사회적 텍스트로 본 『스캔들 학교』

Abstract

The School for Scandal (1777) is Richard Sheridan’s representative play of the Restoration comedy, dealing with the process of producing scandals and distributing them to the public and thereby doing mischief to the innocent victims. Therefore, the characters are classified into two groups in the play: so called the students of the school of scandal, and the good people who fall victim to malicious scandals or stand far away from the harmful circle. In that respect, this play has been classified as an example of “sentimental comedy” of which main message is poetic justice. However, two important characters—Charles Surface and Mrs. Teazle—show some ambiguities which make it rather difficult to categorize them into good guys within the paradigm of traditional sentimental comedy. It is mainly because their behaviors—seemingly genuine and moral—can be interpreted as those derived from an ultimately mercenery and self-interested motivation. In the play, even good characters cannot be immune to the megatrend of new commercialism and consumerism of the society at that time. Therefore, one can better understand the loophole of the characterization of the play as a sentimental comedy, through reading the play as a social text that vividly shows the social trends of the English society in the late 18th century.