The Mourning Bride

1697 play by William Congreve

Frontispiece of The Mourning Bride published in 1703 1757 costume drawing for Zara in The Mourning Bride

The Mourning Bride is a tragedy written by English playwright William Congreve. It premiered in 1697 at Betterton's Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. The play centers on Zara, a queen held captive by Manuel, King of Granada, and a web of love and deception which results in the mistaken murder of Manuel who is in disguise, and Zara's also mistaken suicide in response.

## Quotations

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There are two very widely known quotations in the play; from the opening to the play:

Musick has Charms to soothe a savage Breast,[1]

The word "breast" is often misquoted as "beast" and "has" sometimes appears as "hath".

Also often repeated is a quotation of Zara in Act III, Scene II:

Heav'n has no rage, like love to hatred turn'd,
Nor hell a fury, like a woman scorn'd.[2]

This is usually misquoted as "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."[3]

A similar line is found in Colley Cibber's play Love's Last Shift in 1696:

He shall find no Fiend in Hell can match the fury of a disappointed Woman!
\- Scorned! slighted! dismissed without a parting Pang!

## Notes

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1. ^ From text at [1]. See also Quotes from The Mourning Bride.
2. ^ Congreve, William (1753). The Mourning Bride: A Tragedy. Dublin: J. and R. Tonson and S. Draper in the Strand. p. 46. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
3. ^ Merz, Theo (21 January 2014). "Ten literary quotes we all get wrong". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 17 August 2018.

## References

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* Erskine-Hill, H., Lindsay, A. (eds), William Congreve: The Critical Heritage, Routledge (1995).
* Congreve, W., The Works of Mr. Congreve: Volume 2. Containing: The Mourning Bride; The Way of the World; The Judgment of Paris; Semele; and Poems on Several Occasions, Adamant Media (2001), facsimile reprint of a 1788 edition published in London.
* McKenzie, D., The Works of William Congreve: Volume I, OUP Oxford (2011), v. 1, pp. 5–94.
* Congreve, William (1753). The Mourning Bride: A Tragedy. Dublin: J. and R. Tonson and S. Draper in the Strand. p. 46\. https://books.google.com/books?id=U3ACAAAAYAAJ Retrieved 18 Aug. 2017.

## External links

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Wikisource has original text related to this article:

The Mourning Bride

Wikiquote has quotations related to The Mourning Bride.

* The Mourning Bride, full text on talebooks.com.accessed 9 January 2014
* Quotes from The Mourning Bride

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William Congreve

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* Kit-Kat Club
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* Anne Bracegirdle
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* The Old Bachelor (1693)
* The Double Dealer (1694)
* Love for Love (1695)
* The Mourning Bride (1697)
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