A Dark Comedy : Aphra Behn's The Town-Fopp

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A few months after her return to the stage in 1676 with her only tragedy, Abdelazer, or the Moor's Revenge, her satirical comedy, The Town-Fopp: or Sir Timothy Tawdrey was performed at the Duke's Theatre. In contrast to the preceding one, her new drama unfolds in the frivolous atmosphere of the town, London. Emphasizing the frivolousness, the comedy begins by and ends by the lines of the fop of the title who is supposed to play the fool. He enters the stage triumphantly as a fop in the opening scene and closes the drama triumphantly announcing his persistent belief as a fop. He continues to be a fop, that is to say, a fool throughout the drama without becoming penitent or being reformed. It is the convicted fop, Sir Timothy Tawdrey, who influences and dominates the tenor of the drama so as to be the eponymous hero. Even Bellmour, who is the complete opposite of the fop and the real hero of the drama, is considerably influenced by Sir Timothy, and even sets foot in the road of fops in desperation. And Bellmour's sister, Phillis, marries Sir Timothy in the end, though he will not give up being a fop. Sir Timothy Tawdrey acts on the monetary policy. For a fop, nothing is more significant than money. What is more, the policy prevails in the drama. The play is constructed under the monetary principle of fops. Not only Lord Plotwell who forces to marry his nephew Bellmour to his niece Diana by the threat of depriving him of the portion but also Bellmour who yields to the threat follows the principle. And Phillis, on knowing her guardian Lord Plotwell intends to turn her out of the house with giving her no portion, manages to marry Sir Timothy. For her, to be penniless is worse than to marry a fop. Sir Timothy, an out-and-out fop, keeps a prostitute, Betty Flauntit, and haunts a bawdy house. The mistress is a good pair of her lover in point of living up to the monetary politics. She nearly almost has Bellmour make a settlement on her by deceiving him and has betrayed her lover in other respects. Her unfaithfulness is revealed to Sir Timothy by the matron of the brothel, but she does not lose the status as a kept woman. As Sir Timothy remains to be a fop, Flauntit remains to be a mistress in the play. The pair maintains their relationship eventually with their monetary principle. All in all, the philosophy of both Sir Timothy and Flauntit, that is the mode or the undercurrent of the town, is prevalent throughout the play and frames the comedy of the play. It is true that the comedy is based on the frivolousness of fops, but we are not allowed to dissolve the laughter of the comedy into the frivolousness. We can see satirical eyes of the playwright behind the comedy. They make The Town-Fopp 'a very dark play' as Derek Hughes states. I will investigate the darkness through analyzing the comedy.

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