Page 257 - DENG403_BRITISH_DRAMA

Unit 20: The School for Scandal: Criticism to the Text and Characterization

4. As a dramatist, Sheridan has created virtually all that a comedy of intense qualities could Notes
provide such as
(a) amusing characters (b) funny intrigues
(c) witty dialogue (d) all the above
5. Which of the following add up to account for Sheridan’s early success?
(a) His wit to wrung the last drop of laughter from every situation possible
(b) Penetrating insight of human relationship
(c) Surprising episodes as compared to laughter and wit
(d) Array of comic characters of highly uncivilized society.
Fill in the blanks:
6. The play The School for Scandal excels in its blend of sentimentalism with the attack on ...... .
7. The School for Scandal is a marvelous array of comic characters of a highly ...... society.
8. Sheridan’s time was an age of ......, fashion, costume, color and gossip.
9. The society during Sheridan’s period was elaborate and ...... .
10. Small talk, scandalizing, drinking, and gambling were more important than ...... .
State whether the following statements are true or false:
11. The School for Scandal is generally considered as Sheridan’s masterful play.
12. Historically, comedy of manners preceded Restoration comedy.
13. As a dramatist, Sheridan has created virtually all that a comedy of intense qualities could
provide.
14. The School for Scandal badly treated the social temper—the tastes, customs, and morals of the
modish society.
15. The School of Scandal stirs uproar and wins admiration.

20.2 Criticism to the Characters

Much of the success of Sheridan’s The School for Scandal lies in the rich humorous exposition of
characters. The delineation of characters is primarily designed to provoke laughter and entertainment.
The hypocrite who fails, the forger who fears a reputation for honesty are more objects of laughter
than devices of moral comment. No one in The School for Scandal acts as he does simply because
some circumstance compels him: people act out of their own characters and shape events accordingly.
When circumstances take the form of accidents and misunderstanding, their effect upon characters
is always to display something we know to be there, not to revel something entirely new to us.
Much of the play’s comic force springs from this treatment. The audience, let into the secret of a
character, expects him to behave accordingly. When he does, Sheridan then devises ingenious
circumstances to delight us with his inventiveness. At the same time, as he pleases and amuses us
by showing the character confirming itself in behavior. By design and craft, there is an undisrupted
flow of characterization. The plot unfolds itself along with the portrayal of characters. Hence, the
plot is somewhat subordinated to the line of characterization. The continuity and intensity of
characterization are achieved through the policy of gossiping and technique of scandalizing within
the academy of scandalmongers.

Characterization is caricature. Humor comes from the characters.

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