Page 268 - DENG403_BRITISH_DRAMA

British Drama Gowher Ahmad Naik, Lovely Professional University

Notes Unit 21: The School for Scandal: All Major and
Minor Themes

CONTENTS
Objectives

Introduction
21.1 Defamation of Characters

21.2 Deceptive Appearance
21.3 Hypocrisy

21.4 Steadfast Integrity

21.5 Pitfalls of Idleness
21.6 Summary

21.7 Keywords
21.8 Review Questions

21.9 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
• Illustrate all major themes in The School for Scandal;
• Elucidate all minor themes in The School for Scandal;
• Explain Defamation and deceptive appearance of characters;
• Illustrate the pitfalls of idleness in The School for Scandal;
• Discuss the hypocrisy occurring in the play The School for Scandal.

Introduction

Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The School for Scandal is a comedy of manners, a play satirizing the
behavior and customs of upper classes through witty dialogue and an intricate plot with comic
situations that expose characters’ shortcomings. Characters generally consist of stock types—such
as the bore, the flirt, the gossip, the wastrel, the rich uncle, etc.—rather than individuals with unique
qualities. Comedies of manners in Sheridan’s time typically avoided the romantic sentimentality
that characterized many other stage dramas of the eighteenth century. In The School for Scandal, the
author mainly satirizes malicious gossip and hypocrisy in the fashionable society of London in the
1770s. This unit illustrates the various themes used in this play.

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