<P> When the play was first produced, it was discussed as an example of the revival of laughing comedy over the sentimental comedy seen as dominant on the English stage since the success of The Conscious Lovers, written by Sir Richard Steele in 1722 . In the same year, an essay in a London magazine, entitled "An Essay on the Theatre; Or, A Co Laughing And Sentimental Comedy", suggested that sentimental comedy, a false form of comedy, had taken over the boards from the older and more truly comic laughing comedy . </P> <P> Some theatre historians believe that the essay was written by Goldsmith as a puff piece for She Stoops to Conquer as an exemplar of the laughing comedy which Goldsmith (perhaps) had touted . Goldsmith's name was linked with that of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, author of The Rivals and The School for Scandal, as standard - bearers for the resurgent laughing comedy . </P> <P> The play can also be seen as a comedy of manners, in which, in a polite society setting, the comedy arises from the gap between the characters' attempts to preserve standards of polite behaviour and their true behaviour . </P> <P> It is also seen by some scholars as a romantic comedy, which demonstrates how seriously young people take love, and how foolishly it makes them behave, (similar to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream). In She Stoops to Conquer, Kate's stooping and Marlow's nervousness are good examples of romantic comedy, and Constance Neville's and George Hastings' love and plan to elope are also examples of romantic comedy . </P>

What kind of comedy is she stoops to conquer