48 pages • 1 hour read
Richard Brinsley SheridanThe School for Scandal
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1777A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Act V-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Act V, Scene 1 Summary
Joseph is frustrated by the undoing of his plans. A servant announces Rowley and Stanley’s arrival. Joseph impatiently tells the servant to let them up, but he avoids meeting Rowley and Stanley directly. Oliver, dressed as Stanley, tells Rowley to announce his arrival as Oliver once he leaves as Stanley. Joseph meets Stanley graciously, and Stanley asks for money. Joseph claims Oliver never sent Joseph money, and what money Joseph had he lent to Charles.
Oliver is repulsed by Joseph’s deceit. Joseph makes promises of sending money when he can. Joseph and Stanley repeat pleasantries of being each other’s servants before parting ways. Oliver is ashamed of Joseph, while Joseph praises himself for deceiving Stanley.
Rowley announces Oliver’s arrival. Joseph pretends to be excited. Rowley says Charles will be coming soon as well, and Joseph laments his bad luck.
Act V, Scene 2 Summary
Mrs. Candour, Benjamin, Crabtree, and Sneerwell arrive at Peter’s home. They debate about the fight between Joseph, Charles, Peter, and Lady Teazle. Candour and Crabtree insist that Charles was sleeping with Lady Teazle, while Benjamin and Sneerwell think Joseph was her gallant (i.e., lover). Crabtree insists Peter and Charles fought with pistols, while Benjamin says Peter and Joseph fought with swords. Sneerwell leaves to investigate, and Oliver enters, whom everyone thinks is a doctor. Oliver denies any fight happened, and Peter enters.
Peter is infuriated with Benjamin, Candour, and Crabtree, who quickly leave once they see that there was no fight. Rowley enters, and he and Oliver joke with Peter that Joseph is truly the better Surface. Peter laments how Oliver and Rowley tease him, and he dreads the next day’s papers, which will surely include the drama. Oliver and Rowley encourage Peter to ignore the gossip.
Rowley says he came to mediate between Lady Teazle and Peter. Oliver leaves to let Peter talk with Lady Teazle, and Rowley tells Peter that his suspicions of Lady Teazle were manipulated by others. Rowley says Snake can give them the truth, and Peter decides to go talk to Lady Teazle.
Act V, Scene 3 Summary
Sneerwell criticizes Joseph for ruining their plan, noting that he did not need to seduce Lady Teazle. Joseph admits that he went too far in his nefariousness. He urges Sneerwell to go to another room when he hears a knock at the door. Joseph sees Oliver dressed as Stanley, and he tells Stanley to leave. Stanley says he is waiting for Oliver, but Joseph does not want Oliver to know he rejected Stanley.
Charles arrives and thinks Oliver is Premium, leading to an argument between Joseph and Charles as they try to force Oliver out the door. Peter, Lady Teazle, and Maria arrive, identify Oliver, embarrass Charles and Joseph, and then criticize Joseph for being dishonest before stepping to the side.
Oliver confronts Joseph and Charles. Joseph claims he can justify his actions. Oliver scoffs at him and tells Peter how Charles sold the family portraits. However, Rowley reminds Oliver that he cannot be mad at Charles, and Oliver tells Charles that Charles’s unwillingness to sell Oliver’s portrait saved him.
Lady Teazle notes that Maria and Charles can be together now, but Maria says she cannot be with Charles. Joseph brings in Lady Sneerwell, claiming that Charles had an affair with Sneerwell. They call Snake to testify, but Peter reveals that he paid Snake double to betray Sneerwell. Sneerwell leaves in anger, and Joseph follows her. Snake asks that no one reveal the good deed he did, noting how his business relies upon his bad reputation, and leaves.
Maria agrees to marry Charles. Peter says Charles can reform his extravagant ways. Charles says he may need to, considering Maria’s virtue. He turns to the audience to tell them that they, too, can reform themselves if they want.
Epilogue Summary
The actress who played Lady Teazle delivers the Epilogue, in which she laments her extravagance. She says she will no longer spend money and gossip, but she misses the fun she had in society. She lists out the games she will no longer play. She claims she spoke to the “bard,” or playwright, who told her she should play in a tragedy next. According to him, Lady Teazle is a good character because she stops her vices when the play ends, saving her from being a fool in real life.
Act V-Epilogue Analysis
The final Act of the play serves to wrap up the narrative thus far. Joseph predictably fails Oliver’s test, blaming Charles and Oliver for his inability to aid Stanley. Joseph’s plan in handling Stanley is to claim, “At present, it grieves me to say, I cannot; but, whenever I have the ability, you may depend upon hearing from me” (439), which Joseph sees as a boon to his character, since it implies that he will help when he can. However, Oliver sees through Joseph’s performance, calling Joseph a “dissembler” in an aside, meaning “liar.” Though, at this point in the play, no further condemnation is needed for Joseph, this scene concludes Oliver’s experiment by showing how Charles and Joseph are both opposites in their public and private behavior, recalling the theme of The Discrepancy Between Public Virtue and Private Vice.
The crowd of gossipers discussing the fight between Joseph, Peter, and Charles progresses to the point that Crabtree and Benjamin are disagreeing on what life-threatening wound Peter received. Figuratively, this discussion adds a new layer to The Destructive Nature of Gossip and Scandal, as Oliver notes upon Peter’s entry: “Odds heart, Sir Peter! You are come in good time, I promise you; for we had just given you over” (444). These final emphasized words are a euphemism for deciding on Peter’s death, creating a link between social and physical deaths. As Peter laments how his name might appear in the next day’s newspapers, signaling a social death, the group had almost reached the point of deciding that Peter was physically dead. Oliver even calls Peter “imprudent” for walking around uninjured, facetiously acting like Peter is audaciously flaunting his strength despite his wounds.
In resolving The Moral Conflicts of Human Nature, Snake foils Joseph and Sneerwell’s final attempt at achieving their goals. However, Snake asks the group not to tell anyone that he did a moral deed, noting: “I have nothing but my infamy to depend on! And, if it were once known that I had been betrayed into an honest action, I should lose every friend I have in the world” (452). Though the play operates with a general framework of morality in mind, Snake’s confession subverts that framework, showing how immorality, too, operates by a set of rules. Though the group sees Snake’s behavior as good, he shows that it is bad by his own morals. Thus, Sheridan ends the play with an ambiguous notion of morality, in which each character behaves according to their station, with some moral and others immoral.
The Epilogue, however, shows Lady Teazle lamenting her involvement with Sneerwell’s crowd. She regrets the loss of her entertainment, saying, “Farewell! All quality of high renown / Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious town” (454), while also addressing Peter’s accusation that Sneerwell runs a “school” for scandal. Ultimately, Lady Teazle sees that the dangers of the gossiping crowd outweigh the fun she has with them, and she directs this moral to the audience. In the final lines, Lady Teazle says Sheridan told her she is a great character because she “closed her follies when the curtain dropped! / No more in vice or error to engage / Or play the fool at large on life’s great stage” (454). These lines advise the audience, too, to follow Lady Teazle’s path, renouncing gossip for their own well-being.
