Lord Chesterfield's Letters to his Son and The School of Scandal are compared in this essay to provide an interesting venture into the society of over two hundred years ago, representing companies and their expectations. Brinsley recognizes the problems of society and uses satire to show members of society and their flaws. By ridiculing the characters using satirical ways, Brinsley uses his work as pedagogical and uses satire by providing a comedic point of view to the work. The play has a genre-specific title as a comedy of manners with contradictions between the characters' expectations and actual reality. Lord Chesterfield contributed an intriguing comparison, Chesterfield's letters were a set of guidelines which allowed one to look inside the expectations of those who held office in society and how they themselves justified their controversial behaviour. The contrast between Chesterfield and Brinsley as authors provides views from a variant of judgments: Brinsley as a satirist with the intent to entertain and humor and Chesterfield providing a list of strict and efficient guidelines to those he felt should know. There is an obvious difference between the two: with the work a tool to provide a melancholy reflection on the individual and with the other a collection of letters sent to educate the recipient about society's expectations and how to adapt to the style of life of society. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Sheridan wrote the work in a style that accurately reflects the life of the upper classes and their society, which is essentially true. The work was written with the intention of raising questions about the gossip and slander that served as the foundation for society. Intending to educate the audience about the capacity of gossip and lies and its ability to cause chaos, Sheridan used the characters as examples of deceit and as a reflective tool for the audience to recognize their own shortcomings. Lies dominated the conversation and could ruin people's characters in seconds due to the quick nature of gossip and its ability to spread. Sheridan adapted the satirical mode of satire to his writing to ridicule characters in a contemptuous, witty, and derogatory manner, poking fun at a comedic writing method that can occur in the process allowing the correct message to be efficiently conveyed. Conversations between Sir Benjamin Backbite and Crabtree 'Mr. Surface I didn't mean to hurt you (…) as ruined as ever man was. The two characters are involved in a complete contradiction, an intentional use of satire by Brinsley to mock the characters for their behavior and to highlight their stupidity in the situation they have gotten themselves into. Despite his earlier declaration that he had no intention of causing upset at the single Backbite later refers to the man spitefully as someone who was "as undone as ever a man was". Sheridan further satirizes Lady Sneerwell, using irony to highlight the follies of herself and the society she revolves around, declaring humor in a cruel situation towards those who are the object of the slander. 'Ah, ah, ah! It is very difficult for them to abandon a topic that they have not completely neglected." Lady Sneerwell finds comedy in the humiliation of the people they target. The characterization of the individual as a 'subject' takes away the person's humanity, making them simply an object of entertainment and humiliation. This is ita portrait of Sheridan's society to show how people can warp into opinion, an opinion that has the intent to cause mischief simply to provide entertainment for others. There are parallels between the two, both Sheridan and Brinsley describe the influence of society with great depth and understanding. However, Sheridan satirized society with an intent to educate about its evils while Chesterfield begins to write a list to educate about society's standards and how to meet them. "Small insignificant objects (...) as parts, which conspire to form that external whole (...) of a fashionable man, are important." Chesterfield represents himself as a voice of society and its expectations and the language in his work is a representation of this. The language creates an almost imperative tone for the reader to follow those instructions. There are comparisons to be made between Chesterfield and Lady Sneerwell, both of their views revolve around society and society's expectations with Sneerwell expressing the same strict standards of good manners as Chesterfield "He certainly has talents but his manners are coarse." Both believe that presentation can determine the perception of an individual and if an individual does not present himself with good manners he is not worthy and therefore deserves humiliation. Sheridan recognizes the importance of public perception and the courtesy of the individual. The satirical playwright attempts through the aspect of comedy rather than to break down the character, but to inspire a change in the character, the decisions he makes, and the audience's perception of himself. The characters that populate the work are stuck in a world of good manners and their falsities. Mrs. Candor is satirized for the falsities of her manners and character. Brindley begins with his last name, the quality of Candor is someone who sees purity, integrity and