Joseph and Charles Surface are foils for one another. The two brothers are juxtaposed directly multiple times throughout The School for Scandal. Joseph’s upright and morally respectable reputation is consistently brought up in reference to Charles’s good-for-nothing spendthrift behavior, as in Act 2, Scene 3, when Sir Peter laments Charles’s lack of potential:
Wild!—Ah! my old friend, I grieve for your disappointment there; [Charles is] a lost young man, indeed. However, his brother will make you amends; Joseph is, indeed, what a youth should be. Everybody in the world speaks well of him.
However, despite Sir Peter’s emphatic endorsement of Joseph’s supposed virtues, it later becomes clear through his scheming with Lady Sneerwell, manipulation of Lady Teazle, and dismissal of Mr. Stanley (who is, remember, his uncle in disguise) that Joseph has no sense of family honor or true generosity.
On the other hand, Charles Surface may appear like a lost cause to the majority of the characters (barring his love interest Maria), but underneath his heavy spending, he possesses a heart of gold, a sense of loyalty to his family, and a charitable nature. In Act 4, Scene 2, Charles’s goodness is even commented upon by outside observers:
Rowley: And here [Charles has] commissioned me to re-deliver you part of the purchase-money—I mean, though, in your necessitous character of old Stanley. Moses: Ah! there is the pity of all; he is so damned charitable.
By contrasting the two brothers with each other, Sheridan asks the audience to consider the value of sentimentality, based on their differing interpretations of the virtue. While Joseph attempts to portray himself as a man of sentiment, he does not understand that sentimentality is more than the mere portrayal of oneself as moral and good—you actually have to practice what you preach! Charles, on the other hand, may not care about his reputation, but his actions are all guided by his inner sense of justice, love, and compassion for others.
Joseph and Charles Surface are foils for one another. The two brothers are juxtaposed directly multiple times throughout The School for Scandal. Joseph’s upright and morally respectable reputation is consistently brought up in reference to Charles’s good-for-nothing spendthrift behavior, as in Act 2, Scene 3, when Sir Peter laments Charles’s lack of potential:
Wild!—Ah! my old friend, I grieve for your disappointment there; [Charles is] a lost young man, indeed. However, his brother will make you amends; Joseph is, indeed, what a youth should be. Everybody in the world speaks well of him.
However, despite Sir Peter’s emphatic endorsement of Joseph’s supposed virtues, it later becomes clear through his scheming with Lady Sneerwell, manipulation of Lady Teazle, and dismissal of Mr. Stanley (who is, remember, his uncle in disguise) that Joseph has no sense of family honor or true generosity.
On the other hand, Charles Surface may appear like a lost cause to the majority of the characters (barring his love interest Maria), but underneath his heavy spending, he possesses a heart of gold, a sense of loyalty to his family, and a charitable nature. In Act 4, Scene 2, Charles’s goodness is even commented upon by outside observers:
Rowley: And here [Charles has] commissioned me to re-deliver you part of the purchase-money—I mean, though, in your necessitous character of old Stanley. Moses: Ah! there is the pity of all; he is so damned charitable.
By contrasting the two brothers with each other, Sheridan asks the audience to consider the value of sentimentality, based on their differing interpretations of the virtue. While Joseph attempts to portray himself as a man of sentiment, he does not understand that sentimentality is more than the mere portrayal of oneself as moral and good—you actually have to practice what you preach! Charles, on the other hand, may not care about his reputation, but his actions are all guided by his inner sense of justice, love, and compassion for others.
