The Rivals

by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

During a brief but brilliant literary career, Irish-born dramatist and statesman Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816) wrote cleverly plotted plays that revealed his nimble wit and keen eye for comic situations. Two of them—The School for Scandal and The Rivals—are among the funniest in the English language.

The Rivals, brimming with false identities and with romantic entanglements carried on amid a cloud of parental disapproval, satirizes the pretentiousness and sentimentality of the age. It features a cast of memorable characters, among them the lovely Lydia Languish, whose pretty head has been filled with nonsense from romantic novels; Capt. Jack Absolute, a young officer in love with Lydia; Sir Anthony Absolute, Jack's autocratic father; Sir Lucius O'Trigger, a fiery Irishman; and Jack's provincial neighbor, Bob Acres, a bumptious but lovable country squire in love with Lydia.

Hoping to win Lydia's affection, Captain Jack woos the pretty miss by pretending to be a penniless ensign named Beverley, an act that nearly incites a duel with Acres. His actions also provoke serious objections from Lydia's aunt, Mrs. Malaprop, a misspeaking matron whose ludicrous misuse of words gave the English language a new term: malapropism. Ultimately, the hilarious complications are resolved in a radiant comic masterpiece that will entertain and delight theater devotees and students of English drama alike.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Drama, Fiction, 18th Century, Humor, Theatre

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1775

About the author

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) was an Irish-born playwright and poet and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For thirty-two years he was also a Whig Member of the British House of Commons for Stafford (1780–1806), Westminster (1806–1807) and Ilchester (1807–1812). Such was the esteem he was held in by his contemporaries when he died that he was buried at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. He is known for his plays such as The Rivals, The School for Scandal and A Trip to Scarborough.

Reviews

[Fabfabian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helped along by viewing scenes from Bristol Theatre production, I found this 18th century comedy still rewards with numerous laughs. There is still much to learn about "The Game of Love and Chance" as exemplified by the behaviours of Julia/Falkland, and of course Lydia/Captain Absolute.

[Katie Lumsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fun.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it was this reading of The Rivals at age seventeen that disabused me of the notion that people several centuries back were not as fond of being entertained as we are today. Prior to that, I think I had lumped all things from earlier times into some great, depressing lump, sure that since our predecessors lacked modern conveniences that they must have found life a dreary affair indeed.

Sheridan's sparkling wit and exuberant language made short work of that notion. I've also retained a lifelong affection for Mrs. Malaprop (and, of course, for malapropisms - my own contribution to the genre being, "it is a mere fig newton of your imagination" - but I guess that can't really be a malapropism since it's self conscious. Needless to say, I'm blissfully unaware of any real malapropisms I have committed!)

I seem to have read this immediately after Hamlet. Now there's a contrast for you!

[Julie Brochmann · Rating 1 out of 5]

boo. not funny + didn't laugh + no earnings + maidenless + ratio'd + din mor

[Nadja · Rating 2 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this play because I've read that Jane Austen performed The Rivals with her family in her time. Unfortunaly I didn't like it that much. The premise of the story sounded fun but the language was hard to understand at times and the writing was rather dull.

Jane Austen July 2018: Read a book by a contemporary of Jane Austen.

[klau · Rating 2 out of 5]

simplemente diré: ?????????

english literature class read : 1'5/5

[mar🪷🪼 · Rating 2 out of 5]

that was interesting and ridiculous but not in a good way

[♡ella grey♡︎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for my AP Lit class and this was….a circus. It was a jumble of crazy people and I don’t know how to feel about what I just read. Sir Anthony Absolute and Mrs. Malaprop were definitely my favorites tho they were just so insane and I love characters like that lol

Only reason why I thought this was funny was because our class had to act the characters out and that made it so iconic

[Bettie]

Anna said: "The play mentioned in Wilkie's No name. I did enjoy it and it is available on librivox :) ”

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24761

[Sophie]

this was actually kind of funny

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

After seeing this play performed at the American Players Theatre and loving it, I decided to read it. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this; being able to see the play performed heightened my enjoyment and understanding of reading the text itself. The humor was especially brought out in the performance.

[Aiala · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vaya circo

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this very funny play and the incredible use of language. I loved learning the origin of 'malapropism' too.

[Jonathan Dauermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a play written almost 200 years after Shakespeare's comedies, it's telling that this play feels much more dated. A marriage comedy that requires multiple characters to take the most convoluted, illogical paths to getting what they want, the plot's contrivances grow tiring after the first two acts. However, this is a distressingly common sin in most romantic comedies through history, where a playwright can seemingly only offer comic situations that arise out of a steadfast refusal on the part of the play's lovers to indulge in common sense for a single moment.

