The Art of Gossip Stage, Satire, and Emasculation in The School for Scandal

This article examines the significance and impact of an emerging eighteenth-century gossip economy in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The School for Scandal. Focusing not only within the context of the play, but also in terms of the broader social context in which the play was first received, it assesses whether the play, through its rendering of the celebrity and aristocracy celebrity, essentially enforces the separation of the masculine public and feminine private spheres.