work. The story opens in the country parsonage of Dr Primrose, a kindly man who has a good heart, a good family and a good income. Suddenly, his idyllic life is cruelly devastated by a series of misfortunes and he ends up in gaol. Yet, despite all this calamity and injustice, the vicar never loses sight of Christian morality, and while this conviction lends him a genuine nobility, in the end it also brings justice and the restoration of his family and fortune. Through this simple, almost fairy-tale plot, Goldsmith gives us a charming comedy; not a novel of sentiment, but an artful send-up of many of the familiar literary conventions of his day: the pastoral scene, the artificial romance, the unquestioning stoic bravery of the hero – all culminating, of course, in a gloriously improbable denouement.
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