# Crabtree — The School for Scandal character guide

> Crabtree in The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Crabtree That, old Crabtree, Crabtree There, Crabtree Who, Crabtree Sir Peter, Crabtree O Lud, Crabtree Nay, Crabtree Austrian, Mr. Crabtree

**First appearance:** 0005-act-i

## Snapshot

A doddering scandalmonger who inflates every rumor into a duel, a wound, and a death, and cannot bear to let his nephew finish a sentence.

## Who they are

Crabtree haunts Lady Sneerwell's circle as the school's most tireless inventor, forever arriving breathless with fresh particulars of Sir Peter's duel or some other catastrophe he has half-heard and wholly embellished. His running battle with Sir Benjamin over who gets to tell the story—'Odds life, nephew, allow others to know something too!'—makes him both comic engine and caution: in this world, a rumor needs no author, only an eager tongue. His inventions feed the very suspicions that drive the play's central misunderstandings.

## Relationships

### [Sir Oliver Surface](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_school_for_scandal_se/characters/sir_oliver_surface)

_social_

Crabtree is a gossipy acquaintance who spreads malicious stories about Sir Oliver's family.

### [Sir Benjamin Backbite](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_school_for_scandal_se/characters/sir_benjamin_backbite)

_social_

They are uncle and nephew, both gossips who revel in scandal and slander together.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_school_for_scandal_se/characters/crabtree
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_school_for_scandal_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_school_for_scandal_se/characters