The Rivals – Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816)

 

          Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the most important dramatist of the 18^th century, was born in Dublin in 1751.  His father Thomas Sheridan, an Irish actor-manager had a name for himself in his profession.  So, he had taken young Sheridan to the town of Bath, where he established an Institute for elocution and grammar in 1770.  Sheridan used to write sonnets, verses, satires and lampoons upon others.  However, his powers as a dramatist are displayed in design, in dialogues, in most effective presentation of comic characters.  That’s why Balston has said, “Of the only three plays in the English language besides those of Shakespeare which have achieved permanent popularity, two, ‘The school for Scandal’ and ‘The Rivals’ are by Sheridan, the third, ‘She Stoops to Conquer’, is by Oliver Goldsmith.  Moreover, it is also said in the warfare with sentimentality Goldsmith was an elder not a better soldier than Sheridan.

          Sheridan’s first play ‘The Rivals was staged in 1775.  As the play was not a success, he revised it and staged it again.  However, the revised play became a big success.  After writing a farce and a comic opera, he staged ‘The School for Scandal’ in 1777, which won him immediate recognition. ‘The Critic’ which he wrote in 1779 was the last play as he selected parliamentary career as his life long one.  Though he shone well in his social and political life of London, his excellence as a dramatist still helps him shine better.  Such were his precision of diction in dialogues and skill in the construction of scenes in his plays.

          ‘The Rivals’ is a comedy of situation and intrigue.  As the title indicates many of the characters consider themselves as ‘rivals’.  The play opens with a chance meeting of Fag, the servant of Captain Absolute and Thomas, the Coachman of Captain’s Father, Sir. Anthony in a street of Bath.  Captain Absolute is there in Bath in the guise of poor Ensign Beverley with the hope of winning the hands of Miss. Lydia Languish.  Sir. Anthony visits Bath with his ward, Julia for his gout, as the city water is a cure of gout.  Lydia, is greatly disturbed because of her aunt’s discovery of her secret love- intrigue with Beverley.  Her tough aunt Mrs. Malaprop not only stands against her love but insists her to marry Bob Acres.  Then Julia enters.  Both talk about their love affairs.  Though Julia and Faulkland love each other, Julia thinks that Faulkland is jealous and has no faith in himself where as Faulkland is afraid whether her love towards him is out of gratitude on his saving her from a boat accident.

          When Sir. Anthony absolute enters, Mrs. Malaprop talks about the love affair of Lydia.  When Sir. Anthony proposes his son Captain Absolute as Lydia’s husband, she withdraws her candidature and gives her consent.  Both Sir. Anthony and Mrs. Malaprop are ignorant of the fact that Lydia’s lover, Ensign Beverley is none other than Captain Absolute.  Mrs. Malaprop wants to have the marriage of her niece at the earliest.  Then she may not have any problem to continue the secret love affair with Sir. Lucius O’ Trigger.  Because she knows very well that the letters that she sent to him with the name ‘Delia’ is considered by him as they were the letters from the charming niece of Mrs. Malaprop.

          When Fag and Captain Absolute talk about the arrival of Sir. Anthony, Faulkland enters.  The two friends exchange their love affairs with Lydia and Julia.  Bob Acres enters then and talks about his rival Ensign Beverley.  Actually he is not aware that the Ensign and his friend (Absolute) Jack are one and the same person.  After his departure, Sir. Anthony enters the scene.  He wants his son to marry a rich heiress of his choice.  Captain Absolute says that he won’t marry a girl whom he has not known or seen.  Moreover, when he says that he has already pledged his love to another lady, Sir. Anthony is greatly shocked and says that if he disobeys him, in that case, he will disinherit and even disown him and leaves.  However, when Lucy, the maid servant of Mrs. Malaprop delivers a letter of Mrs. Malaprop to Sir. Lucius and gets kissed by him, Fag enters there.  So Lucy has to reveal the truth that it was the letter of Mrs. Malaprop to Sir. Lucius that she delivered to him.  She also tells Fag that Beverley has now to face a worse rival than Bob Acres.  That is Captain Absolute who has been proposed by Sir. Anthony to get married to Lydia.

