In English literature, the term "comedy of manners" (also called "anti-sentimental comedy") refers to a type of realistic, satirical comedy that examines and critiques the behaviors and social rules of a very formal and artificial society. This genre uses humor to highlight the fashion, manners, and attitudes of different social classes, often through repeated character types, such as the boastful soldier from Ancient Greek plays, or the vain man and the reckless lover from English Restoration plays. The clever storyline of a comedy of manners (often involving a scandal) is less important than the social messages shown through the sharp and clever conversations of the characters. For example, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), by Oscar Wilde, uses humor to criticize the hidden rules and double standards of Victorian society.
The comedy-of-manners genre began during the New Comedy period (325–260 BC) of Classical Greece (510–323 BC). It is known from pieces of plays by the writer Menander, whose detailed stories and repeated character types were copied by Roman writers like Plautus and Terence. These plays were studied and performed during the Renaissance. In the 17th century, the genre was most clearly shown in the plays of Molière, such as The School for Wives (1662), The Imposter (1664), and The Misanthrope (1666), which used humor to expose the false beliefs and pride of the French ruling class during the ancien régime (late 15th century to 18th century). In the early 18th century, William Congreve’s play The Way of the World (1700) became popular because it strongly represented the comedy-of-manners genre.
Early examples
The comedy of manners was used by Roman satirists as early as the first century BC. In Horace's Satire 1.9, the character cannot directly tell his companion to leave but instead hints at this desire through clever words.
William Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing is often seen as the first comedy of manners in England. However, the genre became popular during the Restoration period (1660–1710). Restoration comedy, inspired by Ben Jonson's comedy of humours, mocked exaggerated cleverness and common foolish behaviors of the time. The most famous works of this genre were plays by William Wycherley (The Country Wife, 1675) and William Congreve (The Way of the World, 1700). In the late 18th century, Oliver Goldsmith (She Stoops to Conquer, 1773) and Richard Brinsley Sheridan (The Rivals, 1775; The School for Scandal, 1777) brought the style back into use.
Later examples
The tradition of detailed, artificial planning and witty dialogue was continued by the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde in his plays Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). In the 20th century, the comedy of manners returned in the works of British dramatists Noël Coward (Hay Fever, 1925) and Somerset Maugham. Other early 20th-century examples of comedies of manners include George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play Pygmalion (later adapted into the musical My Fair Lady), E. M. Forster’s A Room with a View, and the Jeeves and Wooster stories by P. G. Wodehouse.
The term "comedy of menace," created by British drama critic Irving Wardle, comes from the subtitle of David Campton’s play The Lunatic View: A Comedy of Menace (1958). This term is a joke based on the phrase "comedy of manners," with "menace" sounding like "manners" spoken with a Judeo-English accent. Harold Pinter’s play The Homecoming has been described as a mid-20th-century "comedy of manners."
More recent examples include Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel The Remains of the Day, Barbara Pym’s novel Excellent Women, Douglas Carter Beane’s play As Bees in Honey Drown, and plays such as The Country Club and The Little Dog Laughed. In the play Boston Marriage (1999), David Mamet tells the story of a sexual relationship between two women, one of whom is interested in another young woman (who does not appear but is the target of a seduction plan). The two women often make jokes at the expense of their servant, highlighting the satire about class. Though the play shows the clever dialogue typical of the genre, it sometimes shifts to shocking language.
Works labeled "comedy of manners" are often novels or plays, but the genre also appears in film and television. A modern film example is The Dinner Game (1998), a French-language cult classic based on a play. In The Dinner Game, a group of wealthy friends host dinners where they invite unusual people to mock them. Much of the humor comes from the characters’ pretentious behavior. In television, Larry David’s show Curb Your Enthusiasm has been described as a comedy of manners.