The shift from feudalism to capitalism brought with it a different standard for determining social decency and decorum. The traditional controlling powers- the patricians- are of an era that determined conflicts with swords, and relied heavily on emotional release in matters of social communication. Gardner points out that the changing economic landscape was uprooting the outdated modes of social propriety, and an emotional reserve was becoming more and more favored as the proper way to conduct oneself in society. Additionally, the vestigous  practice of settling disagreements with force, athleticism and swords was changing, it was coming to be seen as a brutish practice that was fitting only for the lower class.

A reaction against these new social orders was the obsession over natural demeanor. In order to maintain social authority, those in the upper class focused on being able to decipher, through one’s physical actions, whether or not an individual was born of grace. The feeling was that the more natural seeming the rehearsed and choreographed movements of the body were, the more deserving of the aristocracy was the person. The fascination and importance put on this practice had two results, the first of which was that any member of the upper class who could not master their own movements- those who seemed as if they were adopting affectations- were ostracized and rejected from the very network they were attempting to save. The second result  of this practice, was that anyone could adopt the mannerisms of the upper class, provided they were skilled at the “natural” presentation.

Gardner uses these social shifts of power to examine the characters in The Way of the World, and in doing so he exposes the anxieties behind their actions and the comedic elements of the play itself. Lady Wishfort becomes a sad product of a society whose rules have far surpassed her, and Mirabell stands as one who has mastered both the new way of propriety and the outdated way, utilizing both modes to assert his own authority. Mirabell is the model of the new cultural codes.

I found Gardner’s article to be very enlightening and approachable. Logistically, I found the presentation of his material to be done in a way so the reader could easily follow the structure of his argument, allowing more opportunities for the reader to associate with, and process the material and assertions made. I find the double ironies of the character’s usage of social rules to be fascinating. Mirabell must maintain the new codes of suppression and self-regulation in order to successfully pull off a subversive plan. These elements are all newer modes of conducting oneself, but their goal is to attain inheritance and a title: both very traditional modes of power.

Another irony that I observed relates to both the patrician mode of power, and the newer, patriarchal mode of power. Gardner writes that the patrician modes of power became based on a heavy reliance on the mechanization of one’s body and movements, as a presentation of “natural” civilization. Whether this development happened as a reaction to, or in tandem with, the threat to the patrician modes of power is unclear to me. However, it is highly interesting to me that the newer, more patriarchal mode of power, based on suppression of emotions and self-restraint, is also inherently dependent upon a mechanistic approach to one’s self- in this case, their inner self- in order to assert power and expose imposters. Both modes of authority are born from similar instincts: to use control and mechanization as a form of self preservation and survival.

Gardner’s approach to Congreve’s The Way of the World has enhanced my perspective of the comedy of manners, save for one element. Gardner points to Lady Wishfort’s anxieties over her loss of sexual and social authority as the driving force of the comedic factor in the play. I would say that Witwoud is also a heavy comedic force, but his force is also born out of misfortune for he, like the Lady, has been unable to decode the social language that solidifies one’s acceptance. In this light, the humor of the play has been taken out of it, and the sadness of the characters shadows over the ‘fun’ element of the play. As a reader, I have a harder time reading the piece as a satire of social mannerisms, it becomes more of a serious reflection on the “way of the world.”