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British Drama

Notes Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
• Describe the summary of scenes in all the acts;
• Illustrate the analysis of scenes;
• Analyse in detail the text of Act I to Act V.

Introduction

The School for Scandal opened at the Drury Lane Theatre in London, England, in May of 1777. It was
an enormous success. Reviews heralded the play as a “real comedy” that would supplant the
sentimental dramas that had filled the stage in the previous years. The subject of the play will be
scandal and the fact that there is no need to bring more of it into the world. Unfortunately, everyone
is always eager to hear bad reports and gossip about people, making it altogether impossible to root
out entirely. Sheridan tried to attack it with his pen so that it might be brought under control.
Sheridan admonishes the audience to avoid either creating scandals or listening to tales of the
scandals of others. He also reminds the audience that appearances are not all they seem and they
should look beneath the surface to find the true worth of men and women instead of listening to the
reports that other people give. For, Sheridan says, appearances can be deceiving, and they often
mislead people.
This unit elaborates the text of the play in detail from Act I to Act V. More emphasis is given on the
detailed analysis of the text in all the scenes.

19.1 Act I

19.1.1 Scene I
Lady Sneerwell, a wealthy young widow, and her hireling Snake discuss her various scandal-
spreading plots. Snake asks why she is so involved in the affairs of Sir Peter Teazle, his ward Maria,
and Charles and Joseph Surface, two young men under Sir Peter’s informal guardianship, and why
she has not yielded to the attentions of Joseph, who is highly respectable. Lady Sneerwell confides
that Joseph wants Maria, who is an heiress, and that she wants Charles. Thus she and Joseph are
plotting to alienate Maria from Charles by putting out rumors of an affair between Charles and Sir
Peter’s new young wife, Lady Teazle. Joseph arrives to confer with Lady Sneerwell. Maria herself
then enters, fleeing the attentions of Sir Benjamin Backbite and his uncle Crabtree. Mrs. Candour
enters and ironically talks about how “tale-bearers are as bad as the tale-makers.” Soon after that,
Sir Benjamin and Crabtree also enter, bringing a good deal of gossip with them. One item is the
imminent return of the Surface brothers’ rich uncle Sir Oliver from the East Indies, where he has
been for sixteen years; another is Charles’ dire financial situation.
Lady Sneerwell and Snake are discussing a recent success they had in assassinating someone’s
character, and they are very pleased with their efforts. In their plot, Snake sent a few lines of a letter
to a Miss Clackitt. Someone soon had his life destroyed. However, Snake notes that Miss Clackitt,
while certainly very capable of destroying reputations, does not have the subtle abilities of Lady
Sneerwell when it comes to bringing people down.

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