Synopsis The present volume offers a study of the women protagonists of the six major comedies of Noel Coward, a well-known but not so well-understood dramatic artist. Critics have branded him as a "blithe spirit" with just a "talent to amuse" and have thus somewhat missed the social thinker in the guise of the entertainer, who was in tune with the emergent issues of the woman's movement of his time. Coward in his own distinctive voice has raised the issues concerning the position of woman in society and within the family. The far-reaching impact of his highly popular plays which monopolized Broadway for years, is really incalculable. The book brings out that he was a self-conscious dramatist, aware of himself as a 'modern' writer addressing his contemporaries-albeit in a superficially amusing manner. The plays analyzed, carve out a new attitude for women which subjects his drama to a fresh scrutiny. The book maps the changing social mores of the age in contemporary British society and offers a new angle in Noel Coward criticism.