In English literature, the term comedy of manners (also anti-sentimental comedy) describes a genre of realistic, satirical comedy. Satire and satirical comedy are used to analyze behaviors to make fun of, criticize, or chastise them in a humorous way. Satire is not one thing. A writer creates successful satire by using a combination of other literary devices. These include irony, hyperbole, repetition, and even types of figurative language like metaphor and simile. The comedy of manners emerged during the Restoration period, which refers to the re-instatement in May 1660 of the Stuart monarchy in England, Scotland, and Ireland. This genre questions and comments upon the manners and social conventions of a greatly sophisticated, artificial society.
The satire of fashion, manners, and outlook on life of the social classes is realized with stock characters, also known as character archetypes, which are types of characters in a narrative. There is a wide range of stock characters, covering people of various ages, social classes, and demeanors. For example, a story with the stock characters of a knight-errant and a witch is probably a fairy tale or fantasy. Stock characters in this genre include the braggart soldier of Ancient Greek comedy, and the fop and the rake of English Restoration comedy.
The clever plot of a comedy of manners, usually a scandal, is secondary to the social commentary thematically presented through the witty dialogue of the characters. An example is The Importance of Being Earnest, a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome social obligations. It treats institutions as serious as marriage and results in satire of Victorian conformity.
The comedy-of-manners genre originated in the New Comedy of Classical Greece, which followed the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and lasted throughout the reign of the Macedonian rulers, ending about 260 BC. It is comparable to situation comedy and comedy of manners. The three best-known playwrights belonging to this genre are Menander, Philemon, and Diphilus. The satirical and farcical element which featured so strongly in Aristophanes' comedies was increasingly abandoned. The de-emphasis of the grotesque—whether in the form of choruses, humor, or spectacle—opened the way for greater representation of daily life and the foibles of recognizable character types. This genre is known from fragments of works by the playwright Menander, whose style of writing, elaborate plots, and stock characters were imitated by Roman playwrights such as Plautus and Terence, whose comedies were known to and staged during the Renaissance.
In the 17th century, the comedy of manners is best realized in the plays of Molière, a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world literature. His extant works include comedies, farces, tragicomedies, comédie-ballets, and more. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed at the Comédie-Française more often than those of any other playwright today. His influence is such that the French language is often referred to as the "language of Molière." His plays such as The School for Wives (1662), The Imposter (1664), and The Misanthrope (1666) satirize the hypocrisies and pretensions of the ancien régime that ruled France from the late 15th century to the 18th century.
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