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A Study Of The Moral Tone Of Restoration Comedy, Herbert Robinson Blackwell

Master's Theses

The so called "Restoration period" in English literature stands as an age of comic production that ranks as one of the most brilliant in the history of the English stage, second perhaps only to the preceding Elizabethan period. Restoration comedy has been famed for its indecency and immorality, and critical Judgment has always been influenced by concern over the "excesses" which the playwrights introduced into their works.

Morality is a relative term. What is sinful in one age is commonly accepted in another. Semantic differences may cause different moral connotations to be placed on certain words. Thus, in considering whether …