The most successful aspect of the play, and in fact the aspect of its writing that merits its continued relevance and consideration, is the fact that the silliness of the four main characters' romantic difficulties are rooted in genuine, relatable character flaws. Whether that is a pre-constructed ideal of a perfect mate that exists less to guarantee your own happiness than to flout and reject the conventions of your parents, a willingness to debase your own moral structure and engage in escalating deceits in order to win the love of someone who may simply be asking too much of you, or a lack of self-regard and self-love so all-encompassing you literally cannot accept the love of another, these basic dynamics remain as recognizable now as they were in 1775.

Still, the play lacks the depth of character and the believability of plot to be much more than an entertaining, fizzy, thin treat. Most of its verbal humor has lost its efficacy with the passage of time, and the passages of poetry that dot the play's prologue and epilogue are tedious and strained. It's hard to see this play now as much more than something that belongs in a museum rather than on a modern stage.

[Becca Housden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this play may have not received a warm reception the night of its first performance, I did enjoy it. I found it a good portrayal of the stereotype of elegant Georgian society, and it was a light read. Although its plot was made up of a number of different tropes, many of them over used in common literature, The Rivals put them to good use, combining them and switching between plots in a simple yet effective way.
It cannot be stated that this is a particularly remarkable play, there is nothing that stands out about it to make it a great work compared to many others, but it is an enjoyable portrayal of the Georgian upper class at Bath, caught up in pleasure, romance, and honour. I feel that it cannot be stated that it 'luckily' ends with everything resolved and without tragedy, as, once again, it adheres to the tropes and expectations of literature of that period, with a happy ending, all confusions untangled, all happiness restored, in a very predictable but overall tidy and satisfying way.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Rivals is a decent play. It's a fun comedy of manners and farce, which is something I enjoy a lot from classic plays generally. The story is fun enough and there are a few good jokes. It wasn't all that I hoped in that it felt a lot like other plays I've read (I think I made a mistake by reading it too soon after having read Corneille's The Liar), and I did feel like some of it didn't age particularly well. Overall though it's a solid play, and decently entertaining. I also enjoyed the performances in the LA Theatre Works production, and enjoyed the talk after it. I still plan on checking out one other play from Sheridan.

[Alice C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sheridan is low-key cool… What a funny play… i mean it had everything: sexism? ✅ fairytale romance? ✅ a fight for honour between men? ✅
But seriously, not bad.. not bad at all sheridan…

‘no, tis certain i have most antigallican toes!’
- Acres, the rivals

[Ashish Mohan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fkykcucukjysvkyxj

[Areeb Ahmad (Bankrupt_Bookworm) · Rating 3 out of 5]

NGL, it was genuinely funny in places. Overall, a decent play if a bit stiff and dated.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this full audiobook via the L.A. Theatre Works website. I so do enjoy this play, especially Mrs. Malaprop! A wonderful way to spend a grey morning :)

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wouldn’t be able to tell you who was who besides a few main characters. I didn’t really like anyone, and the plot had potential, but the ending was just stupid. Definitely not as funny as I was hoping either.

[Mars · Rating 4 out of 5]

had to read this for class, funny

[Binish Fatima · Rating 5 out of 5]

" Let your courage be as keen, but at the same time as polished, as your sword."

"I am come to you with such an appetite for consolation."
We need to bring these sentences back!

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play can definitely not be classified as a romantic comedy. It belongs to a completely different species of drama, known as the ‘comedy of manners’ or artificial comedy. It follows the ancient classical comedies in observing at least two of the three unities of time, place and action.

Only the unity of action has been violated in this play because it has multiple plots.

In The Rivals we observe three distinct plots:

a) the Absolute Lydia love affair,
b) Faulkland Julia love affair and,
c) Mrs. Malaprop Sir Lucius affair

In this aspect it is similar to Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice which also has three distinct plots --- the Bond story, the caskets story, and the Lorenzo-Jessica love- intrigue.

Like Shakespeare, Sheridan has interlaced diverse stories in this play in such a manner as to produce an amalgamated impression. The only difference is that, in this play, each plot can exist autonomous of the other but in The Merchant of Venice, all the plots are so thoroughly interwoven that one cannot exist heedlessly of the other.

So, we realize that in a romantic comedy like The Merchant of Venice even comic scenes can be intermingled with grim ones. In The Merchant of Venice, we have the episode of the rings, and the irony of the disguise of Portia as a lawyer. And, of course we see in this play, the sparkling wit of Portia contrasted with the sarcastic and malicious wit of Gratiano in the Trial scene.

Shylock too, though on the whole a comic figure, is made to appear somewhat pathetic, even tragic. The Rivals, on the other hand, follows the antique classical rule of excluding the heartrending elements completely from the scope of comedy.

