Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University In
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
THE CONTRAST AND THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL: A COMPARISON OF TWO EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PLAYS THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE By Terry D. Eyman, B. A. Denton, Texas December, 1974 Eyman, Terry D., The Contrast and the School for Scandal: A Comparison of Two Eighteenth Century Plays. Master of Science, December, 1974, 83 pp., bibliography, 72 titles. This study explores the relationship of Royall Tyler's The Contrast with Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The School for Scandal, to determine whether Tyler used The School for Scandal as a model for The Contrast. Chapter I contains a statement of the problem and an introduction to the historical importance of Tyler and The Contrast. Chapter II discusses the theatrical background of Tyler and the city of Boston. Chapter III includes a brief history of Sheridan and an examination of The School for Scandal. Chapter IV compares The Contrast with The School for Scandal. Chapter V presents conclusions drawn from the evidence examined in Chapters III and IV. The Contrast is not an imitation of The School for Scandal, though both contain elements of similarity. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION . ........ 1 II. THEATRICAL HISTORY OF BOSTON AND ROYALL TYLER . .* . 11 III. SHERIDAN AND THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL . .. 28 IV. THE CONTRAST AND THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL: A COMPARISON . 57 V. CONCLUSIONS . 73 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 79 iii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION On April 16, 1787, the American Company, performing in the John Street Theatre in New York, presented a play called The Contrast, written by "a Citizen of the United States." It was a momentous occasion, but circumstances combined to obscure the importance of the play and its author Royall Tyler from later theatre historians. For example, Glenn Hughes devotes eighty-nine pages to American theatre history from 1700 to 1800 and only one short paragraph to Tyler.3 Howard Taubman includes five pages on Royall Tyler and a review of The Contrast, but fails to indicate the historical importance of the early American playwright and his work.4 In fact, much of the discussion of The Contrast by theatre William Dunlap, A History of the American Theatre (New York, 1934), p. 135. Dunlap wrongly placed the date of per- formance as April 16, 1786. Other authorities have verified the actual date as being April 16, 1787. See also George 0. Seilhammer, History of the American Theatre (Philadelphia, 1889), p. 215; Montrose J. Moses, The American Dramatist (New York, 1925), p. 72; G. Thomas Tanselle, Royall Tyler (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1967), p. 51. 2Chapter II will further discuss the reasons for a lack of primary source material-on Royall Tyler. 3 Glenn Hughes, The American Theatre (New York, 1951, pp. 1-89. 4Howard Taubman, The Making of the American Theatre (New York, 1965), pp. 46-50. 1 2 historians has been limited to a statement that the play was based on Sheridan's The School for Scandal, with no reasons presented as the basis for comparing the two plays except that Tyler saw The School for Scandal. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis will be to explore the similarities and dif- ferences of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The School for Scandal and Royall Tyler's The Contrast to discover if internal evidence in the two plays either supports or refutes the theory that Tyler had as his primary model The School for Scandal. Since Tyler's life and his influence on subsequent playwrights are not well known by American theatre scholars, some of the material in this thesis must be introductory. Chapter One will discuss the influence of The Contrast and Tyler on later works and playwrights; Chapter Two will describe Tyler's life in a volatile and Puritan New England; Chapter Three will explore definitions of The School for Scandal; Chapter Four will compare The Contrast with The School for Scandal; and Chapter Five will present conclusions about the relationship of the two plays. The Contrast was not the first play by an American author. The Prince of Parthia had been written and produced in 1767,5 and in 1714, Robert Hunter, governor of New York, had written Androboros.6 Colonial playwrighting was evident even during the American Revolution, especially in the plays 5Hughes, p. 38. 6 George Freedly and John A. Reeves, A History of the Theatre (New York, 1968), p. 297. 