The other Foot in George Farquhar’s: The Beaux Stratagem

Abstract

This article is designed to highlight the innovation of George Farquhar in his play The Beaux Stratagem, and to illuminate the factors behind its everlasting appeal to audiences since its first performance in 1707 and after. The play still retains a magnificent appeal to all audiences for centuries, and remains alluring and fascinating to even the 21st Century audiences. Its magnitude lies in the sure-fire comic devices and witty characters as well in the profound insight adjoined the comic situations and events. As a transitional playwright, Farquhar has one foot in the declining traditions of the Comedy of Manners, and the other foot in the growing vogue of Sentimental Comedy, employing some character types of the old tradition with innovative alteration, together with introducing prototypes of the coming sentimental types. To keep pace with the shift in tone, he modifies the purpose of his play to suit the specifications of critics, moralists and theatre goers. With its innovative particulars, it sets an early premise for the approaching changes in the dramatic conventions and trends of the 18th Century comedies. More crucially, it forms a gateway to move into the world of sentimentalism, or a bridge between the two.