Polina Redchenko

Group 2

Essay test
Richard B. Sheridan’s “The School for Scandal”
Question 2
What made Sir Oliver Surface influential in the
dramatic plot – social status, wisdom, moral stance?

To begin with, “The School for Scandal” is the comedy in five acts by Richard Brinsley
Sheridan and it is one of the greatest comedies of manners. This comedy is about two
brothers Charles - an extravagant but kind-hearted man and his brother Joseph, who turns
out to be an insidious schemer courting Lady Teazle. However, their uncle Sir Oliver
exposes Joseph as a hypocrite and Charles wins a fortune and true love.

So, who is Sir Oliver Surface? The comedy shows him as the rich uncle of brothers Joseph
and Charles Surface and truth-seeker who wants to find out about his nephews' characters
before leaving them his wealth.
Firstly, we can see that Sir Oliver's social status made him influential with his nephews, as
each of them is eager to receive an inheritance from their uncle and are ready to do anything
for this.
Secondly, Sir Oliver's wisdom plays a key role in the dramatic plot of the whole comedy and
helps him to reveal all the cards that were previously closed ...
He was so confused about who to leave his fortune to that he decided to check. While
Charles was selling family paintings due to lack of money, Sir Oliver pretended to be a
pawnbroker and offered to buy his own portrait, but Charles refused to sell. Therefore, we
can conclude that for Charles, the family is the most important thing in his life, he
appreciates and respects his uncle.
However, Joseph's check proved necessary and disappointing. Sir Oliver visits Joseph
disguised as a poor relative and asks for help, but Joseph shows his meanness and
superficiality by rejecting him, but when all the cards were revealed, Joseph turned out to be
a hypocrite, for whom the family and its values ​are not important at all. Unfortunately, he
cares only for wealth and himself.
Thirdly, the moral stance of Sir Oliver helped him to make the right choice about the
inheritance, since Charles really deserves it more than Joseph, prevailing with the qualities
of a real and good-natured person, who will always fight for his family.

In conclusion, I want to say that Sir Oliver - is a wise and reasonable man who made the
right choice in the inheritance. Moreover, thanks to his wisdom and ingenuity, he made an
experiment that opened all the cards and showed the real characters of his nephews.
Sometimes, no matter what a person is, his wisdom and prudence can affect a lot and many.