The prologue of the play, though not written by Sheridan himself, foreshadows the key themes of The School for Scandal, outlining the central conflict of the play for the audience:
A School for Scandal! tell me, I beseech you,
Needs there a school this modish art to teach you?
No need of lessons now, the knowing think;
We might as well be taught to eat and drink.
[...]
Thus at our friends we laugh, who feel the dart;
To reach our feelings, we ourselves must smart.
Is our young bard so young, to think that he
Can stop the full springtide of calumny?
Knows he the world so little, and its trade?
Alas! the devil’s sooner raised than laid
So strong, so swift, the monster there’s no gagging:
Cut Scandal’s head off, still the tongue is wagging.
The prologue was written by David Garrick, a prolific actor and playwright and the co-manager of the Drury Lane Theatre (which is where this play was first staged, and which Sheridan owned). The prologue reflects not only the events in the play but also the playwrights’ expectations of the audience’s sensibilities and knowledge base. The speaker directly addresses those expected to be in the audience, assuming that all present will be well-versed in the “modish art” of rumor-invention. By grouping the audience together in this way, the speaker builds a sense of camaraderie between the actors, the playwright, the audience, and the content of the show, building up their expectations while also inoculating those present from the full weight of the play’s criticism of gossips—after all, if everyone is at least a little at fault, then no one can be blamed too harshly.
Richard Sheridan’s play The School for Scandal consists of multiple interconnected narrative threads— one of which is Sir Oliver’s quest to determine which of his two nephews (Joseph and Charles Surface) should inherit his fortune. Prior to his first stage appearance, Joseph and Sir Peter each imply that there is a chance Sir Oliver may already be prejudiced against his other nephew, Charles. However, when Sir Oliver finally arrives in Act 2, Scene 3, he and Sir Peter have a conversation that reveals the fact that the opposite is true, thereby foreshadowing the play’s eventual end:
Sir Oliver: Ay, I know there are a set of malicious, prating, prudent gossips, both male and female, who murder characters to kill time; and will rob a young fellow of his good name, before he has years to know the value of it.—But I am not to be prejudiced against my nephew by such, I promise you.—No, no,—if Charles has done nothing false or mean, I shall compound for his extravagance.
Sir Oliver’s statement in the quote above introduces the central purpose of his return to England: his mission to discover the true nature of each of his nephew's characters. By determining to form his own opinions regarding Joseph and Charles, Sir Oliver foreshadows the remainder of the play’s plot. Thus, he sets about concocting the elaborate ruse that constitutes one of the central subplots of The School for Scandal:
Sir Oliver: Oh! plague of his sentiments! If he salutes me with a scrap of morality in his mouth, I shall be sick directly.—But, however, don’t mistake me, Sir Peter; I don’t mean to defend Charles’s errors: but before I form my judgment of either of them, I intend to make a trial of their hearts; and my friend Rowley and I have planned something for the purpose.
By stating that he will continue to support Charles so long as he “has done nothing false or mean,” Sir Oliver contradicts Joseph and Sir Peter’s presumptions, proving himself to be unprejudiced. Moreover, Sir Oliver’s “trial of their hearts” works exactly as designed; Joseph shows that his heart is full of falsehood, while Charles meets Sir Oliver’s conditions perfectly, revealing himself to be a man of kindness and ultimate good nature. Sir Oliver’s conversation with Sir Peter therefore prepares the audience to follow along on a journey of discovery parallel to that of the characters themselves.
