Eighteenth-Century English Comedy: Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Course Description

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) and Oliver Goldsmith (1728-74) revived the English “laughing comedy” after it had seemed in danger to submit to sentimentalism in the mid-eighteenth century. Looking back to Shakespeare and Restoration comedy as their models, the two playwrights - both of them Irish, as were most of the more successful dramatists writing for an English audience in those days - strove to bring "wit and humour" back onto the stage. We will focus our discussion on two celebrated and frequently performed plays: Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer (1773) and Sheridan's The Rivals (1775). Topics to be dealt with are: Eighteenth-Century Theatre; Elements and Variables of Play Types; The Criticism of Sentimentalism; The Satire of the Arranged Marriage; Stock Characters and Types.

Required reading:

Oliver Goldsmith. She Stoops to Conquer. London: Black, 2001 (New Mermaids).
Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The Rivals. London: Black, 1995 (New Mermaids). Students are expected to have read the plays before the start of the winter semester.

Prerequisites:

"Introduction to the Study of Literature"

Requirements for Credit:

Earning a course credit in this Proseminar presupposes that students have already taken the lecture course "Introduction to the Study of Literature" and that they attend the seminar on a regular basis. Apart from writing a term paper of between 10 and 12 pages, students will be asked to give a short presentation on a specified topic.

Registration:

To register, students are to send an e-mail to Dr. Baltes by 15 September, stating their name, semester standing and subjects.