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The School for Scandals
The School for Scandals,
though it has not the unity of The Rivals, nor the same wealth of
broadly humorous incident, is universally regarded as Sheridan's
masterpiece. This play begins with Lady Sneerwell’s secret that she loves
Charles Surface who loves the rich heiress Maria, the ward of Sir Peter
Teazle. Charles’ older brother, Joseph Surface, a hypocrite man, also wants
to marry Maria in order to get her money. Therefore, Lady Sneerwell and
Joseph unite together and make up scandals that the relationship between
Charles and Mrs. Teazle, Sir Peter Teazle’s young wife, is ambiguous.
In this way, Lady Sneerwell may get Charles, while Joseph may
marry Maria. Charles seems to be a reckless prodigal, but actually he is
frank, honest, kind-hearted and generous. One day, Mrs. Teazle visits Joseph
in his own room and was nearly seduced by Joseph when Sir Peter Teazle
arrives unexpectedly. Mrs. Teazle has to hide behind the screen. By chance,
Charles appears, too. Sir Peter Teazle hides in a closet in order to
eavesdrop to the talk between Joseph and Charles. At last, Charles upsets
the screen only to discover Lady Teazle. Thus Sir Peter finds that it is
Joseph rather than Charles who seduces his young wife. Another character,
Sir Oliver Surface, Charles and Joseph’s uncle, returns to England with a
large fortune. He secretly checks his two nephews in order to find who may
inherit his fortune. He finds that Joseph is a hypocrite while Charles is a
food-natured man. Joseph completely exposes himself. Charles marries Maria
and inherits his uncle’s fortune, and Sir Peter is reconciled to his wife,
Lady Teazle.
The play, regarded as the best English comedy since
Shakespeare, criticizes and satirizes the vanity, greed, and hypocrisy of
the seeming-genteel upper class. For example, Joseph Surface, behaving like
a decent, pious and moral man, in fact is an immoral detestable scoundrel.
The title The School for Scandals is a grand metaphor for the gossipy
London society of the late 1770's. With mastered skills, such as
constructing extravagance and scandal examples of decadence, Sheridan fully
shows how the vices of the polite world overgrow natural instincts.
Charles Surface is the traditional young man, just as
generous and impulsive as Captain Absolute, only more exposed to temptation.
Unlike other main characters in Sheridan’s plays, such as a brave country
squire, an old woman who affects the phraseology of culture, nor yet a
Hebrew opportunist overconfident in his own cleverness, Charles Surface a
character who overreaches himself in the attempt to make a good impression
He is demoralized by extravagance till a chance reveals the generosity of
its nature. Lady Sneerwell typifies the irreclaimable scandalmonger. She
finds so many opportunities of retaliating on the world which first
slandered her. She is the victim of slander first and then turns to the
producer of slander. Sir Peter is good at heart, self-centered to some
extent, but soured by contact with many backbiters and rendered ridiculous
by the vagaries of his young wife, who is an example of how youth and
inexperience may be blinded to the follies of fashionable life till the
appearance of a sudden crisis. Joseph Surface is also fascinated by a
brilliant and corrupt society, till an unexpected event shows that he has
sinned beyond forgiveness. It is easy for us to feel that it is this
depraved society that corrupted those innately good at the very beginning.
Just like most comedies, Sheridan also employed the technique
that the names of characters reflect their natures, such as Sneerwell,
Snake, Surface, etc. Another impressive feature in the play is the brilliant
and witty dialogue and neat and decent language, which mark difference from
the indecent language as found Restoration comedies.
In all, this play as well as The Rivals serves as a
link between the masterpiece of Shakespeare and the works of Bernard Shaw.
Sheridan always took morality as the theme of his plays. He captures the
inherent drama and humor in the truism that people are always talking about
other people behind their backs and uses it as a foundation on which to
devise a plot of intrigue.
Though his dramatic techniques are largely conventional, they
are exploited to the best advantage. His plots are well organized, his
characters, are all sharply drawn, and his manipulation of such devices as
love triangles disguise, mistaken identity and dramatic irony are masterly.
Considering it was written at such a turbulent time in England's history,
this drama together with its social satire still remains its vitality and
attracts people’s concerns. Sheridan is always regarded as the most
important English playwright of the 18th century.
The play, regarded as the best English comedy since
Shakespeare, criticizes and satirizes the vanity, greed, and hypocrisy of
the seeming-genteel upper class. For example, Joseph Surface, behaving like
a decent, pious and moral man, in fact is an immoral detestable scoundrel.
An impressive feature in the play is the brilliant and witty dialogue and
neat and decent language, which mark difference from the indecent language
as found Restoration comedies. Just like most comedies, Sheridan also
employed the technique that the names of characters reflect their natures,
such as Sneerwell, Snake, Surgace, etc.
In all, this play as well as The Rivals serves as a
link between the masterpiece of Shakespeare and the works of Bernard Shaw.
Sheridan always took morality as the theme of his plays. Though his dramatic
techniques are largely conventional, they are exploited to the best
advantage. His plots are well organized, his characters, are all sharply
drawn, and his manipulation of such devices as disguise, mistaken identity
and dramatic irony is masterly.
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