ABSTRACT
The subject of comedy of manners is the way people behave, the manners they employ in a social context; the chief concerns of the characters are sex and money (and thus the interrelated topics of marriage, adultery and divorce); the style is distinguished by the refinement of raw emotional expression and action in the subtlety of wit and intrigue. The comedy of manners is at its most expressive when all three of these aspects interact. But it is possible to have one without the others: Sheridan, for example, is all superficial style; Coward's Hay Fever is a perfect comedy of manners in its subject, but it has no concern with money and is far less witty than his finest works. Actions- rape, robbery, murder, adultery are unimportant; what matters is the way in which they are performed, or more often the style with which they are concealed.
