A Bold Stroke for a Wife

By: Susanna Centlivre, Nancy Copeland (Editor)

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Paperback | 11 April 1995 | Edition Number 2

At a Glance

Paperback
158 Pages

Edition Type
Revised

Dimensions(cm)
21.4 x 14.0 x 0.9

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Though critics and literary historians have always had to admit that Susanna Centlivreâs comedies were extremely popular, they have tended to devote themselves to a search for evidence in them of supposed deficiencies of âthe female pen,â and to pay as much attention to the playwrightâs marriages and amorous liasons than to the plays themselves. Only in recent years has Centlivre come to be recognized quite straightforwardly as one of the most brilliant playwrights of her time.

A Bold Stroke for a Wife is perhaps the finest example of Centlivreâs masterful plotting of comic intrigue. The soldier Fainwell and Anne Lovely are in love, but their path to the altar is blocked by her guardians, each of whom has a different view of what sort of husband would make the right match. Fainwell resorts to disguises of social types. The play thus provides a wide range of opportunity for Centlivre to satirize Tory respectability, religious propriety and capitalist speculative greedâ"and to give voice to tolerance: âtis liberty of choice that sweetens life.â Yet in the end it is Centlivreâs comic muse that gives enduring life to the play as one of the most entertaining of eighteenth-century comedies.

Industry Reviews

"This edition is expertly contextualized-biographically, socially, politically, and historically-so that Centlivre's play is positioned as an important product of early eighteenth-century theatre and culture. Copeland's introduction is crisp, direct, and authoritative; the notes are thorough, thoughtful, and unobtrusive; and the biographical and critical appendices are welcome." - Susan Carlson, Iowa State University

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