          Captain Absolute is happy at the news brought by Fag that whom his father insisted to marry is Lydia herself.  So, he meets his father with his willingness to marry the girl of his father’s choice.  With a letter of introduction from his father, he meets Mrs. Malaprop.  Mrs. Malaprop not only talks of her niece’s foolish infatuation for poor Ensign Beverley but also gives him a letter of Beverley to Absolute.  However, Captain Absolute makes Mrs. Malaprop to bring Lydia to him by saying that Beverley has come to see her.  Lydia is greatly surprised to see Beverley there.  Captain Absolute explains that somehow he has supplanted his rival and impersonates him there.  Lydia is pleased to see her aunt deceived and wants to implement her plan of elopement if he decides to forgo her dowry.  Absolute assures her that her beauty and love are all the dowry he values.  However, Mrs. Malaprop has all the time been over hearing the talk between Captain and Lydia.  On the contrary, in the meeting of Julia and Faulkland, he says that when lovers are separated, they should shed tears of sorrow.  Then in a long speech about true love unfortunately complains that women often profess love for men for motives other than that of true love.  Julia bursts into passion, begins weeping and leaves the room.  Then only he realizes his mistake of torturing a faithful girl.  However, he resolves not to treat her like this anymore.

          The simple-minded Bob Acres decides to fight a duel with Beverley at the instigation of Sir. Lucius and writes a letter of challenge.  However, David his servant advises him not to have a duel with Beverley.  So, Bob Acres hands over the letter of challenge to Captain Absolute and wants him to act as his second in the duel.  Captain Absolute is greatly amused on hearing this, declines to accept that honour and suggests the name of Sir. Lucius.  Then Captain Absolute is taken by his father to the house of Mrs. Malaprop.  But Lydia refuses to look at the new suitor, not to speak for receiving his address when Absolute is compelled to speak, he talks in a very low gruff tone lest she should recognize him as Beverley.  Sir. Anthony asks his son to speak clearly and Lydia to show them honour by turning her face.  Lydia recognizes her Beverley’s voice in the young man.  Absolute is caught in his deception.  Lydia is frustrated and wild with anger for the deception practiced on her so long by the Captain.  However, Sir. Anthony and Mrs. Malaprop decide to forgive the two young persons, leaving them alone to settle their problem.  Absolute fails to convince Lydia.  Sir. Lucius who thinks that Absolute has spoiled his chances of marrying Lydia, challenges him to fight a duel with him.  Absolute, takes up the challenge and agrees to have the fight at king’s Mead-fields that evening.

          Both Absolute and Faulkland meet and disburden their disappointments in love.  Absolute asks Faulkland to act as his second in his duel with Sir. Lucius.  On hearing this incorrigible capriciousness of Faulkland makes him to plan another test for Julia’s consistency in love for him.  He meets her and tells her that as he has killed a person in a duel he has to leave England immediately.  Hearing this Julia proposes to share his sorrows, go in exile with him and marry him.  Then Faulkalnd tells her that it is a cooked up story.  But Julia who is terribly shocked at the capricious jealousy of her lover leaves Faulkland out o despair.  The disappointed Faulkalnd goes to king’s mead-fields to act as Absolute’s seoncd.  When Julia and Lydia talk about their lovers, Mrs. Malaprop enters the room with Fag and David shouting ‘murder and man-slaughter in the fields’.

          At king’s Mead-fields, on seeing Absolute with Faulkland, Sir. Lucius takes Faulkland to be Beverley.  But Bob Acres says that he will fight with only Beverley.  Thus Absolute declares himself to be Beverley.  Acres says that he won’t fight with his friend Absolute.  But Sir. Lucius draws his sword to fight with his opponent Absolute.  Sir. Anthony along with all women intervene and prevent the fight.  When Sir. Lucius talks about the letter of ‘Delia’, Mrs. Malaprop reveals the truth and declares herself to be ‘Delia’.  When Sir. Lucius decides not to marry Mrs. Malaprop, Sir. Anthony steps into cheer the disappointed Mrs. Malaprop, by saying, “you are in your bloom yet’.  When Lydia offers her hand to Absolute, Sir. Anthony advises Julia and Faulkland also to get married.  He also propses a drink for their health and wishes a husband for Mrs. Malaprop.  Thus ‘The Rivals’ a comedy of manners reflects the ways of life of a particular social class – men and women whose follies and foibles are made subjects of fun and satire.  It also ends happily with its objects achieved by correcting the manners and refining the conduct of the majority of the characters of the play.

