The Rivals
By Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Cover: Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan (c. 1785-87), oil on canvas by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain (artist died 1788)
Captain Absolute woos the romantic Lydia Languish while pretending to be a penniless ensign, and finds his own father promising him to her, so that he has to court her in both identities. The play also gave English the word malapropism, in the speeches of Mrs Malaprop.
Summary written with Claude Sonnet 5.5.