“The cleverness and subtlety of Sheridan's use of language in ‘The Rivals’ is too easily overlooked.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

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“The cleverness and subtlety of Sheridan’s language in The Rivals is too easily overlooked.”  To what extent do you agree with this statement?

“The cleverness and subtlety of Sheridan's use of language in ‘The Rivals’ is too easily overlooked.”  To what extent do you agree with this statement?

In The Rivals, Sheridan uses a mixture of very basic humour, for instance in the way the names of the characters reflect their personalities.  This might suggest a basic humour in the play, but on closer analysis of the language, it is both subtle and humorous.  The stereotyping used in The Rivals forms much of the reason for the play’s success, but beneath this rather crude and basic humour lies a subtle and extremely intelligent use of language that can be overlooked in the play.  

Captain Absolute is a good example of how Sheridan uses his language in a clever yet subtle way.  Jack Absolute is adept and changeable in his character, and this is reflected in the language he uses.  Absolute is under the guise of Ensign Beverly whilst he is in Bath, in order to impress Lydia Languish, who thinks that it is far more romantic to be in love with an Ensign then a Captain, and wishes to elope with him.  Absolute plays the part of the romantic hero very successfully, addressing Lydia in a letter intercepted by Mrs Malaprop as ‘My soul’s idol, my adored Lydia’.  He also plays the role of the dutiful son, telling his father that he resolves to ‘sacrifice every inclination of my own to your satisfaction’ when he is, in fact, perfectly aware that his father’s wishes comply with his own.   It is the way that Absolute is able to remain in control of the situation throughout almost the whole of the play through his changeable use of language which illustrates his articulate and shrewd nature. This shows us how Sheridan’s remarkable grasp of language had enables him to create such a cunning and successful character and to be able to portray him so effectively through his use of language.

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The language used by Mrs Malaprop is not an example of Sheridan’s subtle use of humour; her inaccurate use of language, or malapropisms, are blatant throughout the play.  The woman who thinks of herself as ‘Queen of the dictionary’ makes many errors in her use of language, ‘with her select words so ingeniously misapplied’ and is an obvious source of humour to both the audience and the other characters throughout the play. Her character does, however, show how Sheridan is able to mix both subtle and noticeable humour successfully in The Rivals, and how Sheridan uses a number of ...

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