Hello and welcome to the Discourse. John Vanbrugh was an English architect and political activist with a deep interest in drama and literature. He was known for his views in support of women’s rights in marriages. We recently saw how John Farquhar raised the issue of a woman’s right to get rid of a burdensome, unloving, unfruitful married relationship. John Vanbrugh wrote two outspoken restoration comedies that offered arguments in support of women’s rights, or equality of women in married relationships. The first play that he wrote was The Relapse or Virtue in Danger which was first performed in the year 1696 and the second play written by him was The Provoked Wife which was first performed in 1697. Both plays are known for their sexual explicitness and radical viewpoint present in them. John Vanbrugh was a close friend of William Congreve, Colley Ciber, and other dramatists of the Restoration period.
In 1696, Colley Cibber’s drama Love’s Last Shift was performed. It was a story of a virtuous lady married to a rake. The drama celebrated the power of a pious woman Amanda who reforms her rakish husband Loveless. Amanda masquerades as a high-class prostitute and seduces Loveless without being recognized by him. The next morning, she reveals her true identity and counterfaces Loveless with the argument that a wife can be as good in bed as an illicit mistress. Loveless, who already had his best night ever with the stranger woman realizes his fault. He appreciates his wife for doing so much so to change him that she chose to act like a prostitute and promises to change his behavior and be a virtuous married man. It was a period when the economic power was gradually shifting from the high class to the middle-class people. The play attracted both, the high-class aristocratic audience for the sexual explicitness, and the middle-class audience who cherished the preaching and success of a virtuous good lady. As a result, Love’s Last Shift became a huge hit. However, John Vanbrugh wasn’t happy with the ending of the play and he decided to write his own play on the same plot line as a sequel to Love’s Last Shift. This play was The Relapse or Virtue in Danger. Vanbrugh too managed to entice both the upper-class and middle-class audiences and The Relapse proved to be a bigger hit than Cibber’s play.
However, John Vanbrugh was attacked by Jeremy Collier in his pamphlet, A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage which was published in 1698. The Relapse and The Provoked Wife were the two main plays, that Collier believed exuded immorality and profaneness.
Characters of The Relapse, Or Virtue in Danger
Loveless is a married man who is trying hard to overcome his bad habits as a womanizer. Before marriage, he used to spend his nights with prostitutes. His wife Amanda is a virtuous good lady who inspires him to lead a good morally sound life. However, he continues to fail. Amanda, on the other hand, faces the test of temptation on her own but passes and saves her chastity outside the married relationship. Berinthia is Amanda’s cousin who breaks up with her boyfriend Sir Novelty Fashion who is a fop. He is so much indulged in clothing and fashion that he gets the title Lord Foppington. Lord Foppington wishes to marry a rich girl. First, he tries his luck with Berinthia but fails to make progress as she breaks up with him. With a sense of vengeance, he makes it an aim to seduce Berinthia’s married cousin sister Amanda and break her marriage. Lord Foppington is engaged to a rich voluptuous beautiful girl Miss Hoyden. However, she hides a secret within her heart and it turns out that she marries Young Fashion, the younger brother of Lord Foppington. Undoubtedly, Lord Foppington proves to be a butt of jokes at every instance.
Summary of The Relapse, Or Virtue in Danger
The basic story of the play is similar to that of Cibber’s Love’s Last Shift. The Relapse depicts two love stories. The first one involves a married young couple Loveless and his wife Amanda. Loveless and Amanda are living a quiet life in the countryside. Before their marriage, Loveless had spent a long time in London where he became a habitual womanizer. During his days in London, he not only slept with many prostitutes but got many virgins of the upper class in his bed though, he had no feelings for any of those girls and women. Then he met Amanda, a virtuous, good girl whom he decided to marry. Amanda had to bear his immoral behavior but she tried to change him and once pretended to be a high-class prostitute and seduced him without letting him know her true identity. Later on, when she revealed that she is Amanda, his own wife, and made him believe that a wife can be as much fun in bed as a high-class mistress Loveless promised her to change his behavior. Amanda, loyal to her husband, decided to trust him and they continued happy married life. However, Loveless failed miserably in keeping his promise. Now, he keeps visiting London just to test himself if he can keep his promise to Amanda but finds himself unable to resist the charms of immorality.
After some time, the couple decides to return to London and live there. After returning to London, Loveless finds it more difficult to remain true to his wife and soon finds himself enchanted by a beautiful theatre actress Berinthia who also falls for him and breaks up with his current boyfriend Sir Novelty Fashion who has gained the title of Lord Foppington for being a ridiculous fop. Lord Foppington comes to know that the man for whom his girlfriend broke with him is married and decides to lure Loveless’s wife Amanda to fall for him and thus break Loveless’s married life. Thus, Amanda comes to face her own test of temptations. However, despite a strong attraction towards Sir Novelty Fashion, Amanda remains loyal to her cheating husband and she puts an end to the increasing lust of Lord Foppington for her by turning him down.
The other love story involves Miss Hoyden who is a beautiful, voluptuous noble young girl. Lord Foppington wishes to marry a beautiful rich girl and after his break-up with Berinthia, he is unwilling to take any risk. Thus, he engages a professional matchmaker to find a suitable rich girl for him to marry. The matchmaker asks for a handsome price and when Lord Foppington agrees to pay after initial bargaining, he arranges the engagement of Lord Foppington with a very beautiful and rich girl Miss Hoyden. However, the matchmaker isn’t convinced that Lord Foppington will honor his agreement with him and he worries that he won’t pay a dime.
Lord Foppington’s younger brother Young Fashion is facing troubles as Lord Foppington has fraudulently grabbed his share of money and now he refuses to share part of their inheritance. Young Fashion comes to know about his plan to marry a rich girl and meets the matchmaker.
Thus, instead of introducing Sir Novelty Fashion to the family of Miss Hoyden, he decides to arrange a meeting of Young Fashion as Lord Foppington with Miss Hoyden’s family. Miss Hoyden too finds herself attracted to Young Fashion and the two get married. In the end, Lord Foppington suffers defeat at the hands of both, Amanda and Miss Hoyden.
The theme of Amanda and Loveless’s story is the importance of patience, obedience, and the submissiveness of a wife for the success of a marriage. Despite knowing that her husband is cheating, she maintains her virtuous being. Even when she faces temptations outside her married life in face of Lord Foppington, she decides to maintain her loyalty. When Loveless takes her to London and keeps her in a lodging in London, he asks her if she loves the lodgings in town, she responds, “I am satisfy'd with everything that pleases you; else I had not come to Town at all.”
However, the author also shows another side to the audience. Just like Loveless had many avenues to cheat his wife, Amanda also gets many chances to cheat on her husband as an act of revenge. Yet, she chooses the path of morality and chastity outside her married life.
Loveless, on the other hand, remains unchanged. He is as immoral as he was despite all his promises to his loyal wife Amanda. He faces no consequences for all his immoral acts and hence, he is a contradiction to the poetic justice that is missing.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the History of English Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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