Page 259 - DENG403_BRITISH_DRAMA

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

is dangerous turns out to be accurate. Joseph appears to be gossiping and, of course, in a sense is, Notes
but really gossip is simply the form applied by Sheridan to policy to tell the story, to reveal foresight
and wit. His character emerges here as the shaping force behind dialogue and plot.
The play moves easily into its presentation of scandalmongering without diminishing the audience’s
sense of the onward movement of plot. Lady Sneerwell presides over a scandalous school composed
of Mrs Candour, Crabtree, Sir Benjamin Backbite, Snake and Joseph. Nothing new is added to the
plot until Crabtree asks if it is true that Sir Oliver is coming home from India. This illusion of
movement results from Sheridan’s trick of letting plot emerge from gossip.
The gossip will turn sooner or later to Charles Surface; he is too good a subject to miss. As it ranges
over other people and their affairs we become more and more entertained by our sense of anticipation
of characters.

20.2.1 Major Characters

Charles Surface
Young bachelor notorious for his extravagance and dissipation. However, his dissolute behavior
may only be a passing phase. At heart, he is a good and generous person. He and Maria are in love.
He is the nominal hero of the play, both in the slight romantic plot and as a contrats to his hypocritical
brother, Joseph. Despite the fact that he is a center of attention, he does not appear until scene three
of the third act, almost half way through the play. His presence, however, is felt in many of the
scenes preceding his entry, making him a focus of interest long before he appears. References to
Charles are carefully manipulated by Sheridan so that, without having seen him, the audience
recognizes him as an integral part of the framework of the play. The interest taken in him by many
of the characters forces the audience to wait expectantly for his first appearance so that it can test its
judgement against that of the various characters who either like or dislike him.

Lady Sneerwell, who herself is fond of Charles, remarks on Charles:
Must I confess that Charles—that libertine, that extravagant, that bankrupt in fortune and
reputation—
The key to Charles’s character could lie with Maria, who has been coupled with Charles by Lady
Sneerwell and Snake. Her resentment of the derogation of his character argues that something can
be said in his behalf, but she actually offers nothing at all about him. She is too busy trying to escape
the advances of Sir Benjamin to have an opportunity to comment on her feelings about Charles. But
Maria earns the respect of the audience not only by appearing comparatively innocent in her
conversation, but by aligning herself against the gossips. In all, the character of Charles, phony or
genuine, is a conversation focal point of the first scene. Had the play followed the conventional
pattern of dramatic exposition, Charles could reasonably have been expected to make his entrance
in the next scene or so; but, in order to sustain interest in Charles and manipulate the expectation of
the audience, Sheridan withholds him for quite a while.

Joseph Surface constantly provokes Sir Peter and other scandalizers to condemn Charles.
However, Charles finds a supporter, Rowley, who is older, wiser, and more courteous than
any of the other characters.
In order to develop the difference between Charles and Joseph, Sheridan has made Rowley withhold
the really important information of the scene until the end. The play now takes on new interest as
the arrival of Sir Oliver is certain to uncover the ral character of Charles as contrasted with that
created by the scandalous rumor.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 253