Playwright and poet, born in Bardsey, West Yorkshire, N England, UK. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and became a lawyer in London, but then took up a career in literature. His first comedy, The Old Bachelor, was produced under Dryden's auspices in 1693, and was highly successful, as were The Double Dealer (1693), Love for Love (1695), and The Way of the World (1700). His one tragedy, The Mourning Bride (1697), was much admired by his contemporaries. He largely ceased writing after 1700.
For other uses, see William Congreve (disambiguation).William Congreve (January 24, 1670 – January 19, 1729) was an English playwright and poet.
Biography
Born in Bardsey, West Yorkshire, England (near Manchester), Congreve spent his childhood in Ireland, where his father, a Cavalier, had settled during the reign of Charles II.
William Congreve wrote some of the most popular English plays of the Restoration period of the late 17th century. By the age of thirty, he had written four comedies, including Love for Love (premiered April 30, 1695) and The Way of the World (premiered 1700), and one tragedy, The Mourning Bride (1697)
Unfortunately, his career ended almost as soon as it began. After writing five plays from his first in 1693 until 1700, he produced no more as public tastes turned against the sort of high-brow sexual comedy of manners in which he specialized. A member of the Whig Kit-Kat Club, Congreve's career shifted to the political sector, where he held various minor political positions despite his stance as a Whig among Tories.
Congreve withdrew from the theatre and lived the rest of his life on residuals from his early work. Congreve never married or fathered children;
As early as 1710, he suffered both from gout and from cataracts on his eyes. Congreve suffered a carriage accident in the summer of 1728, from which he never recovered;
Famous Lines from The Mourning Bride (1697)
Two of Congreve's turns of phrase have entered the English language.
"Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast"
ACT I. begins with these words:
A Room of State. - The Curtain rising slowly to soft Musick, discovers ALMERIA in Mourning, LEONORA waiting in Mourning.
ALM.
"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned"
Act 3, Scene 2 ends with these words:
ZARA.
OSM.
ZARA.
OSM.
ZARA. Hell!
Yet I'll be calm- Dark and unknown Betrayer!
But now the Dawn begins, and the slow Hand
Of Fate is stretch'd to draw the Veil, and leave
Thee bare, the naked Mark of Publick View.
OSM.
ZARA. -
Enter PEREZ. too late thou shalt repent
The base Injustice thou hast done my Love:
Yes, thou shalt know, spite of thy past Distress,
And all those Ills which thou so long hast mourn'd;
Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd,
Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd.
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