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Jagruti rameshbhai vasani
Semester:- 1
Roll no :- 54
Paper 2 :- Neo – classical literature
Topic :- Sheridan as a dramatist
Submitted :- Smt. Gardi English department
MKBU
Introduction:-
Richred Brinsley Sheridan,
statesman and dramatist, was born in Dublin on Oct. 30, 1751. He belonged to a
highly talented family, his grandfather,
Thomas Sheridan, being a prominent Jacobite
and a historian,andhisfather,
also Thomas Sheridan, a
distinguished actor,
theatrical manager, and
author. Irish-born playwright, impresario, orator, and Whig politician.
His plays, notably The School for Scandal(1777), form a link in the history of
the comedy of manners between the end of the 17th century and Oscar Wilde in
the 19th century.
Sheridan was educated for the bar, but the success of his comedy, “The Rivalsled him
into close relations with the
theatre. “The Rivals was followed by “St. Patrick’s Day,” a farce; “The
Duenna,” a comic opera; “A Trip to Scarborough,” an adaptation
fromVanbrugh;“TheSchoolforScandal”
(1777); and a patriotic
melodrama. “Pizarro.” He was
manager of Drury Lane Theatre
which he twice had a chief
part in rebuilding;
though he had
periods of marked
prosperity in his management,andexerciseda powerful
influence on the stage
history of his time.
Political party
Whig
Notable works
1)The Rivals (1775)
(17 January 1775)
2)The Duenna (1775)
3)A Trip to
Scarborough (1777)
4)The School for
Scandal (1777)
5)The Camp (1778)
6)The Critic (1779)
7)The Glorious First
of June (1794)
8) May 1777)
Sheridan’s Reaction Against The Sentimental-He ridiculed the
sententious moralistic of “weeping sentimental comedy”in his plays,”The Rivals
“and The critic”.
The Revival of True comedy-As a result of the reaction of
Goldsmith and Sheridan the comedy of sentiment driven out
.Gone were the scenes of pathos and morality preaching and
meddling sentimentality.Their place was taken by humor ,and mirth,pleasant
dialogues and wit.Goldsmith’s play,a reflection of the idealism which was
beginning to magnifies itself in the realistic age.opposed to him is Richard
Brinsler Sheridan whose dramas are
written in the mood of satirical observation of life which the 18th century
novel expressed,from Fielding to Miss Barney. The works of Sheridan are fed by
sallies of the most fertile verve,and a gift of style equal to that of the
classical Sheridan was not a
psychologist,but a shrewd and penetrating observer;he was more able to perceive
the secret movement of vanity or envy,than to construct character.The main
plays of Sheridan area)The Rivals 2)st.Patrick’s Day 3)The Scheming Lieutenant
4)The school for scandal. PlaywrightEdit
Mrs Richard Brinsley Sheridan, aged 31, by Gainsborough
(National Gallery of Art) .
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, (baptized Nov. 4, 1751, Dublin,
Ire.—died July 7, 1816, London, Eng.) Irish-born playwright, impresario,
orator, and Whig politician. His plays, notably The School for Scandal (1777),
form a link in the history of the comedy ofmanners between the end of the 17th
century and Oscar Wilde in the 19th century.
Formative years
Sheridan was the third son of Thomas and Frances Sheridan.
His grandfather Thomas Sheridan had been a companion and confidant of Jonathan
Swift; his father was the author of a pronouncing dictionary and the advocate
of a scheme of public education that
gave a prominent place to elocution; and
his mother gained some fame as a playwright.
The family moved to London, and Sheridan never returned to
Ireland. He was educated (1762–68) at Harrow, and in 1770 he moved with his
family to Bath. There Sheridan fell in love with Elizabeth Ann Linley
(1754–92), whose fine soprano voice delighted audiences at the concerts and
festivals conducted by her father, Thomas. In order to avoid the unpleasant
attentions of a Welsh squire, Thomas Mathews of Llandaff, she decided to take
refuge in a French nunnery. Sheridan
accompanied her to Lille in March
1772 but returned to fight two duels that same year with Mathews. Meanwhile,
Elizabeth had returned home with her father, and Sheridan was ordered by his
father to Waltham Abbey, Essex, to pursue his studies. He was entered at the
Middle Temple in April 1773 but after a week broke with his father, gave up a
legal career, and married Elizabeth at Marylebone Church, London.