3 of Mercy Otis' Warren. The plays were a part of the literary political repartee between the British loyalists and the American patriots, and they were read more often than acted. What was important, however, was that Royall Tyler had written the first American comedy produced by a professional com- pany and that The Contrast enjoyed some popularity. Seil- hamer explored the 1787 season of the American Company and discovered that the play was acted on April 16 and 18, and on May 2, 5, and 12, all performed in New York.8 Tanselle listed a later production on August 12, 1787, in Baltimore; a reading by Thomas Wignell on December 10, 1787, in Phila- delphia; and productions on August 19, 1788, in Baltimore; June 10, 1789, in New York; and July 7, 1790, in Phila- delphia.9 This was also the year in which The Contrast was published by Wignell, the actor to whom Tyler had given all performance and publication rights. Part of the early popularity of Tyler's play may have been due to the extreme patriotism of American audiences and to the corresponding American theme of the comedy, but the record of performances listed is outstanding in a country just developing a theatrical identity. The Contrast may have influenced other American play- wrights to produce a professional native art and wrest the 7 Constance Rourke, The Roots of American Culture (New York, 1942), pp. 111-112. 8 Seilhamer, pp. 212-239. 9 Tanselle, pp. 51-53. 4 dramatic laurels from British writers. One writer who was directly affected by Tyler was William Dunlap, who saw a per- formance of The Contrast and " . with a sharp eye toward what would go on the stage, Dunlap . The next year 1788 S. .penned a comedy of his own with a Yankee--The Modest Servant, or Love in New York--which closely resembled The Contrast."10 Another specific instance of the influence of The Contrast occurred in 0. E. Durivage's The Stage Struck Yankee (1845). In this play Durivage had Curtis enter a theatre and describe a production of Richard III, much as Jonathan of The Contrast describes his mistaken visit to performances of The School for Scandal and The Poor Soldier."1 Tyler's primary effect on later playwrights was probably more indirect than direct; other writers saw or heard of the success of a Yankee character and emulated the model. Certainly the series of Yankee plays began almost -immediately, with William Dunlap's Father of an Only Child (1788); Samuel Low's The Politician Outwitted (1789); an anonymous The Bet- ter Sort; or, The Girl of Spirit (1789); J. Robinson's The Yorkers Strategum; or, Bananas Wedding (1792); two anonymous plays The Little Yankee Sailor (1795) and The Travelor Returned (1796); John Minshull's Rural Felicity (1801); William Dunlap's The Glory of Columbia (1803); L. Beach's Jonathan Postfree; or, The Honest Yankee (1807); J. N. 10Hodge, p. 47. See also Moses, p. 56. lMoody, pp. 124-125. 5 Barker's Tears and Smiles (1808); A. B. Lindsley's Love and Friendship; or, Yankee Notions (1809); David Humphreys' The Yankee in England (1815); Joseph Hutton's Fashionable Follies (1815); and Samuel Woodsworth's Deed of Gift (1822) and The Forest Rose; or, American Farmers (1825).12 The use of Yankee plays peaked during the 1830's and 40's but continued through the 1850's.13 Anna Cora Mowatt, a playwright of the peak years, penned Fashion in 1845. Her play followed the comedy of manners construction of The Con- trast, and contained the Yankee character Adam Trueman, who was much like the characters Jonathan and Colonel Manly in The Contrast. 14 Dunlap himself states that with "The Con- trast, written by Royall Tyler . we thus arrive at the commencement of the American drama as united with the American theatre."15 Though little acted or even studied today, Tyler and The Contrast were very important to their contemporaries as a rallying point for professional drama of American ideals and themes. Any discussion of Tyler's early influence must also include material on Jonathan, because the Yankee character is the principal contribution of The Contrast. There had been previous attempts to establish an American character, 12Ibid., pp. 114-122. 13Ibid., pp. 122-130. 1 4 Robert Spiller and others, Literary History of the United States, 3rd ed. (New York, 1966), p. 281. isDunlap, pp. 135-136. 6 but none had assumed the proportions of a major role in either tragedy or comedy. Jonathan, or Brother Jonathan as he was sometimes variously called, was treated by the British thea- tricians in the United States and, on at least one occasion, in Dublin, Ireland.6 However, Tyler's Jonathan is generally recognized as the progenitor of the American Stage Yankee.1 7 Richard Moody follows the tradition of the Stage Yankee through such characters and plays as Humphrey Cubb in The Politician Outwitted, Susannah in Father of an Only Child, Obadiah in The Travelor Returned, William in The Glory of Columbia, Jona- than in Jonathan Postfree, Nathan Yank in Tears and Smiles, Jonathan in Love and Friendship, and Doolittle in The Yankee in England.