Sheridan’s attitude towards sentimental comedy and his satiric portraiture of contemporary society

 

By the middle of the 18^th century the sentimental comedy had fully established itself on the English Stage.  The comedy of manners, so popular in the restoration period, was then rapidly degenerating.  It became much too coarse, artificial and blantantly immoral.  Its heroes and heroines became immoral.  Wit and humour were completely replaced by ‘conscious moralization’.  So, a reaction against sentimentalism began to grow in the domain of drama.  However, it resulted gradually in the revival of the comedy of manners in a new setting.  However, the pioneers of this reaction were Goldsmith and Sheridan who declared war against the sentimental comedies, while Goldsmith registered this protest in his essay on ‘On the theatre’ and illustrated his views in his comedy ‘The good-natured man’.  Sheridan projected his protest with greater force in his three plays, ‘The Rivals’, ‘The School for Scandal’ and ‘The Critic’.

          Though ‘The Rivals’ is an artificial comedy of manners, it is not totally devoid of sentimentalism. Obviously Sheridan tries to satirize the heroine of sentimental comedy in the person of Lydia Languish who is ready ‘to die with disappointment’.  Similarly, in the Julia-Faulkland episode Julia loves Faulkland, who is an incorrigible sentimentalist.  He is obsessed with some fixed ideas about love, sex and marriage.  He is full of doubts about the sincerity of his beloved. Every time Faulkland meets Julia, he finds occasions to quarrel with her and Julia has to leave him with tears.  All these draw sympathy from the spectators for poor Julia.  Moreover, the play ends with a note of moral preaching.  Thus, though Sheridan tried to attack sentimentality in his plays, yet he could not completely get rid of the prevailing force of sentimentality.  But, through these characters and the situations he satirizes the manners, habits and follies of the people of the contemporary society.

          Sheridan attempts to portrait the pleasures, intrigues as well as the artificial conventions and follies of the aristocratic section of the eighteenth century.  Lydia Languish is a satiric portrait of the one whose head had been turned by her reading of too many romantic novels.  In Faulkland his jealousy is exaggerated.  In Mrs Malaprop, Sheridan satirizes the provincial woman desperately trying to live up to the smartness of Bath by her muddle-headed but unconscious life of learned words.  In the character of Sir Antony, Absolute, Sheridan presents a satiric portrait of the type of self willed authoritative father of the old conservative school who believes in keeping an iron hand over his son even when he has grown into an adult.  Through Sir Lucius O’ Trigger Sheridan satirizes the type of adventures with whom fighting is a kind of pastime.  Bob Acres represents the type of foolish country-squire who believes that merely by putting on fine dress and assuming a swaggering air he can win the love of his lady.

The Rivals is full of series of cleverly devised situations and intrigues.  All the complications arising out of these situations continue to develop the theme.

The central theme of the play is that there is quadrangular rivalry among four sets of characters for the heroine, Lydia Languish.  They are Ensign Beverley, Captain Absolute, Sir Lucius O’ Trigger and Bob Acres. Thus, ‘The Rivals’ represents the superficial habits and manners of only the then fashionable society of aristocratic and middle classes.  The dialogues are witty, sharp, keen, humorous, sparkling in brilliant exchange of words.  Sheridan’s main aim of writing this play was to provide entertainment to his audience.  So, he may lack the high seriousness and the depth of Shakespeare.   But Sheridan occupies an important position in the history of English drama.  Some critics give him even the second place after Shakespeare.

 

 -----Thulasidharan V