The tone of this play is witty and deeply satirical. The School for Scandal is a comedy that seeks to satirize those who fall prey to the temptations of gossip and sensationalism. Every moment of the play is intended as a (somewhat playful, somewhat serious) jab at the artificiality of Richard Sheridan’s contemporary society.
A number of the plot points are comedic and intended to invite the audience to consider the deeper implications of scandalous conversation. Some of these plot points include: the troubles that plague Sir Peter and Lady Teazle’s marriage, the fretting of Lady Sneerwell and Joseph Surface as they plot themselves toward their own destruction, and the enthusiastic, increasingly ludicrous gossip of the lesser characters like Mrs. Candour, Sir Benjamin Backbite, and Mr. Crabtree. Sheridan directs the satirical tone of the play towards all of his characters—both the innocents and the instigators. While certainly the majority of his criticism falls upon those who take pleasure in spreading rumors, his tone stays light enough that the audience can enjoy the negative behavior of the slanderers in relative ease.
In fact, despite the play’s professed disavowal of gossip as a pastime, the severe, dry, stifling propriety of Sir Peter and Maria almost seem to make the case for the superiority of the gossipmongers. Thus, Sheridan lampoons both behavioral extremes, leaving an implied suggestion that the solution lies in finding a middle ground between the gossips and the innocents.
