Assignment of Neo classical Literature..

Name:- Ekta Jayswal

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Class:- M.A. Sem: 1

Roll No:- 13

Topic:- Sheridan As a Dramatist..

Paper No:- 2 [The Neo - Classical Literature]

Enrolment No:- PG 2069108420180027

Year:- 2017/19

Email ID:-ektajayswal12@gmail.com

Submitted to:- Dr. Dilip Barad
             S.B.Gardi English Department .        
                      M.K.B.U.



*Sheridan As a Dramatist*

# Introduction:-

Richard Brinsley Sheridan, in full Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan; Irish-born playwright, impresario,  orator, and Whig politician. He was born on 30 October 1751 at Dorset Street, Dublin, was grandson of Thomas Sheridan (1687-1738), and son of Thomas Sheridan (1719-1788).He received the rudiments of learning from his father, and from the age of seven till eight and a half attended a school in Dublin kept by Samuel Whyte. Then he rejoined his parents, who had migrated to London, and he never revisited his native city. In 1762 he was sent to Harrow school, where he remained till 1768, two years after his mother's  death. Subsequently a private tutor, Lewis Ker, directed his studies in his father’s house in London, while Angelo instructed him in fencing and horsemanship.

# Biographical Information:-

*** Sheridan was born in Dublin in 1751. His father was a prominent actor and his mother was  a writer. The family moved to London when Sheridan was still a boy. There, Sheridan disliked his schooling, but proved to be an excellent student and began writing poetry at an early age. After composing dramatic sketches with friends, he considered becoming a playwright. His father, however, intended him to study law.

***  Sheridan abandoned his legal studies in order to devote himself to writing. The initial performance of his first play, The Rivals, failed because of miscasting and the play's excessive length. Undaunted by the poor reception, Sheridan recast several roles, abbreviated sections of the play, and reopened it ten days later to a unanimously positive response. With the success of his opera The Duenna; or, the Double Elopement and the comedy St. Patrick's Day; or, The Scheming Lieutenant in 1775, Sheridan established himself as a prominent dramatist.

*** Meanwhile, Sheridan purchased the Drury Lane Theatre and became its manager. In the next two years, he revived a number of Restoration comedies and wrote and staged his most well-known play, The School for Scandal. By the end of the decade, Sheridan had produced his last successful stage work, The Critic; or, Tragedy Rehearsed (1779).


***In 1780 Sheridan was elected to the House of Commons. His excellence as an orator was duly noted by his contemporaries; however, Sheridan's interest in politics kept him from his theatrical endeavors  and his management of the theater became haphazard.

*** He wrote only one more play, Pizarro- which appeared in 1799. Somewhat later, in an attempt to beautify the aging theater at Drury Lane, Sheridan had the interior completely rebuilt. The structure burned to the ground shortly thereafter, and left without resources, Sheridan was unable to finance another Parliamentary campaign. Most of Sheridan's last years were spent in poverty and disgrace; however, shortly before his death, Sheridan managed to regain his reputation as a distinguished statesman and dramatist. When he died in 1816, he was mourned widely and was buried in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.

** As a dramatist Sheridan carried the comedy of manners in this country to its highest pitch, and his popularity as a writer for the stage is exceeded by that of Shakespeare alone. As an orator he impressed the House of Commons more deeply than almost any predecessor, and as a politician in a venal age he preserved his independence and purity.

** During his brief career as a playwright, Sheridan helped revive the English Restoration comedy of manners, which depicts the amorous intrigues of wealthy society. His best-known comedies, The Rivals (1775) and The School for Scandal (1777), display Sheridan's talent for sparkling dialogue and farce. Like his Restoration predecessors William Congreve and William Wycherley, Sheridan satirized society, but, unlike them, he softened his humor  with gentle morality and sentimentality. While his plays are frequently noted for a lack of incisiveness and psychological depth, they are considered by most commentators to be the work of an outstanding theatrical craftsman. Drawing from earlier dramatic conventions, Sheridan created entertaining and well-wrought comedies that have endured in their popular and critical acclaim.

