The School for Scandal: Act 1, Scene 1 Summary & Analysis

The play begins in Lady Sneerwell’s home. She is sitting at her dressing table and talking to Snake, a man she pays to insert rumors about people she knows into the gossip columns. The two discuss Lady Sneerwell’s talent for ruining reputations and compare her methods to those of Mrs. Clackitt, whom they say has used gossip to ruin marriages, force couples to elope to save their reputations, and cause sons to lose their inheritances. Snake says that Lady Sneerwell is a subtler gossipmonger who concocts more believable stories. Lady Sneerwell appreciates the compliment. She says causing scandal for others brings her satisfaction, because scandal ruined her own reputation when she was young.

Snake then asks Lady Sneerwell to explain her motivations for a certain rumor she has asked him to spread. This rumor concerns a young woman named Maria, her guardian Sir Peter Teazle, and the two Surface brothers, who were also Sir Peter’s wards for a time after their father’s death. Snake says that he knows that Maria and Charles (the younger Surface brother) are in love, although Charles has a reputation for being an extravagant spender and good-for-nothing, while Lady Sneerwell and Mr. Joseph Surface, who has a good reputation, are known to be in love. Why, Snake asks Lady Sneerwell, is she trying to split up Maria and Charles, when she could just marry Joseph and be happy?

Lady Sneerwell explains that she is really in love with the bankrupt big-spender Charles, not Joseph. Joseph, meanwhile, wants to marry his brother’s beloved Maria (although only because she is a wealthy heiress), so he and Lady Sneerwell are plotting to break up Maria and Charles. Lady Sneerwell says that Joseph’s reputation for morality is misplaced: he is selfish and malicious, which is why he is happy to conspire with her. Snake remarks that Sir Peter is completely convinced of Joseph’s goodness, and Lady Sneerwell adds that Sir Peter is also prejudiced against Charles and opposes the idea of letting Maria and Charles marry.

Joseph Surface is then announced, and enters. Lady Sneerwell tells him that she has informed Snake of their plans and that they can trust Snake to keep their secret. Joseph praises Snake’s trustworthiness. Lady Sneerwell asks after Maria and Charles. Joseph says he has not seen either of them, but he reports that Maria has heard some of Lady Sneerwell’s rumors and has stopped meeting with Charles. Charles, meanwhile, is in so much debt that creditors are coming to seize his belongings.

Joseph says he only wishes it were in his power to help his brother, but Lady Sneerwell cuts him off, saying there is no need for him to hypocritically pretend to have pity for his brother around her and Snake. Joseph says she is right, but adds that he really will be doing a good deed by breaking up the romance between Maria and Charles. Charles, he says, could only be tamed by a woman like Lady Sneerwell.

Snake leaves and Joseph tells Lady Sneerwell that she was wrong to place her trust in him, because he has seen Snake talking to Mr. Rowley, who was Joseph’s late father’s steward and does not like him. Lady Sneerwell asks Joseph if he thinks Snake will betray their plots to Rowley, and Joseph says that Snake is too much of a villain to be expected to be loyal to one bad deed over another.

Maria enters, looking upset. She tells Lady Sneerwell that she slipped away from Sir Peter’s house because Sir Benjamin Backbite and his uncle Crabtree were there, and she hates listening to them gossip about their friends. Joseph agrees, saying that they gossip so much that they even gossip about people they do not know. Lady Sneerwell defends Sir Benjamin, saying he is witty and a poet, but Maria says she does not like wit when it is malicious. She asks Joseph his opinion, and Joseph agrees. Lady Sneerwell says that unkindness is essential to wit, and asks Joseph if he agrees: he says he does.

A servant announces that Mrs. Candour’s carriage has arrived. Lady Sneerwell says that Maria will like Mrs. Candour, who has a reputation for being good-natured. Maria, however, says that this is an affectation: Mrs. Candour does even more damage to people’s reputations than Crabtree. Joseph says that there is nothing worse for someone’s reputation than to be defended by Mrs. Candour. Mrs. Candour enters. She asks Joseph what news he’s heard, and says that no one talks about anything but scandal. Mrs. Candour then asks Maria what is going on with her and Charles, and says that the town talks of nothing but his extravagant spending. Maria says she thinks people should find something better to do. Mrs. Candour agrees, but says there is no way to keep people from talking, and that she has also heard that Sir Peter and Lady Teazle have not been getting along.

