The School For Scandal

A2 Love Through The Ages Wider Reading

The School For Scandal

Richard Brinsley Sheridan  - 1777

"Tale-bearers are as bad as the tale-makers"

Sheridan wrote The School For Scandal in 1777, at a time when society upheld a rigid class system and those at the top often lived lives of opulent indulgence and idleness. As a comment on the social climate of the time, The School For Scandal is a satirical comedy that pokes fun at the richest portion of trendy London society and their obsession with gossip and reputation. It brings about arguments of morality, fabrication, embellishment of truth and false "sentiment". Gossip and political and social comments were a big part of London high society life; this can be seen frequently in the cartoons of the time that frequented newspapers and tattle columns. This is effectively what Sheridan did with his play; he satirised  the characters and plot in order to give a comedic, cartoon impression of the scenarios involved "there is no trusting appearances".

Characters

Sir Peter Teazle 

Sir Peter Teazle is a likeable character that gets lost among the scandal. He is naive and a bit thick . He believes everything Joseph Surface and the others tell him to believe "I was never mistaken in my life" and although he himself does not partake in the scandal himself, he is fooled by the evil that is being spread. He believes Joseph to be "a man of noble sentiments" when of course all the audience know Joseph is backstabbing and two faced.

Sir Peter Teazle's relationship with his wife Lady Teazle is threatened when she becomes disrailed and misled by the scandal spreading individuals. Sir Peter Teazle is a great many years senior to his wife and married her and took her away from the country to live with him in London "I have made you a woman of fashion, of fortune, of rank", which proves marriage can be utilised to  raise status and social class, which is what Lady Teazle seems to have "used" Peter for, although Peter is very much in love with her. 

Lady Teazle 

Lady Teazle is the only character that makes a  transformation throughout the play from a gossiper, " I vow I have no malice against the people I abuse"  desperate to feel included and liked in high society, to a loyal wife to Peter Teazle. 

Sir Oliver Surface 

Sir Oliver Surface is uncle to Joseph and Charles and returns from a trip abroad to find one nephew steeped in debt and over indulgence and the other idle and scandal mongering. They are both in line to inherit his extensive fortune. He puts them both to the test to reveal their true nature. He is a clever man, well traveled, who can see past the fake "sentiments" of Joseph and the others and does a good job at teaching them a lesson (excuse the pun) "if not to reclaim a libertine, at least to expose a hypocrisy" 

Joseph Surface 

Joseph is the villain of the play. He believes himself to bbe moral and of good sentiment, yet is disillusioned and the blackest of all the characters. On the "surface" his appearance is one of goodness and he does a dramatic job at trying to appear gracious and kind in every way "smooth tongue hypocrite". Yet he is rude to his servants, through his monologues we understand his alterior motives. He wants Maria, yet is quite happy when Lady Teazle proposes an affair on behalf of "fashion". 

Charles Surface 

The good brother, although he spends too much money and gambles away his family portraits, he proves himself to be moral and honest. Described by Lady Teazle as "that libertine, that extravagant, that bankrupt in fortune and reputation." Which is ironic, as all his scandal is true, yet he is the most righteous of them all. All of his speeches, although often related to his extrvagance, are frank and honest "I am an extravagant young fellow, who wants money to borrow; you I take to be a prudent old fellow who has money to lend" "plain dealing". 

He is a character who is ruined by "reputation" yet he is good at heart "He is so damned charitable!". It's proof that reputation is not wholly reflective of the true person which is proven also with his brother Joseph Surface although the opposite is true; believed to be a man of sentiment, he is actually a lying scoundrel. 

Crabtree, Mrs Candour and  Sir Benjamin Backbite 

These are all terrible gossips and posers who embellish any story to great comical effect. "with words/ with swords/ nay with pistols" 

Maria

Maria moves in the circle of the gossip, but is a mere pawn in the play to be fought over. She herself is not involved in scandal spreading "their malice is intolerable".

 She is loved by both Joseph Surface and Charles Surface, and loves Charles but is reluctant at first to unite with him due to his overindulgent reputation . But Lady Sneerwell wants Charles for herself and as a result formulates a plan to shirk Maria off onto Joseph surface instead. The plan backfires - as is a satisfying theme in Sheridan's plays, morality triumphs over sin and Maria and Charles 

Lady Sneerwell

As her name suggests, Lady Sneerwell is the queen bee of scandal. She can spread any tenuous piece of tattle, inflate it one hundred times over and have it circulating the town with just a flicker of her malicious lips. 

"Wounded myself in the early part of my life by the envenomed tongue of slander I confess I have since known no pleasure equal to the reducing others to the level of my own injured reputation."

"The malice of a good thing is the barb that makes it stick"

Lady Teazle and Sir Peter Teazle's Marriage

Sir Peter Teazle married Lady Teazle, a girl decades younger than himself and took her away from her country home to London. As a result, Lady Teazle becomes obsessed with London society life - and anything that will allow her to be part of it. This causes friction between her and Peter Teazle, whose love for his wife is genuine, whereas Lady Teazle becomes obsessed with appearances and "fashion" as she is taken up discussing scandal as a way to mix with "polite" society. 

Peter's attempts to control his wife's scandalous ways amount in comedic arguments "if you wanted authority over me you should have adopted me and not married me". This also remarks upon gender equality as Lady Teazle wishes to be on equal terms with her husband, and in society.