The world in the play reflects Congreve's own society and revolves around a witty young man, winning a lady and her fortune after overcoming the obstacles posed by hostile relations and other people. Both Mirabell and Millamant wish to marry each other and still enjoy the six thousand pounds inheritance that she will receive if she marries the suitor chosen by her aunt, Lady Wishfort. The plot is complicated by the ways of the world. Mirabell has offended Lady Wishfort and is opposed by Fainall and his mistress, Mrs Marwood. Fainall is a fortune hunter who has set his eyes on Millamant's money and hopes to have the money passed to Mrs Fainall so that he can reach it. Both Fainall and Mrs Marwood undertake a scheme of their own to acquire the money. Mirabell and Mrs Fainall also devise plots of their own to achieve their objective.
             The theatre was revived after the restoration of Charles II to the English throne in 1660. After theatres were re opened in 1660, a new kind of comedy, the comedy of manners, immediately came into being for the aristocratic class of society and flourished until 1700. The focus of these comic plays was on manners rather than morals. The restoration comedy of manners does not reflect the real life of the fashionable society but the essence of its spirit. The most common themes concern marriage, sex, cuckoldry, and getting the better of others.
             A comedy is usually a light, rather amusing play that deals with contemporary life and manners. The main goal of the restoration comedy is to mock society, or in other ways lift up society to scrutiny. One of the major themes to run in restoration comedy is marriage and the game of love. However, if marriage is a mirror of society, the couples in the play show something very dark and sinister about order. In "The Way of The World," marriage becomes more about contractual agreements and greed than about love. "Wherefore I did marry, but to make law...