Summary
Act II opens with Sir Peter and his wife arguing about how much money she spends. They repeatedly bring up that she grew up in the country, not used to the lavish living of London; now, however, she wants money for all kinds of frivolous things, such as flowers in the winter.
The two move on to arguing about the company Lady Teazle keeps: people who talk rudely about others and spread rumors. Lady Teazle sets off for Lady Sneerwell's house and Sir Peter agrees to join later. After his wife leaves, Sir Peter admits in a soliloquy that his wife is especially beautiful when she is angry.
At Lady Sneerwell's, a group of society people are again pressuring Benjamin Backbite to share his writing. He shares a simple poem that he wrote while on horseback. Lady Teazle and Maria arrive at Lady Sneerwell's, and Lady Teazle tells Lady Sneerwell that her husband will come later.
Everyone begins to gossip rudely about people absent from the gathering. They gossip especially about makeup, but Maria refuses to join in. Sir Peter arrives; he also dislikes the gossip that is happening, but it continues. The conversation turns to wit and good nature in general, with Sir Peter saying that he would prefer it if there were laws governing gossip in order to help preserve people's reputations. Sir Peter leaves and Sir Benjamin tells Lady Teazle that he could tell some gossip about Sir Peter himself.
All but Joseph and Maria leave the stage. Joseph starts flirting with Maria but she refuses him once again, even as he kneels in front of her. Lady Teazle re-enters and finds Joseph kneeling in front of Maria. He thinks quickly and acts as if he had been begging Maria not to tell Sir Peter about the relationship she suspects between Joseph and Lady Teazle. Lady Teazle thinks that it would be strange for him to ask this while kneeling, but eventually she seems to believe him.
Joseph, Maria, and Lady Teazle plan to join with the full group again, but they must not re-enter the party together since it would rouse suspicion. Lady Teazle exits first, and Joseph gives a soliloquy about how he once wanted to spend more time with Lady Teazle so that she would support his advances on Maria (as the wife of Maria's caretaker); now, however, he has become too seriously involved with her.
Scene III opens with Sir Oliver talking to Rowley about Sir Peter's marriage as he waits for his friend to come back home. Sir Oliver meets with Sir Peter, and they talk about Joseph and Charles. While Sir Peter praises Joseph, Sir Oliver thinks that Joseph may be a hypocrite; thus, Sir Oliver is not so quick to believe everything Sir Peter says.
Analysis
The first issue introduced in Act II is the fraught relationship between Sir Peter and Lady Teazle, newlyweds with differences of personality and experience that keep them constantly arguing now that their period of wooing has ended. One of Lady Teazle's most biting remarks in this act underscores a theme that has already shown up in Act I and will continue to be a strong theme throughout the play: gender. Lady Teazle tells her husband, "if you wanted authority over me, you should have adopted me, and not married me: I am sure you were old enough" (p.47). Not only does this comment mock Sir Peter for his advanced age, something he is already self-conscious about due to the age difference between him and his new wife, but it also acknowledges the power structure he expected from marriage due to men's superior position in society at the time the play was written. Furthermore, the remark shows the two main choices women had in how they related to men: either as family members (like daughters or mothers) or as love interests (wives or mistresses).
As the argument between Lady Teazle and Sir Peter goes on in Act II, it becomes clear that it is not only about gender and power but also about money and social class. Sir Peter evidently felt that he was doing Lady Teazle a favor by taking her to London from the country, and he also was attracted to the simplicity of Lady Teazle's life and demeanor. However, Lady Teazle acutely feels the pressures put on her by upper-class London society to spend money on things like clothing and house decorations, along with the necessity of spreading gossip to solidify one's position as part of the in-group of wealthy society. Sir Peter chides her for these things, but he is more immune to these things Lady Teazle sees as necessities since he has always been wealthy and is a male—two factors that make it easier for him to maintain his social status.
When Lady Teazle goes to a gathering at Lady Sneerwell's house, the audience witnesses another scene of vicious gossip. It is even more clear in this scene how many of the characters see wit and meanness as intertwined, as there is something of a battle of figurative language, especially between Lady Sneerwell, Sir Benjamin, and Lady Teazle. This conversation is mostly about the physical appearances and the use of makeup by some characters that we do not see in the play. This conversation is lively and humorous, including more meaningful names that Sheridan uses to highlight things about characters' qualities or roles in society. The focus on appearance, and especially on makeup, underscores the play's themes of the need to disguise one's true self in the public sphere, and the importance of beauty and age to one's social status.
Satires are inherently political, pushing a particular message about an aspect of society that the author thinks needs to change or receive more attention and understanding. In this play, the theme of politics intertwines with the more general theme of gossip or scandal. It seems that there were not laws in place at the time to protect individuals from false rumors, or slander, which Sheridan shows has the power to ruin people's reputations and cause unrest in society as a whole. In this act, Lady Teazle challenges Sir Peter by asking, "Would you restrain the freedom of speech?" (p.53), and a scene later he has a prepared retort when the subject arises again, responding "if [parliament] were to consider the sporting with reputation of as much importance as poaching on manors, and pass an act for the preservation of fame, I believe many would thank them for the bill...in all cases of slander currency, whenever the drawer of the lie was not to be found, the injured parties should have a right to come on any of the indorsers" (p.67-8). Sir Peter believes punishment should be wrought both on the original creators of the rumor and those who spread them, something Mrs. Candour brought up earlier in the play, but which is perhaps only believed by the play's highly moral characters, Sir Peter and Maria.
The word "politics" is used quite differently later in the act by Joseph Surface after he is caught by Lady Teazle while attempting to woo Maria. He clarifies to the audience in a soliloquy that he has been pretending to want to have an affair with Lady Teazle precisely to get her approval for his courting of Maria, but he pushed the game too far and is now romantically involved with Lady Teazle. He remarks, "A curious dilemma, truly, my politics have run me into!" (p.75), using politics to describe the push and pull of allegiances, plots, and lies, which is perhaps a more realistic view of politics than Sir Peter's optimistic ideas for the creation of moral and protective laws.
