The screen scene is the excellent scene of Sheridan has eve writ. This provides unity between the plot and the characters. It is a very interesting and heart warning. At the end of the scene, we find changes in some character’s mentality. This scene also gives great joy to the readers. It is the greatest scene of the trim of Sheridan’s dramatic fervor.
This scene is the meeting point of two different streams of the play. Two different strands of the play combined together in this scene and inter-mingled in such a way that they were one. Both the strands of the play namely the rivalry of Joseph and Charles for the favour of Maria. Joseph’s planning in collaboration with Lady Sneerwell and the delineation of Joseph from the proper way of functioning and the other strand the domestic life of Lady Teazle and Sir peter converge here.
As we go through the scene, we observe that Joseph is impatiently waiting for Lady Teazle’s arrival because he had planned a confidential meeting with her. Lady Teazle comes a little late and explains the reason for this delay and informs Joseph that her husband Sir Peter Teazle is suspicious of her and thinks that she is in love with someone else. The situation becomes amusing when Joseph finds himself in an embarrassing situation because Charles’s resort exposes his love affair with LadyTeazle although Joseph had been claiming himself as a suitor for Maria. But when Charles removes the screen they (Sir Peter and Charles) detect Lady Teazle there. It becomes an amazing situation for both of them.
So, this scene reveals Sheridan’s art of character portrayal. The masque-shaped mankind comes into the public. Here the most pleasant consequence of the screen scene comes in the form of Sir Peter’s reconciliation with his wife. Charles is now in a better situation as far as winning Maria’s hand is concerned.
This scene shows the fate of four characters- Charles imagines victorious because now he proves himself spotless. Lady Teazle now gets the real picture of Joseph’s hypocrisy. And that is the way she calls him a pretender. Lady Teazle also comes to know about the true love of Sir Peter towards her and she realizes her fault. This is a kind of preparation scene for Charles as a strong-ground for marriage with Maria. This is a revealing scene where the complexity of the play comes into the light.
This scene also shows a humorous situation with dramatic irony. The more we enter the more we are delighted with the situation. In a nutshell, it is absolutely outstanding scene with humourous applications. As the falling of an apple led to the discovery of the law of gravitation, so, this scene also leads to the discovery of a love intrigue. Sheridan’s superb genius of character portrayal is revealed in this scene.