ABSTRACT
The proper function of comedy is to assist the assimilation of instincts, especially sexual instincts. The Elizabethan period saw a grand attempt to assert the romance of marriage, of which Spenser's two marriage poems and the various Shakespearian emphases are outstanding examples. The implications are developed in his Amphitryon, adapted from Plautus and Moliere. Jupiter plans to seduce Amphitryon's wife, disguised as her husband. The cruelty is keen and dramatic fire is struck from the lady's anguish. Dorimant's interest is temporarily transferred to Belinda, and he has also been growing more seriously in love with the keenwitted country heiress, Harriet. Dorimant's reformation is brought about by a woman of intellect arousing his own more generous and gentle tendencies. Mistress Pinchwife, the young country girl, has Hippolita's resource, and fools her husband gloriously.
