On-set of Sentimental Comedy

Forms and quality of popular entertainments give vent to the values of any society. As drama is so dependent on its patrons, tastes of patrons determine the quality of it. Following the Restoration Comedy`new patrons belonged to the middle class stood for domestic virtues, the stability of the family, the triumph of good over evil and generally the Christian virtues and way of life. Such breaking of new grounds can be felt in "The Spector" essays by Addison and Steele. It was the vortex that blew Comedy of Manners off the stage and brought in its place a new kind of comedy named Sentimental Comedy.
The Sentimental theatre catered to the needs of tastes of middle-class audiences. It offered them powerful stories with touching and pathetic scenes, which made them weep for the distress of lovers. In these plays the course of true love never ran smooth till the lovers were rewarded for their sufferings. Besides, a great-deal of heavy-footed preachings at the audience slowed down dramatic movement.
An excessive display of delicate sensibility by the principal characters, and the strong moral discourse have together caused the epithet "sentimental".