HUMOUR AS AFFECT IN SUSANNA CENTLIVRE’S PLAY A BOLD STROKE FOR A WIFE

Ellen  DENGEL-JANIC

doi:10.24193/subbphilo.2023.3.02

Authors

Ellen DENGEL-JANIC Lecturer PhD, Department for English Literatures and Cultures, University of Tübingen, Germany. Email: ellen.dengel-janic@uni-tuebingen.de.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbphilo.2023.3.02

Keywords:

eighteenth-century drama, comedy, affect theory, empathy, ethics.

Abstract

Humour as Affect in Susanna Centlivre’s Play A Bold Stroke for a Wife. Susanna Centlivre’s plays are conceived in a cultural climate of moral debate and ideological reconsideration of values such as virtue, goodness and liberty. Centlivre’s use of humour becomes an ethical instrument and shows eighteenth-century audiences how liberty and freedom triumph over the excesses and follies of opposing figures such as parents and guardians. On the one hand, Centlivre’s comic playwriting creates an empathetic drama in which the female heroines are virtuous and elicit edifying responses from the audience and, on the other, the comic experience, following Bakhtin’s notion of laughter and the comic, enables freedom from the socially conventional notion of selfhood, thus making space for a re-orientation of values and norms.

REZUMAT. Umorul ca afect în piesa A Bold Stroke for a Wife de Susanna Centlivre. Piesele Susannei Centlivre sunt concepute într-un climat cultural al dezbaterilor morale și al reevaluării ideologice a valorilor precum virtutea, bunătatea și libertatea. Umorul lui Centlivre devine un instrument etic, arătându-i publicului de secol XVIII cum triumfă libertatea și eliberarea asupra exceselor și viciilor unor figuri antitetice, precum părinții și protectorii. Pe de o parte, piesele comice ale lui Centlivre creează un tip de teatru empatic, în care eroinele sunt virtuoase și primesc răspunsuri edificatoare din partea publicului. Pe de altă parte, folosind teoria lui Bahtin despre râs și comic, experiența comică permite eliberarea de noțiunea convențională, din punct de vedere social, de individualitate, făcând astfel loc unei reorientări a valorilor și normelor.

Cuvinte-cheie: teatrul secolului al XVIII-lea, comedie, teoria afectelor, empatie, etică.

Article history: Received 7 June 2023; Revised 17 August 2023; Accepted 12 September 2023;Available online 30 September 2023; Available print 30 September 2023.

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