#Sheridan's main plays:-

1..The Rivals
2..St Patrick's Day
3..The Duenna
4..A Trip to Scarborough
5..The School for Scandal
6..The Camp
7..The Critic
8..The Glorious First of June
9..Pizarro
10..Clio's Protest
11..The Scheming Lieutenant

# Sheridan as  a Dramatist:-

• SHERIDAN really made his name as a dramatist with The Duenna, a ballad opera first performed at CONVENT GARDEN on 21 November 1775; audiences were delighted by its neat plot amusing dialogue and lively sentimental songs..

• Sheridan's success in the theatre was in his blood, his father was a well-known actor and elocutionist, who had written a favourite farce and His mother was the author of a couple of admired novels as well as a notable comedy..

• Sheridan turned to the theatre but his comedy, THE RIVALS,  was  far from successful at its first production on 17th January 1775. He revised it rapidly and  its new form it was reasonably successful, without in anyway  establishing him as a first rate DRAMATIST.........


• His Farce, St. Patrick's Day, was presented less than four months later but, he was regarded merely as a special attraction for the benefit night of clinch; whose acting in the revised version of the Rivals. He had contributed considerably to its acceptance.

• Sheridan's name became household word only the performance in November, of the Duenna.....Although these three pieces were produced in 1775- northing new from his pen was staged in 1776. He lived on the profits of THE DUENNA,and prepared to succeed David Garrick as managing director of Drury Lane theatre.....

• He put on CONGREVE'S THE OLD BACHELOR(1693) and LOVE FOR LOVE(1695)... He also revised VANBRUGH'S THE RELAPSE(1696) to suit the more refined notions of the seventeen - seventies....

• When the comedy was acted under its new title, A TRIP TO SCARBOROUGH,on 24 February 1777. Some newspaper's CRITICS, were disappointed with it.But in other words, they were also expected something better than an adaptation from the author  of the DUENNA......

• SHERIDAN set about satisfying this demand. We don't know exactly how much of the new play he had written before MARCH 1777...It is likely that he had by him two sketches called by later editors, "THE SLANDERERS" and "THE TEAZLES"...


• As CHARLES LAMB said "THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL" was "a manager's comedy" and the casting alone indicated Sheridan's shrewd judgement....

• The comedy had its first performance on 8 may 1777 at DRURY LANE THEATER, and it was immediately successful. Critics as always found some faults, but their remarks were drowned in the general applause..

• If it was true that Sheridan had made use of well-worn situations and character - relationship... He had shown such virtuosity as to give them a new imaginative force..



• Richard Brinsley Sheridan,whose dramas are written in the mood of satirical observation of life which the 18th century novel expressed,from Fielding to Miss Burney....The works of Sheridan are fed by Sallies of the most fertile verve and a gift of style equal to that of the classical writers. Sheridan was not a psychologist; but a shrewd and penetrating observer.He was more able to perceive the secret movement of vanity or envy; than to construct character.


All these works of Sheridan are not of equal importance; his  best known works are:-

***The Rivals
**The School For Scandal
***The Duenna
**The Critic

We shall examine two plays in some details.....


*** THE RIVALS......

 The play is set in Bath, Somerset England in the mid-century and revolved around two reach young lovers, Lydia and Jack, who reads a lot of popular novels of the time, wants a purely romantic love affair. Lydia is enthralled with the idea of eloping with poor soldier in spite of her guardian. Mrs. Malaprop is the chief comic figure of the play.

 In the end of the play Jack is presented to Lydia by Mrs. Malaprop as son to sir Antony and heir to his wealth, where he secretly assures Lydia that he is only masquerading as sir Antony’s son so that he may marry her after that he meet up with Lucius and gets in a quarrel with him and they agree to meet Beverly. At the end, all secrets are found out at the duel because Mrs.Malaprop rushes to the duel in fear for their lovers’ lives trying to stop it before it starts. Lucius discovers that Mrs.Malaprop has been disguises herself as Delia and both infuriated and embarrassed and leaves. Lydia admits her love for Jack and Julia makes up with her lover Falkland. In the end acres invites everyone to a party and they all go to celebrate.


*** THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL......

 Lady Sneerwell, who in her youth was the target of slander, has set her life upon a course to reduce the reputations of other women to the level of her own. Aided by her intimate, Snake, she intrigues to involve the Teazles in scandal, to bring Joseph Surface’s true character to light, to wreck the love between Charles and Maria, and to gain Charles for herself along with Sir Oliver’s fortune. To her the world consists of nothing but scandal and scandalous intrigues, and she does her best to make her vision a reality. She is not successful, however, when she abuses Charles Surface to Sir Peter Teazle’s ward Maria, who refuses to listen to her.
    


 Instead, Maria trustingly confides in Lady Candour, whose defense of a reputation ensures its complete annihilation. Sometimes Sir Peter Teazle ponders the wisdom of his marriage to Lady Teazle, doubting the judgment of an old bachelor in marrying a young wife. Lady Teazle is a countrybred girl who is enjoying London life extravagantly and to the full. Sir Oliver Surface is concerned about his two nephews, his problem being the disposal of his great fortune. Sir Oliver has been abroad for the past fifteen years and feels that he does not know his nephews’ real natures; he hopes by some stratagem to catch them unawares and thus be able to test their characters.

 One day, Sir Peter and Lady Teazle quarrel because Sir Peter violently objects to her attendance at the home of Lady Sneerwell. Lady Teazle accuses Sir Peter of wishing to deprive her of all freedom and reminds him that he has promised to go to Lady Sneerwell’s with her. He retorts that he will do so for only one reason, to look after his own character. When they arrive, Lady Sneerwell’s rooms are full of people uttering libelous remarks about their enemies and saying even worse things about their friends. Sir Peter escapes as soon as possible. When the rest of Lady Sneerwell’s guests retire to the card room, leaving Maria and Joseph alone, Joseph once more presses his suit.

 He insinuates that Maria is in love with Charles and is thus running counter to Sir Peter’s wishes. Lady Teazle walks in just as Joseph is on his knees avowing his honest love. Surprised, Lady Teazle tells Maria that she is wanted in the next room. After Maria leaves, Lady Teazle asks Joseph for an explanation of what she has seen, and he tells her that he was pleading with Maria not to tell Sir Peter of his tender concern for Lady Teazle. Sir Oliver consults Rowley, Sir Peter’s shrewd and observing servant, in an attempt to learn more about his nephews’ characters. Rowley himself believes that Joseph does not have as good a character as his reputation seems to indicate and that Charles has a better one. Sir Oliver also consults Sir Peter, who declares that he is ready to stake his life on Joseph’s honor. He is much put out, therefore, when Maria once more refuses to marry Joseph. Sir Peter, Sir Oliver, and Rowley plan to test the worthiness of the nephews. Charles is, as usual, in dire need of money, and Sir Oliver arranges to accompany a moneylender who is going to see Charles..

 Sir Oliver goes again to see Joseph. Still believing that his uncle is Mr. Stanley, Joseph is showing him out just as Charles enters. Charles, surprised to see the man he knows as Mr. Premium in his brother’s apartment, also insists that he leave, but at that moment Sir Peter Teazle arrives and addresses Sir Oliver by his right name. Both Sir Oliver and Sir sPeter are now aware of Joseph’s real character. Charles, promising to try to reform, gets Maria and his uncle’s inheritance as well. Lady Sneerwell is exposed by Snake, who is paid double to speak the truth, and Lady Teazle returns her diploma to the School for Scandal, of which Lady Sneerwell is president. Everyone is happy except Lady Sneerwell and Joseph Surface.

#CONCLUSION:-

Sheridan has been justified a dramatic star of the first magnitude and indeed among the comic writers of the 18th century ... Sheridan's prose comedies all resembles the best of the Restoration comedies without the immortality of the RESTORATION PLAYS...His characters are remarkable for their dramatic qualities, but they have no reality .. Sheridan enjoyed a high reputation during his lifetime and for many years after his death. It was not uncommon to bracket together the names of SHAKESPEARE  and SHERIDAN as the two chief ornaments of the British Stage...

SHERIDAN was accused  of borrowing his good things from the Restoration dramatist .. The truth is that Sheridan was not a great creative genius but he had admirable dramatic talent. He was master of stagecraft and above all he had a sparkling wit and could write brilliant dialogues.


##WORK CITED BY:-

*www.enotes.com*

*www.theatrehistory.com*

*www.wikiwand.com*




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