PRINCIPAL TYPES OF COMEDY – COMEDY OF MANNERS
Variously called restoration comedy, artificial comedy and sex comedy, comedy of manners represents a comic subgenre that rose to eminence during the restoration age in England. Arguably the most famous dramatic variety at the time, it remained in vogue throughout the period, achieving peak popularity during two distinct phases. The first of this that occurred during the 1670s is dominated by the works of two playwrights namely William Wycherley, whose important plays are The Gentleman Dancing Master (1672), The Country Wife (1674/75), and The Plain Dealer (1676), and George Ethrege whose most notable drama is The Man of Mode or Sir Fopling Flutter (1676). The second phase of popularity that comedy of manners experienced happened in the 1690s when it supposedly reached its utmost refinement in the plays of its most celebrated exponent William Congreve, whose important works include The Old Batchlor (1693), The Double Dealer (1694), and The Way of the World (1700). I