The Belle's Stratagem Literary Elements

Comedic play

English

The play is set in the 18th century in London.

Because this is a play, there is no narrator and point of view.

The tone used in the play is a cynical and a critical one.

The protagonists are Letitia and Frances and the antagonists are Doricourt and Sir George.

There are two major conflicts in the play. The first conflict is between Doricourt and Letitia and it is the result of Letitia wanting to make Doricourt fall in love with her. The second conflict is between Sir George and Frances and is the result of Frances’s desire to be a free woman and Sir George’s jealousy and his incapability to trust his wife.

The play reaches its climax when Letitia makes Doricourt fall in love with her.

There is no foreshadowing in the play.

When Sir George claims Frances will not be able to stop herself from being pulled into the cruel world once she experiences it is an understatement because not only did she not go attracted to the world, she also became more attracted to her husband and more dependent on him.

An allusion made in the play is the idea that it is alright for the men to be sexually active before getting married but it is unacceptable for the women. This is alluded in the scene when Letitia talks with Mrs. Rack and when Letitia is made to remember that Doricourt spent a lot of time traveling and met many women, probably sleeping with them. However, this is not presented as something negative or something frowned upon. Instead, it is presented as being something normal, accepted by everyone.

It is important to point out the way women are described in the play because this image is used to explain the way in which they are treated. While foreign women are described as being sexual and as being intelligent, English women are described as being plain. The term ‘’English Beauty’’ is used in a derogatory term to refer to the women who do not stand out from the crowd. Thus, the English women are described as being all the same, the only thing distinguishing one from another being their wealth.

One of the paradoxical elements is how the characters start to behave like their true self during the masquerade ball.

A parallel can be drawn between the masquerade ball and the life the characters live. The characters in the play all play a role in their lives, trying to prove to the outside world they are something else.

We find personification in the line "My ears cannot bear the profanation’’ in the Act III, Scene II.

The dramatic devices are used to signal when a person leaves the stage or when a new character is introduced.