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Self Gratification And Unity In The School For Scandal, Michele Gibney

Michele Gibney

Behind Sheridan’s play, The School for Scandal, rests a history of convention and forms already accepted in the theatrical world. In the tradition of a Comedy of Manners, Sheridan is mocking the society that he is a part of. He takes the foibles of human beings and turns them into fictional characters in order to provide a mirror for the society that he sees as licentious and focused on scandal. The whole point of the Comedies of Manners is to put down accepted norms and build up new ones for the betterment of society. For Sheridan, the accepted form in …