Themes of play The School for Scandal

 

Honour seems to be in short supply in School for Scandal: Lady Teazle is considering abandoning the ideas of integrity that she learned growing up in the country, Joseph is ready to betray his brother to secure a wealthy wife, and Charles is hopelessly in debt to moneylenders. Even Sir Oliver, whose Honour should be above question, is ready to assume a disguise to test his nephews’ true nature. By the conclusion of the play, however, it is clear that only the gossips lack true Honour. Lady Teazle realizes that she values her husband and has proven her worth. Charles, though foolish and intemperate with gambling and money, is Honourable. He pays off his debts and is willing to help a poor relationship without being asked. Sir Oliver’s deception unmasks Joseph’s hypocrisy. 

Sheridan asks his audience to question the morality of society in this play. Slandering one’s neighbours, acquaintances, and friends is entertainment. There is no real interest in the truth, and even less consideration is given to the damage that such gossip causes. In the early acts of School for Scandal, the subjects of such gossip are not known to the audience, who cannot determine the truth of Lady Sneerwell and Mrs Candour’s observations. By the last act, it becomes clear that these gossips need absolutely no element of truth to fuel their stories. The falling of the screen in Joseph’s library and the confrontation that took place immediately after are fresh in the audience members’ minds. The earlier scene serves as a nice contrast to the speculation and innuendo that engages the gossip.

 Trying to determine the truth occupies much of Sheridan’s play. Lady Sneerwell and Snake are engaged in deception and falsehood, and Joseph is willing to bend the truth to get what he wants. When Sir Oliver, disguised as old Stanley, approaches Joseph to ask for money, Joseph easily claims that he has no money. Joseph even blames his brother, Charles, stating that Charles’s free-spending has left Joseph without funds. Of course, the gossips have no interest in the truth. Their goal is to entertain one another with wild speculation. When compared to such exciting exaggerations as gossip’, reality and truth are simply uneventful.

 This is certainly a play about wealth. The poor in London was much too busy trying to find shelter and food to engage in such idle distractions as gossip or gaming. Wealth really sets the characters in this play apart from the rest of society. For instance, Sir Peter complains that his wife spends too much on silk dresses and fresh out-of-season flowers. Charles spends his money gaming and drinking with his friends, and the moneylenders are on their way to being wealthy thanks to idle young men such as him. Maria is the object of Joseph’s plotting only because she is wealthy, and Sir Oliver is primarily interested in the morals of his nephews only because he plans to leave them his wealth.