Theatrical career
After his marriage Sheridan turned to the theatre for a
livelihood. His comedy The Rivals opened at Covent Garden Theatre, London, in
January 1775. It ran an hour longer than was usual, and, because of the offensive
nature and poor acting of the character of Sir Lucius O’Trigger, it was hardly
a success. Drastically revised and with a new actor as Sir Lucius, its second
performance 11 days later won immediate applause. The situations and characters
were not entirely new, but Sheridan gave them freshness by his rich wit, and
the whole play reveals Sheridan’s remarkable sense of theatrical effect. The
play is characteristic of Sheridan’s work in its genial mockery of the affectation
displayed by some of the characters. Even the malapropisms that slow down the
play give a proper sense of caricature to the character of Mrs. Malapropos.
Some of the play’s success was due to the acting of Lawrence
Clinch as Sir Lucius. Sheridan showed his gratitude by writing the amusing
little farce St. Patrick’s Day; Or, The Scheming Lieutenant for the benefit
performance given for Clinch in May 1775. Another example of his ability to
weave an interesting plot from well-worn materials is seen in The Duenna,
produced the following November. The characters are generally undeveloped, but
the intrigue of the plot and charming lyrics and the music by his father-in-law,
Thomas Linley, and his son gave this ballad opera great popularity. Its 75
performances exceeded the 62, a record for that time, credited to John Gay’s
The Beggar’s Opera (1728), and it is still revived.
Thus, in less than a year Sheridan had brought himself to
the forefront of contemporary dramatists. David Garrick, looking for someone to
succeed him as manager and proprietor of Drury Lane Theatre, saw in Sheridan a
young man with energy, shrewdness, and a real sense of theatre. A successful physician,
James Ford, agreed with Garrick’s estimate and increased his investment in the
playhouse. In 1776, Sheridan and Linley became partners with Ford in a
half-share of Drury Lane Theatre. Two years later they bought the other half
from Willoughby Lacy, Garrick’s partner.
In fact, Sheridan’s interest in his theatre soon began to
seem rather fitful. Nevertheless, he was responsible for the renewed
appreciation of Restoration comedy that followed the revival of the plays of
William Congreve at Drury Lane. In February 1777 he brought out his version of
Sir John Vanbrugh’s The Relapse (1696) as A Trip to Scarborough again showing
his talent for revision. He gave the rambling plot a neater shape and removed
much indelicacy from the dialogue, but the result was disappointing, probably
because of the loss of much of the earlier play’s gusto.
What Sheridan learned from the Restoration dramatists can be
seen in The School for Scandal, produced at Drury Lane in May 1777. That play
earned him the title of “the modern Congreve.” Although resembling Congreve in
that its satirical wit is so brilliant and so general that it does not always
distinguish one character from another, The School for Scandal does contain two
subtle portraits in Joseph Surface and Lady Teazle. There were several
Restoration models (e.g., Mrs. Pinchwife in William Wycherley’s The
Country-Wife and Miss Hoyden in Vanbrugh’s The Relapse) for the portrayal of a
country girl amazed and delighted by the sexual freedom of high society.
Sheridan softened his Lady Teazle, however, to suit the more refined taste of
his day. The part combined innocence and sophistication and was incomparably
acted. The other parts were written with equal care to suit the members of the
company, and the whole work was a triumph of intelligence and imaginative
calculation. With itsspirited ridicule of affectation and pretentiousness, it
is often considered the greatest comedy of manners in English.
Sheridan’s flair for stage effect, exquisitely demonstrated
in scenes in The School for Scandal, was again demonstrated in his delightful
satire on stage conventions, The Critic, which since its first performance in
October 1779 has been thought much funnier than its model, The Rehearsal
(1671), by George Villiers, the 2nd Duke of Buckingham. Sheridan himself
considered the first act to be his finest piece of writing. Although Puff is
little more than a type, Sir Fretful Plagiary is not only a caricature of the
dramatist Richard Cumberland but also an epitome of the vanity of authors in
every age.
Political Career
Sheridan continued to adapt plays and to improvise
spectacular shows at Drury Lane, but as a succession of acting managers took
over the burden of direction his time was increasingly given to politics. His
only full-length later play was the artistically worthless but popular
patriotic melodrama Pizarro (1799), based on a German play on the conquest of
Peru. Sheridan had become member of Parliament for Stafford in September 1780
and was undersecretary for foreign affairs
(1782) and secretary to the treasury (1783). Later he was treasurer of the navy
(1806–07) and a privy councilor. The rest of his 32 years in Parliament were
spent as a member of the minority Whig party in opposition to the governing Tories.
