Libertinism and Sexuality

Abstract

This chapter talks about libertinism and sexuality in Restoration drama. The partially formalized attitudes of the libertines and the neo-Epicureans of France reflected interests in sexual freedom that were already apparent in English plays from the early part of the seventeenth century. After an extraordinary beginning, libertinism in the drama tended to fall into somewhat coarser forms of sexuality. For many contemporaries, Rochester was English libertinism. The great libertine plays of 1675 and 1676 include William Wycherley's The Country Wife, George Etherege's The Man of Mode and Aphra Behn's The Rover. These plays are so rich in wit, satire and characterization that it is easy enough for a modern critic to forget their strong libertine thrust. Thomas Otway's two comedies did add something to sexual comedy. By the time one comes to the 1690s, libertinism has become a code that was hardly distinguishable from that of the gentleman.

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