Act 1, Prologue Summary

This restoration comedy follows three couples, two of which involve the same man, as they struggle to live and love in the way they're inclined to, as opposed to the way that others intend them to. Written by a woman at a time when women were meant to be seen and not heard, the play's challenges to beliefs about gender roles and stereotypes form a potent thematic subtext to the action.

In varied language that vividly contrasts what people say and how they behave with what they truly feel, the speaker refers an incident in which he asked the play's male author, what he should say in welcome to the audience, and the playwright said it doesn't matter. The audience, the playwright says, is only there out of interest in what witty comments they can make about the play, in what...