I find Lady Sneerwell and Lady Teazle the two most actively engaged women in the intriguing comic plot of Sheridan's The School for Scandal. Both of them are typical comedy of manners personages, and both of them possess their respective idiosyncrasies.
Lady Sneerwell, true to her name, runs the scandal academy in her drawing room, where Lady Teazle is a frequenter in search of urban elite fantasies. Lady Sneerwell was once upon a time a victim of slandering, and now she happens to be the queen of scandal-mongering, ably assisted by her servant, Snake. Lady Teazle, a simple village woman married to Sir Peter Teazle, is the typical country wife allured by the slanderers, a victim who finally discovers her errors to find love and trust in her husband. Lady Sneerwell goes down to discomfiture and disclosure.
No comments:
Post a Comment