LOVE FOR LOVE

William Congreve : Love For Love This play looks back in atmosphere and relative formal freedom to The Old Bachelor. The Double-Dealer had presented an upper-class society, physically contained within a country-house. Love for Love is set within the middle and merchant classes. Love is more important than the legacy-intrigue in this play, unlike in the two earlier plays. The play opens with Valentine imprisoned in his chamber by the heavy debts he has incurred in his attempts to win Angelica, a rich heiress. The first four Acts are taken up with Valentine’s rejection of the earlier answers supplied by Restoration comedy for men in his dilemma. In Act I, Valentine tries out various roles–that of the wise man scorning poverty, that of the poet, that of the railer. Debarred form all means of livelihood except inherited wealth, Valentine has only two alternatives. He first asks his father’s mercy, but Sir Sampson’s refusal brings about a struggle between father and son. Valentine is driven to his last resort, trickery. His feigned madness is the climax of his attempts to free himself from his debts in order to win Angelica. Only when such attempts have failed completely can the plot be resolved. Finally, convinced that Angelica really wishes to marry his father, he gives up his pursuit of her. Angelica now admits her love for him; she realises that, in signing away his inheritance, Valentine has performed a most generous act. Angelica’s affectation of pretending indifference to Valentine until he has acted generously, re-defines the problems traditionally set by the comedy of manners. Her dominance and her persistent refusal of Valentine as long as he seemed to be worldly, conclude in the statement that love requires love in return, and not a reconciliation between love and material interest.

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