English Language and Literature ETDs

Publication Date

5-27-1970

Abstract

Masks and disguises permeate the plays of Etherege, Wycherley, and Congreve. Previous studies of these elements have not considered some of their more significant literary and theatrical uses. Indeed, the mask is usually dismissed as a social phenomenon of the Restoration. However, like material disguise, the mask provides the plays with spectacle and serves numerous other dramaturgic functions--structural, thematic, symbolic, and satiric. A detailed study of the uses of these devices can increase the reader's or spectator's understanding of the three dramatists' plays.

Degree Name

English

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

English

First Committee Member (Chair)

James Llewellyn Thorson

Second Committee Member

Joseph Frank

Third Committee Member

Mary Beth Whidden

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

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