How did Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Brinsley Sheridan revive comedy of manners after William Congreve’s era?

In the late 18th century, Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Brinsley Sheridan revived the comedy of manners by reintroducing comic gaiety to an English stage that had been dominated for decades by sentimental comedy.1

Following the Restoration period, the popularity of the witty, satirical comedy of manners—mastered by William Congreve—had collapsed under public opposition to the perceived immorality of the stage. This shift led to the rise of sentimental comedy, which prioritized moral instruction, the rewarding of virtue, and the depiction of private life with a seriousness that often replaced laughter with weeping.21

Goldsmith challenged this trend in his essay "A Comparison Between Laughing and Sentimental Comedy" (1773), criticizing the sentimental style as a "bastard tragedy" that commended folly rather than ridiculing it. His play She Stoops to Conquer (1773) and Sheridan’s works, such as The Rivals (1775) and The School for Scandal (1777), successfully brought back the traditional purpose of comedy: to excite laughter by exhibiting human follies. Sheridan’s career further bridged the gap between the 17th-century masters and later playwrights like Oscar Wilde.123