Sheridan’s critical
acumen and command over language had full scope in his oratory and were seen at
their best in his speeches as manager of the unsuccessful impeachment of Warren
Hastings, governor general of India. Sheridan was recognized as one of the most
persuasive orators of his time but never achieved greater political influence
in Parliament because he was thought to be an unreliable intriguer. Some
support for this view is to be found in his behavior during the regency crisis
(1788–89) following the temporary insanity of George III, when Sheridan acted
as adviser to the unpopular, self-indulgent prince of Wales (later George IV).
He encouraged the prince to think that there would be a great majority for his
being regent with all the royal powers simply because he was heir apparent. In
the country at large this was seen as a move by Charles James Fox and his
friends to take over the government and drive out Prime Minister William Pitt.
Sheridan was also distrusted because of his part in the Whigs’ internecine
squabbles (1791–93) with Edmund Burke over the latter’s implacable hostility to
the French Revolution. He was one of the few members courageous enough openly
to defend those who suffered for their support of the
French Revolution. Indeed, Sheridan liked taking an individual stand, and,
although he supported Fox in urging that the French had a right to choose their
own way of government, he broke with Fox once the French became warlike and
threatened the security of England. He also came out on the side of the Tory administration when he condemned mutineers who
had rebelled against living conditions in the British Navy (1797). Much to
Fox’s disgust, Sheridan, although a Whig, gave some support to the Tory
administration of Prime Minister Henry Addington, later 1st Viscount Sidmouth
(1801–04).
In November 1806, Sheridan succeeded Charles James Fox as
member for Westminster—although not, as
he had hoped, as leader of the Whigs—but he lost the seat in May 1807. The
prince of Wales then returned him as member for the “pocket borough” of
Ilchester, but his dependence on the prince’s favour rankled with Sheridan, for
they differed in their attitude on Catholic emancipation. Sheridan, who was
determined to support emancipation, stood for election as member from Stafford
again in 1812, but he could not pay those who had previously supported him as
much as the ey expected and, as a result, was defeated.
Last Year
Sheridan’s financial difficulties were largely brought about
by his own extravagance and procrastination, as well as by the destruction of
Drury Lane Theatre by are in February 1809. With the loss of his parliamentary
seat and his income from the theatre, he became a prey to his many creditors.
His last years were beset by these and other worries—his
circulatory complaints and the cancer that acted his second wife, Esther Jane
Ogle. She was the daughter of the dean of Winchester and was married to Sheridan
in April 1795, three years after Elizabeth’s death. Pestered by bailis to the
end, Sheridan made a strong impression on the poet Lord Byron, who wrote a
Monody on the Death of the Right Honourable R.B. Sheridan (1816), to be spoken
at the rebuilt Drury Lane Theatre.
Assessment. Though best remembered as the author of
brilliant comedies of manners, Sheridan was also a significant politician and
orator. His genius both as dramatist and politician lay in humorous criticism
and the ability to size up situations and relate them effectively. These gifts
were often exercised in the House of Commons on other men’s speeches and at
Drury Lane Theatre in the revision of other men’s plays. They are seen at their
best in The School for Scandal, in which he shaped a plot and dialogue of
unusual brilliance from two mediocre draft plays of his own. In person Sheridan
was often drunken, moody, and indiscreet, but he possessed great charm and
powers of persuasion. As a wit he delivered his sallies against the follies of
society with a polish that makes him the natural link in the history of the
British comedy of manners between Congreve and wiled.
Conclusion :-
Sheridan had a striking success when
he was very young . his chief prose comedies are still remembered . his plots
are from everyday life . his description are accurate and graphics . his plays
are full of sentation and scandal , thrills andexcitement . he used irony and
satire in a deligate manner . these are wit , charming dialogue and beautiful
repartee . he is a master of comic situation and of incisive dialogue . his
characters are remarkable for their dramatic qualities , but they have no
reality of the stage . they are not expression
of an existing society . the reports of the fools show as much of author’s
wit as those intelligent characters . the figures are traditional rather than
taken from life . Sheridan produced a most brilliant display of firework .
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