School for Scandal Criticism

This Study Guide consists of approximately 52 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of School for Scandal.

School for Scandal Criticism

This Study Guide consists of approximately 52 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of School for Scandal.
This section contains 774 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy the School for Scandal Study Guide

School for Scandal opened in May 1777 to enthusiastic audiences. Since it appeared at the end of the London theatre season, it played only twenty performances before the season closed, but Sheridan's play reappeared the following season for an additional forty-five performances. Since few plays enjoyed runs of more than fifteen performances, School for Scandal was, by prevailing standards, a success.

In the Dictionary of Literary Biography, Mark S. Auburn noted that "the play engendered wildly enthusiastic support. Passing by the outer walls of Drury Lane just as the famous screen fell and the audience exploded in laughter and applause, a journalist of that day claimed to have run for his life in fear that the building was collapsing."

The reason for the play's success, stated Auburn, is "the witty repartee of fashionable society, the Cain-and-Abel motif, and the delightful recitation of the May-and-December theme." Richard C...

(read more)

This section contains 774 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy the School for Scandal Study Guide
Copyrights
Gale
School for Scandal from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.