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British Drama

Notes 27. In Scene II Act V Sir Oliver arrives, Joseph takes him for “Stanley” and orders him in.
28. At Sir Peter’s house, Lady Sneerwell, Mrs Candour, Sir Benjamin, and Crabtree exchange
confused rumors about the Teazle affair.

19.6 Summary
• The School for Scandal opened at the Drury Lane Theatre in London, England, in May of 1777.
The subject of the play was scandal and the fact that there is no need to bring more of it into
the world.
• Lady Sneerwell, a wealthy young widow, and her hireling Snake discuss her various scandal-
spreading plots.
• Sir Peter complains of Lady Teazle’s spendthrift ways. Rowley, the former steward of the
Surfaces’ late father, arrives, and Sir Peter gives him an earful on the subject.
• Sir Peter and Lady Teazle are having another argument, this time about the fact that Lady
Teazle wants some expensive new fashions and Sir Peter is not willing to spend the money.
The couple argue until Lady Teazle finally tells Sir Peter that she has to be at her appointment
at Lady Sneerwell’s and, to make matters worse, Sir Peter promised to join her.
• At Lady Sneerwell’s, the scandal-mongers have great fun at the expense of friends not present.
Sir Peter departs. With Sir Peter gone, the rest of the party eavesdrops on Maria and Joseph
Surface. Of course, Joseph is pretending to be a kind friend who does not enjoy the others’
gossiping.
• Sir Oliver calls on his old friend Sir Peter and amused by his marriage to a young wife. Rowley
and Sir Oliver enter as Sir Oliver is laughing at the news that Sir Peter has married a shrew
and Rowley admonishes him not to bring up the subject with Sir Peter, as it is a very sore
point with him. Sir Oliver knows the sort of gossiping and character destruction that goes on
in some circles and he wants nothing to do with it.
• Sir Oliver describes his plan to visit each of the brothers incognito in order to test their
characters. And he with Sir Peter, and Rowley hatch a plan that will allow Sir Oliver to judge
Charles and Joseph Surface on their relative merits. After Sir Oliver and Moses leave to check
on Oliver’s two nephews, Maria arrives to speak with Sir Peter about her engagement to
Charles.
• Mr Moses and Sir Oliver arrive at Charles Surface’s house, but Charles’s butler, Trip, forces
them to wait. They find the butler very well dressed, but he asks Mr Moses for a loan. This
shows that Charles is, indeed, quite a spendthrift, since he gives his own butler plenty of
money.
• Charles sells all but one of the family portraits to “Premium”, using the rolled-up family tree
as an auction-hammer. Charles refuses to sell Sir Oliver’s painting since he was very good to
him. Sir Oliver is very pleased to hear that his nephew holds him in such high regard, so he is
finally convinced that Charles does have some worth after all.
• Though Sir Oliver has seen Charles at his worst, he has also seen that Charles is still noble
beneath the surface. Thus, Sir Oliver is shown to be a good judge of character, since he can
look past Charles’s roguishness and find the good in him.
• Lady Teazle is withdrawing from the School for Scandal, Lady Sneerwell leaves in a rage, and
Joseph follows, supposedly to keep her from further malicious attacks. Charles and Maria are
reconciled. Charles makes no promises about reforming, but indicates that Maria’s influence
will keep him on a “virtuous path.” The concluding line assures the audience that even Scandal
dies, if you approve.

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