Adhikari 1

Sandhya Adhikari

Khimananda Aryal

ENGL 566.1

10 May 2023

Restoration Society’s attitude to love and marriage in Marriage a La Mode

This paper tries to analyze the concept of restoration’s point of view towards love and

marriage in John Dryden’s play “Marriage a La Mode”. Werckmeister paper on “Restoration

Comedies: Discussion of Love and Marriage” critiques on male stereotypes like rakes and

fops and female stereotypes like wives and virgins. He has looked at restoration comedies

dealing with problems, concerns and difficulties at that time. According to him, “Restoration

plays are rather conventional libertine plays which include features of early sentimentalism.”

Kalitzki’s “Versions of Truth: Marriage a la Mode” is a paper that discusses on how

Dryden’s comedies has been consistently misunderstood and mistreated by modern criticism.

He says, “its hybrid nature was until recently either ignored or, when noticed, deplored, is

perhaps not surprising when one considers that within three years of Dryden’s death, the

heroic and comic plots were sundered, with the comic plot turned into a two-act piece

sufficient to fill out a program.” Ometto in his article “Marriage in restoration comedy”

attempts to explore and analyze one of the key themes in Restoration comedy: marriage

through the concept of loose morals and sexual freedom. Ometto writes, “Even the King

Charles II, was famous for his affairs with mistresses and actresses such as Nell Gwyn, and

this served as a model for people who wanted to imitate court life.” He brings down the

concept of new feeling of freedom from puritan values after the experience of the

Interregnum, along with the emergence of libertinism and the restoration which contributed

to the creation of a society that was more tolerant towards adultery, sexual freedom and

promiscuousness.
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During restoration time concept of marriage was explicitly linked to the patriarchy.

The society was patriarchy as a result women have very less access to decision making.

‘Husbands’ rule over the wives, children and other in the family. This tradition was prevalent

from royal to peasant class. A woman was regarded as the ‘weaker vessel- a creature

physically, intellectually, morally, and even spiritually inferior to a man; therefore the man

had a right to dominate her.’ (A phrase taken from the New Testament). In the play, Dryden

has also portrayed woman as indecisive. They are shown in relation to the male. Palmyra is

so dependent on Leonidas in the name of love. When Hermogenes claims that Palmyra is

king’s daughter and heir of the throne, instead of getting empowered she constantly gets

worried of being departed from Leonidas. This shows how woman are griped under the

male’s control in the name of love. The key quality in a woman was an ability to run

households efficiently. They had no space to push beyond households. This was frequently

the chief consideration for a man in his choice of a wife; especially low class family. At the

same time, it is remarkable to mention that women during restoration period were beginning

to revolt against patriarchy through their action. They were supposed to be considered as

‘Eve’ rather than Virgin Mary. Eve represents the ultimate epitome of feminism who refused

to obey Adam, the male. Dryden brings the characters like Doralice and Melantha who subtly

avoid the patriarchal norms involving in extra marital affairs. The play shows that all the

powerful characters are male rather than female. Restoration was also the time when early

marriage was quite common and easily prevalent among the children between 12 to 14 years

of age. This might be the reason of Palmyra and Leonidas affair at such early age and they

dreamt of marriage. The cultural setting of the then time is precisely shown in the play. Also,

the criteria of a match must be ‘appropriate’. Couple should be of similar age, background,

financial circumstances and religious beliefs. This is also clearly highlighted by the Dryden in

the play. When Leonidas was considered to be the heir of Sicily, he was worried about
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Leonidas. King Polydamas sentences Palmyra to be executed as she wanted to get involved in

romance and marriage with Leonidas. Leonidas was prince and there was a question; how

could a prince marry a peasant? The family background and financial circumstances was

much more valued at that time. This is why, later when Palmyra and Leonidas were revealed

to be from royals; they had a union.

Dryden considers that marriage has no longer a purpose when love is lost which

challenges the restoration idea that passionate love should only be with Christ. In the initial

statement of the play,

“Why should a foolish marriage vow

Which long ago was made,

Oblige us to each other now

When passion is decay’d?

We’d, and we lov’d, as long as we cou’d,

Till our love was lov’d out in us both:

But our marriage is dead, when the pleasure is fled;

‘Twas pleasure first made it an oath.

‘Tis a madness that he

Should be jealous of me,

Or that u shou’d bar him of another:

For all we can gain,

Is to give our selves pain,

When neither can hinder the other. (Dryden 1.1.2-3)

These lines present marriage as a willful event, with love in its center. Before restoration

poets like Shakespeare had created love as eternal through his poetry and play both. Dryden

also tries to portray love as being the utmost noble sentiment of the human condition. But, as
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said earlier, restoration period was the time when marriage was performed just to get fulfilled

of social status. Women marry to accomplish their life; their achievements were status of

being wife and mother. Men marry to get heir and carry their household. Marriage life was

perceived as a parallel of Christ’s bond with the church, so obsessive love between husband

and wife was regarded as undesirable. Dryden’s play challenges this view. In the very

beginning of the play, he states that love can be fade; therefore, human may be freed from the

chains of marriage when such feeling is no longer there. However, restoration society

strongly influenced by Puritan values, the status of a married person gave respectability and

social prestige. The fact that it was very difficult for women to find ways of making an

independent living cannot be ignored even by Dryden in his play. As he reunites Doralice and

Melantha back to their spouse.

Restoration was also the time of open sexuality and adultery. While talking about

limitations for women, we shouldn’t forget that ‘Marriage a La Mode’ depicts the

independent women of the then time as well. Dryden introduces very good examples of

sexual exchanges and adultery. Doralice and Melantha are the symbol of freedom; expressing

their needs and desires to satisfy themselves. They desire to live in the world where their

sexual desires would be free from social constraints. Doralice, Rhodophil’s wife is pursued

by Palamede. She is coy about Palamede’s advances. She is exceedingly witty and plays a

game of cat-and-mouse with both her husband and would-be lover. Though Dryden tries to

show strong independent woman open to display their adultery, still freedom isn’t long lived.

Ultimately, Doralice and Melantha had to settle down with whatever they had (their own

partner). Love seems to be rightly directed towards restoration concept of no love. It was the

time when social obligations were more important than love. However, adultery creeps in

both the restoration time and Dryden’s play. Dryden’s attempt to make women empowered

through adultery is praiseworthy even though he reconciles on restoration values at the end.
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Work cited:

Werckmeister, Magister Anke. “Restoration Comedies: Discussion of Love and

Marriage”, Restoration Comedies, Free University of Berlin, 2007.

Kalitzki, Judith. “Versions of Truth: marriage a la Mode”, Restoration: Studies in

English Literary Culture, University of Maryland, 1980.

Ometto, Isabel. “Marriage in Restoration Comedy”, Restoration Comedy, Academia

Journal, 2010.

Dryden, John. “Dryden marriage A La Mode”, PuiCuBot, 1995.