Sheridan’s play is virginally comical with no tragic element in it. It paints a happy-go-lucky society where people have nothing more grave to worry about than flings and triviality. Their intrigues are the most reflective occupations in their lives. The true spirit of comedy, fun and romp, humour and jocularity and even energetic laughter, reign supreme in this play.

The characters are typically comic. Mrs. Malaprop, Bob Acres, Sir Anthony and Sir Lucius are comic in all they say or do. The servants too do not lag behind in providing their part of fun, by aping the manners of their superiors. Sheridan provokes free laughter through the play and even when he hits, he does not hurt.

His dialogue is also vivid and glistening all over and moves with a comfort, evenness and high-spiritedness. That is the very life of the play.

The Rivals is an artificial comedy of manners that represents the fashionable society predominantly the life at Bath. The scene in this comedy is laid in Bath in the atmosphere of artificiality, maneuvering, duelling and elopement with which Sheridan was familiar.

The purpose of Sheridan in picturing the society of Bath was not to deal with it for its own sake or to keep it as a background, but to epitomize it with a slight satire to hit at the social evils. Since, this has led to a somewhat embellished rendering of the vices and follies, the play has come to be known prevalently as a typical artificial comedy of manners.

There are many references to Bath and its society in The Rivals. Topographical allusions have been made in several cases in the play. There is a reference made to the Gyde's Porch, a place in Bath where Fag asks Thomas to meet him in the evening.

Similarly there are also the allusions to the Parade coffee house and the Abbey at Bath, the latter being the only mental asylum in town. Several references are made to the traditions, customs and regulations followed with rigour and duty in Bath.

An example of the same can be seen when Captain Absolute conceals his sword under his great coat as he is proceeding to fight a duel with Sir Lucius for he too is afraid of being rounded up.

The worst flaw in the play is the sentimental element in it. And this error seems unforgiveable since Sheridan was an avowed enemy of romanticism and had ridiculed it always. He probably could not at once rid himself exclusively of the impurity of sentimentality which he attacked.

Consciously, or not, he allowed the Julia-Faulkland underplot to retain in some measure the conventional phrasing of sentimental comedy.

The explanation of this weakness can be that the force of sentimentality in his age was so strong that even Sheridan could not stay away from being influenced. In another way, we can defend Sheridan for this fault by accepting these scenes as sardonic, which is seldom done.

Another fault that mars the play is its ridiculous element. Although the play amuses the audience throughout with its gaiety, fun and humour, the sense of humour seems to be deliberately exaggerated and therefore verging on the farcical. No one can deny that Mrs. Malaprop, Bob Acres, Sir Lucius or even Sir Anthony are such larger-than-life characters that would have done credit to any farcical play.

But as there is something of a farce in every great comedy The Rivals also has something of a farce. The intellectual duel between Sir Anthony and his son render Sir Anthony utterly ridiculous and worthy to be laughed at. The scenes of Bob being excited to fight a duel by Sir Lucius, and the braggart actually showing his cowardice are certainly worthy of a farce.

Mrs. Malaprop too threatens to degenerate into a farcical character in many places without really ever intending to be so. Due to these scenes and similar ones interspersed throughout the play Allardyce Nicoll condemns the play saying "it breathes an atmosphere of farce and although there is something of farce in every great comedy this lower strain tends to weaken the general effect of Sheridan's work."

Certain improbabilities too mar the play to some extent. Sheridan is criticised for benevolently imparting his own capacity for wit to all his characters, may they be high or low.

The servants in the play are shown to hold more waggishness than they are capable of. In Fag and David, apart from wit there certainly are such qualities which show them lagging much behind their masters. Sheridan's depiction of a character like Lydia whose head is turned by indiscriminate reading of romances is yet another unlikely affair.

Enjoyable and most recommended.

[Zan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sheridan's plays use conventions of the melodrama to move his plots along, and I can't help but be entertained by them all. The entanglements of Lydia Languish and Capt. Jack Absolute, as well as the other supporting cast of ridiculous characters, play on language, mistaken/hidden identity, and miscarried letters only to peak with a climactic series of duel challenges (one of them leveled at a fictionalized suitor).

I still am chewing on this one, since there is a VERY stage Irishman in this play who comes off almost as the villain; what am I supposed to do with this when Sheridan is himself an Irishman? I think this play could be really fun to discuss in an Irish studies classroom. I might get that chance in the fall.

Oh, and just for funsies, I took the time to watch an amateur theatre production of this play on YouTube. The costumes would undoubtedly be the highlight of any staging of this play.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Rivals was a surprisingly difficult play to read. I think it might be Sheridan's use of language that has me checking and rechecking myself, but I can't say that that is a bad thing in this case. This comedy deals with a man who is courting a woman under a false guise; his father arranges a marriage for him, but with the exact same girl, but only under his real name, not the guise. Confusion and hilarity ensues!