Maria is indignant, but Mrs. Candour continues to gossip. Joseph says it is amazing what stories people will make up, and Maria replies that it is just as bad to repeat lies as to make them up. Mrs. Candour agrees, but says that there is nothing to be done, because people will talk. She continues to gossip about couples eloping, an unmarried woman rumored to have had a baby, and two men dueling. She concludes by saying she would never spread such rumors, and Joseph praises her restraint.

Mrs. Candour says she hates when people are attacked behind their backs, and then asks Joseph if it is true that his brother Charles is ruined. Joseph says that his brother’s finances are very bad, and Mrs. Candour names four other men in similar financial straits. Charles, she says, can find consolation in the fact that he will not be the only person in his social circle in this position. Joseph agrees.

Sir Benjamin Backbite and his uncle Crabtree enter. Crabtree brags that his nephew is a wonderful poet who comes up with hilarious rhymes about his acquaintances. Lady Sneerwell asks Sir Benjamin why he never publishes his verse. Sir Benjamin explains that, since his work usually mocks people, it circulates quickly around town if he gives it to the friends of those he is mocking, and so he asks them to show it to no one. He would, however, like to publish some love poems about a certain lady, he says, indicating Maria.

Crabtree and Sir Benjamin then begin gossiping about an acquaintance named Miss Nicely whom, they say, has gotten pregnant out of wedlock and plans to marry her footman. Mrs. Candour says that this is hard to believe because Miss Nicely is such a prudent lady, and Sir Benjamin responds that that prudence shows she had something to cover up. Mrs. Candour says that those with terrible reputations do seem to get through more scandals than those without any rumors spread about them.

Mrs. Candour then says that the story about Miss Nicely could, after all, just be a mistake—Crabtree says that this is true, and goes on to tell the story of Miss Letitia Piper. At a party where the difficulty of breeding sheep was being discussed, someone said that Miss Piper had a sheep that bore twins. A deaf old woman misheard this, and in no time at all, a rumor was circulating that Miss Piper had given birth to twins out of wedlock, and people were even spreading rumors about who the father was.

Crabtree turns to Joseph and asks if it is true that his uncle, Sir Oliver, is returning soon from the East Indies. Joseph says he has not heard this. Crabtree says Sir Oliver will be sad to see how badly Charles has grown up, but Joseph says he hopes no one has said anything to Sir Oliver to prejudice him against his brother. Crabtree responds that Charles, at least, has an excellent reputation among the Jewish moneylenders. Sir Benjamin says that despite his financial difficulties and the creditors who try to collect their money from him, Charles still gives lavish parties for his friends. Joseph says they are being insensitive in talking about his brother in front him.

Maria finds it painful to listen to these things said about Charles. She says she feels sick and leaves. Lady Sneerwell sends Mrs. Candour to follow Maria and make sure she is all right. Lady Sneerwell says it is clear that, despite no longer seeing Charles, Maria still has feelings for him. Sir Benjamin agrees, but Crabtree encourages his nephew, telling him to follow Maria and recite his love poems to her. Sir Benjamin tells Joseph that he is sorry if he upset him, but it’s well-known that his brother is in financial ruin and has had to sell everything except the family portraits, which, he says, are probably framed in the walls.

Sir Benjamin and Crabtree leave, still remarking on Charles as they go. Lady Sneerwell laughs at how eager they are to continue gossiping. Joseph says he thinks Lady Sneerwell must have also found it difficult to hear about Charles’s difficulties. Lady Sneerwell says she fears that Maria may be too much in love with Charles to change her mind, but says that the Teazles and Maria will visit that evening, so they will be able to observe their feelings. In the meantime, she says, she will “plot mischief, and you shall study sentiment.”