![]() "She Stoops to Conquer Prologue Summary and Analysis". But even without such extensive historical research, the prologue brings the audience in with a particular question: can this play remind us that true comedy, which is willing to be silly and unpretentious, is the most entertaining of all? Next Section Act I Summary and Analysis Previous Section Quotes and Analysis Buy Study Guide How To Cite in MLA Format Cedars, S.R. It's worth reviewing the "About 'An Essay on the Theatre'" section of this ClassicNote that explains in more detail the context of the theatre of the time, since it will provide an even more in-depth understanding of the purpose suggested in this prologue. So Goldsmith's play has an extra purpose: it must rejuvenate the joy taken in “laughing comedy,” which could be willing to be more stupid, to dramatize base characters and characteristics, and to mock even the characters who profess to be moral. ![]() Woodward suggests that a certain class of actor (and by extension, then, audience and writer) were dying out as sentimental comedy became more popular. The latter, which dated back to the Greeks and Romans and through Shakespeare, was more willing to engage in “low” humor for the sake of mocking vice. At the time of She Stoops to Conquer, popular theatre comedy was separated into what was commonly termed "sentimental comedy" and "laughing comedy." The former was concerned with bourgeois (middle-class) morality and with praising virtue. The prologue mirrors the trend in theatre that writers like Goldsmith were desperately trying to change. However, most relevant is the state of affairs sculpted here. If we, as actors and audience, are in a state of sadness, can the play lift our spirits? Woodward, who would have been portrayed by a different actor – comes out in mourning, already having been crying, which in a way poses a challenge to the play. Obviously, the most explicit purpose is to make the audience laugh. Though not written by Goldsmith, the play's prologue is useful in the way it provides insight into Goldsmith's purpose in the play. He urges the audience to accept the doctor's comic medicine willingly, to laugh heartily, and stresses that should the doctor's goal not be achieved, then they can hold it against him and deny him his fee. He offers one final hope for his problem – "a doctor this night to show his skill," perhaps to make the audience laugh through his five "draughts" of medicine (paralleling the five acts of the play). He attempts to tell a moral poem beginning with "All is gold that glitters," but performs poorly and stops himself. In verse, Woodward laments to the audience that "the Comic muse, long sick, is now a-dying!" As an actor trained in comedy, he intuits that his own career will pass away along with comedy itself, since he "can as soon speak Greek as sentiments!" Unable to tell moralistic, sentimental stories, he fears for the fate of himself and his brethren. Woodward, a celebrated actor of his day and one who had turned down the role of Tony Lumpkin in the play's initial production, is drying his eyes as though he has been crying. Goldsmith might prove the doctor, and She Stoops to Conquer the medicine, that will cease its death.Īt the play's opening, Mr. The basic premise of the prologue is that the comic arts are passing away, and that Dr. Toning to endpapers, else a remarkably fresh and brilliant copy.The prologue is attributed to David Garrick, Esq., a popular actor of his day. The play is a favourite for study by English. Pen-and-ink original drawing, 7'' square, on recto of limitation page, signed by Thomson. She Stoops to Conquer is a comedy by Irish author Oliver Goldsmith that was first performed in London in 1773. Illustrated by Thomson with 26 beautiful tipped-in color plates, plus many in-text illustrations. Original full elaborately gilt-stamped vellum. Thomson captioned the piece: "'And Tony Lumpkin is his own man again' / p.197" he has signed it, "With / Hugh Thomson's / kind regards / December 1912." This is an incredible and unique copy with the ornate binding in beautiful condition. The man is Tony Lumpkin, a character from the play. ![]() ![]() Thomson has drawn the figure of a man in period dress celebrating by kicking up his heels, taking off his hat and waving a whip in the air. Signed limited edition of only 350 numbered copies signed by Thomson - this a presentation copy, not numbered, with an original signed drawing of a character from the book.
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