Colley Cibber and the Negotiation of Mode: Sentiment and Satire in Love's Last Shift and The Non-Juror

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to show that Colley Cibber's works are important to studies of both genre and mode in 17th-and 18th-century British literature. This thesis explores the important lessons that Cibber's negotiation of mode teaches us about Cibber and his influence in the movement toward and away from certain modes (sentimentalism, satire, and comedy). In order to achieve this goal, I look at two different genres — dramatic sentimental comedy and dramatic satire — as they are seen in two works of Cibber: Love's Last Shift (1696) and The Non-Juror (1717). Scholarship tends to focus on the sentimental comedy of one (Love's Last Shift) and the political satire of the other (The Non-Juror) without necessarily addressing the presence of both modes in both plays. Both of Cibber's plays contain both modes, and these modes are similar in that they instruct. By examining the changes that occurred across the 21 years between Love's Last Shift and The Non-Juror, in the areas of both satire and sentimentalism, we are able to understand more about the evolution of certain forms.

In The Non-Juror Cibber mimicked the works of famous satirists of his time in an attempt to create a successful play. However, unlike other satirists, Cibber, referring back to the success of Love's Last Shift, added an element that made his work distinctive: sentimentalism. The important connection between the two plays is the presence of these two modes — the sentimental and the satirical — because both modes share the idea of instruction. However, one suggests an appeal to feelings of pity and empathy, and a lesson by example; the other suggests an appeal to feelings of shame and, perhaps as a side effect, a lesson by ridicule. However, Cibber's success comes from his ability to use these two modes to complement each other. This unique mix of two seemingly divergent modes not only suggests changes in the nature of satire at the time, but it also indicates the presence of sentimentalism in a genre different than the usual focus of sentimental studies and at a much earlier date than traditional scholarship has suggested.