innocence. Mrs. Candor serves as a complete contradiction to her name, with Sheridan using satire to create a contradiction between Mrs. Candor's expected nature and the contradiction that she is. . Mrs. Candour's reputation serves as a gossip who can spread slander at an effective rate, removing the respectability that someone in her position would have. «But, sir, do you think I would report these things? No, no: bearers of stories'. The ironic nature of Mrs. Candour's actions as someone who supposedly opposes gossip: yet she takes great pleasure in spreading such things. This is an intentional paradox on Sheridan's part to show the unstable standards of eighteenth-century upper-class people. Sincerity has no admission in one's behavior, yet it makes little attempt to stop slander and the possibility of ruining someone's character by simply stating that "people will talk that there is someone who prevents it." Despite the way these women claim to have no propensity for gossip and advocate for the utmost politeness, they are in complete contradiction to this encouragement of spreading gossip. Sheridan takes a moralistic position and the work represents an encouragement to reflect on good manners and false nature. With an implicit endorsement of the kindness of the individual and the lack of characters like Ladies Candor and Sneerwell. Sheridan's ability to borrow from the tradition of sentimental comedy that continues through literature is evident in his portrayal of such characters. It adapts the mode of humor using satire, however it does not always rely on the traditional Oration mode of satire using more. Horace used satire in a way that the voice was funny and witty, allowing aspects to be ridiculedfools of human nature with the aim of bringing the audience or reader to a point of amusement at their expense. Sheridan wrote the play with the initial concern of showing the domestic aspects of society rather than the normal focus on politics which allows for the removal of the madness of men who typically enjoyed the respect of those who observed them. Adopt a mode of satire that had some elements of the youthful satirical way of writing he had: certain offensive speeches about certain characters and their behavior. The mode of satire is based on a statement of realism in the sense that they make to the audience with the lack of authenticity. Lord Chesterfield's letters to his son demonstrate the importance of good manners to society and how rudeness can be the downfall of an individual and his reputation. Although Chesterfield does not use the satirical style that Sheridan chose to adopt, he adds a level of social courtesy by including the presentation of the individual. Good manners are similarly recognized in Sheridan as an expression of the individual's status, however, Chesterfield goes so far as to say that 'frequent and loud laughter is the hallmark of folly and bad manners (...) there is nothing more illiberal and as rude as loud laughter'. There is a similarity between Chesterfield and the characters in The School for Scandal. Chesterfield continues his opinions on presentation because it takes another element to be judged allowing the opinion to "go even lower down to your dress, cleanliness and grooming." Chesterfield recognizes the ability of societies to judge based on good manners and as an extension of the physical presentation of good manners: with hygiene becoming evident within social standards with things like "A dirty mouth has really bad consequences for the owner (...) is very offensive to her acquaintances.' The importance of perception is evident to both Sheridan and Chesterfield who appreciate the importance of good manners and the way in which society focuses on the attributes of good manners. From examining Chesterfield's other letters to his son, he begins to look at the ways measured in an intellectual capacity, going so far as to say that grammar is essential for the success of the person and his social position "I must also tell you that spelling, in the true sense of speech, is absolutely necessary for a person of letters." The recognition of good manners is the key to success in society and it is necessary to understand a multitude of good manners to allow success to flourish. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay In the School for Scandal, Richard Brinsley Sheridan uses satire to replicate the social situation of eighteenth-century London. While different in both genre and message, there can be parallels between the two from the language both having mocking tones with the intent to upset. However, one text uses it as an ironic statement, the other as an educational piece with an attempt to prevent mischief. Using characters such as Lady Sneerwell and Sir Benjamin Backbite Sheridan reveals the mischievous nature of high society dwellers whose entertainment is the ruin of others through gossip and slander. From the beginning of the play, the power of gossip is evident with the destruction it causes. However, there is a standard of good manners that should be respected, but this is something that is not respected by the members themselves. Involved in each other's affairs, the characters manipulate situations until they create a scandal that can cause a reputation to fall. Sheridan has100