premiered in November 1693, the same year as Congreve’s successful first play,
The Old Bachelor. Like any hot new playwright flush from his recent success, Congreve hoped to push the boundaries of comedy—and in this case, outright satire—in his second play, which more than held a mirror up to his audience; it cracked them over the head with it. Not surprisingly, the play did not please and caused something of a scandal, which Congreve acknowledged in his dedication to Charles Mountague. Chiefly, the audience seems to have been shocked by the actions of the upper-class women, who exchange partners and beds with astonishing rapidity: “[the ladies] are concerned that I have represented some women vicious and affected: how can I help it? It is the business of a comic…
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Citation: Grasso, Joshua. "The Double Dealer". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 November 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1038, accessed 21 November 2024.]
