For Wednesday: Congreve, The Way of the World, Act V

Answer TWO of the following...

1. Why do Mirabell/ Millamant/ Mrs.Fainall win in the end?  Are they the ‘moral’ group as opposed to Mrs. Marwood/Mr.Fainall?  Have they been more real or authentic throughout the play—or simply at the end?  In short, are we rooting for them throughout, and is this ending satisfying (does it give us the expected happy ending)?  Or is it almost arbitrary who wins and who loses? 

2. Though Lady Wishfort is initially a farcical character, how does Congreve make her a sympathetic—and even tragic—figure by the Final Act?  Examine a scene that might show her as more than the butt of a sex joke, and why we (and perhaps Mirabell?) might pity her. 

3. In the very last scene, Witwoud remarks, “what, are you all got together, like players at the end of the last act?” (75). This act of ‘unmasking’ reminds us that everything has finally been revealed: not only the actor/character’s ‘true’ faces, but the unmasking of plots, alliances, and legal documents.  How do you think the Final Act ‘unmasks’ Congreve’s satirical and/or moral message?  If none of this is real, what is “real” about the play—and the people in it?  What should we take away after the final curtain? 

4. As suggested earlier, the servants have a much larger role in late 17^th century society than their masters realized—or at least dared to admit.  How do the servants (Foible, Waitwell, Mincing) help create the ‘happy ending’ of this play, and in a large degree, control who wins and who loses?  Are the servants more ‘moral’ than their masters, or are they simply available to the highest bidder?