She Stoops to Conquer
Define the ending of "She Stoops to Conquer"? Explain with examples how dramatic theory of comedy can be established through the ending?
Summary
Summary
Contrastingly, the first epilogue is a nice summation of the goal Goldsmith set out for himself in his "Essay on the Theatre." Though it's not explicitly stated, the barmaid whose life he describes is likely meant to represent the theatre itself. She learned to confront her audience and demand things of them, then was brought to high society, where she grew pretentious and lost her edge (regressing into "sentimental comedy"), and now sits docile, waiting for someone like Goldsmith ("the doctor" from the prologue) to see where he can lead her. He wants to recapture her bawdy charm from her younger days, and he hopes he can "conquer" his audience by doing so. So the epilogue here serves as a challenge to the audience – did he succeed? Did he conquer them into accepting the low and bawdy nature of comedy again, leading them to repudiate their assumptions about high-minded theatre?