DEFINITION OF THE COMEDY OF MANNERS

Comedy of Manners, as a genre, has been discussed by various scholars from time to time. But the problem of defining the Comedy of Manners remains unresolved. This study suggests that the Comedy of Manners is a distinct genre which has existed in English literature for the last three centuries and has retained its own peculiar characteristics through time even though it first appeared in its particular form in the Restoration period.;It is argued here that the Comedy of Manners can not be defined solely on the basis of a single unqualified component, nor can it be defined on the basis of a mere grouping of components. It is only by concentrating upon the special manner in which components are combined or fused together that defines the genre in its own right.;For the purpose of defining the Comedy of Manners as a genre, we have reduced the number of components from twenty overlapping items suggested by different scholars to four broad mutually exclusive categories to which we give the names--Naturalism, Intrigue, Wit, and Manners. These four broadly conceived components define the Comedy of Manners by virtue of how they are related to each other.;Thus this special amalgam which is the result of a typically modern problem of man's nature and the necessity to disguise it through proper social behavior becomes the basis for a new conception of The Comedy of Manners.;There has been no adequate definition of the Comedy of Manners, because there has been no agreement among scholars as to what components really make it a distinctive genre. Careful analysis of the definitions and statements given by different scholars has shown that the genre either consists of one component such as "wit" or "manner" or it consists of several components (up to twenty).