The Old Bachelor

The Old Bachelor is the first play by the English dramatist William Congreve (1670–1729). It premiered in 1693 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, performed by the United Company, with such celebrated actors as Thomas Betterton and Anne Bracegirdle in the cast. The "old bachelor" of the title is Heartwell: a man who professes to despise women and affects to mock marriage, yet unwittingly falls for Sylvia—who is in fact the discarded mistress of the rake Vainlove. Heartwell is led along by her and agrees to marry her, only to learn from his friends' teasing afterward who she really is; fortunately, the wedding turns out to have been a sham. The man who carries out this mock wedding is Vainlove's friend Bellmour, who uses a clergyman's identity as cover while pursuing his own affair: he is entangled with Laetitia, the young wife of the wealthy old banker Fondlewife. The play also includes a pair of comic figures—the self-styled gallant Sir Joseph Wittol and his boastful yet cowardly follower Captain Bluffe—who each, through misunderstanding, "marry" women they know nothing about, setting off a chain of confusion and reversals. Built on witty dialogue, interwoven romantic intrigues, and mistaken identities, the play is a typical specimen of Restoration comedy of manners, satirizing the vanity, frivolity, and mercenary marriages of London high society while exploring the tension between love, loyalty, and social reputation. With music by Henry Purcell, it was the work that made Congreve's name and is indispensable to the study of Restoration comedy.