Maybe this play is just a little dated in a way, but is that really bad? I don't think so. I was entertained because this play actually reminded me of The Importance of Being Earnest, but in an 18th century costume. I mean, seriously? This whole play is one big case of Bunburyism. I love that I can apply the term to a play besides the play of its origin, yunno?

I liked this play a lot, and I like Sheridan. It's only a shame that he cut off his career so quickly, because I wish there was more. I look forward to reading his next play!

[Carolyn Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

Double identies, mistaken letters, duplicitous servants--it has everything! I would love to see this play in person. I would love to be the comic Lydia now, and the hilarious Mrs. Malaprop in thirty years.

Update: saw this June 2022 at American Players Theater in Spring Green. HILARIOUS.

[Richard Seltzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as research for my novel Parallel Lives

[miruneitor · Rating 2 out of 5]

(2,5) not really my cup of tea. it’s got some funny moments and some characters go nuts tho

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is curious how many Irish dramatists dominated British drama during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. By the end of the nineteenth-century, Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw were breathing new life into the theatre. John Millington Synge and Sean O’Casey were to follow.

For much of the nineteenth century, drama was moribund, and only one notable playwright existed at the beginning of the century. This was another Irishman, Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

Sheridan’s period of playwriting was brief, but he has written two plays that are still renowned, The Rivals and The School for Scandal. He was far from being an outstanding or original writer, but he revived drama from the sentimentalism into which it is sunk.

In some ways, Sheridan is more of a successor to the Restoration dramatists such as William Wycherley, but already the theatrical world was starting to become toned down ahead of the puritanical Victorian age. As a result, The Rivals, Sheridan’s first play is considerably less bawdy than earlier plays, and yet was considered too bawdy for its time.

Like Wycherley, Sheridan was a rake. Indeed his attitude towards women was frankly abominable. He was not merely a womaniser. He sexually harassed and even assaulted women that he wanted. Perhaps if Sheridan had been given free rein, his plays would have shared the cheerful vulgarity of the Restoration period.

As it stands, Sheridan is cynical, but restrained in what he shows us. His heroes are motivated as much by considerations of money as by romance in their choice of women

There are three main plot strands in The Rivals. Captain Jack Absolute is wooing the wealthy Lydia Languish, but Lydia has a foolish propensity towards seeking a poor suitor who will cause her to be disinherited. Of course Jack has no wish to lose the money that comes with such a rich heiress, so he poses as a poor lieutenant in order to win her affections. Matters are complicated when his father wishes him to woo Lydia under his own name.

Jack’s friend, Faulkland should have an easier time wooing Julia Melville, but he makes his own problems. Faulkland is deeply insecure, and takes everything that Julia does as proof that she does not really care for him. Anyone who has had a partner of this kind will perhaps laugh at Faulkland’s absurd suspicions, and sigh as they remember similar moments in their own lives.

There is also a third plot strand involving an Irish baronet Sir Lucius O’Trigger. He, along with the buffoonish Bob Acres, hopes to win the affection of Lydia. However Lucius is corresponding (without realising it) with Lydia’s guardian, Mrs Malaprop, an ugly pedant who is notable for getting her words wrong.

Sad to say, something of Sheridan’s poor attitude towards women emerges here, and perhaps none of the female characters has an enviable fate. Lydia must settle for a man who lied to her. Julia must endure the endless suspicions of Faulkland, which may or may not ease off after marriage. Mrs Malaprop is destined for rejection, and Sheridan has no sympathy with an over-educated woman anyway.

One of the more intriguing supporting characters is the maid, Lucy. She is a conniver who takes money from all sides while pretending to be more ignorant and stupid than she really is. Now if Sheridan really liked women, he would have made much more of her.

Lucy’s presence once again emphasises the fact that marriage is as much a financial transaction as a romantic union, one where you pay the maid to work for you – unless someone else pays her more to betray you.

The Rivals is regarded as one of Sheridan’s best works, but even the writer who provides the introduction to my copy of Sheridan’s plays can only offer faint praise for the work.

It is certainly not original in any way, and most of its plot tropes have been done to death. Shakespeare did them better, for one. It is common for a character to pretend to be someone else while wooing. The ending is based around a duel, another cliché of British drama, and yes, of course the duel does not take place due to the cowardice of one of the duellists.

Even Mrs Malaprop, the would-be intellectual who mangles the English language while adding the word ‘malapropism’ to it, is hardly a unique creation. We could just as easily call comically mistaken words ‘Dogberryisms’ after a Shakespeare character who had the same comic failing two centuries earlier.

Still while there is nothing scintillating in Sheridan’s play, it is an effective piece of comic theatre, and one that is still frequently performed today. The Rivals may not be ground-breaking, but it works better than many comedies of its age, and Sheridan should be commended for that.