Morality In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest

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Recommended: Victorian age in literature

During the Victorian period, authors such as Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Christina Rossetti found themselves writing for a society that admired integrity in its citizens. Today, the values of duty, loyalty, and honesty are considered representative of the era; however, not all individuals share identical perspectives on improper behavior and what the effects might be. Whether through Wilde’s depraved antagonist, Stevenson’s tormented scientist, or Rossetti’s foolish sister, these writers explore the consequences of immoral behavior by portraying people tossing aside traditional values in favor of baser motivations. In Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest, Algernon is a shallow man with no principles and no conscience. …show more content…

In fact, “[r]elations are simply a tedious pack of people who haven’t got the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to die” (1746). This calloused statement reveals a heart that is unaffected by the needs of others; after all, if he cannot do his duty where his family is concerned, there is no reason to believe that he will fulfill it with anyone else. After proclaiming his complete dismissal of familial responsibilities, he offers his coarse opinion on the institution of marriage: a woman who will only bat eyelashes at her spouse is insupportably dreary (1739). This devaluation of faithfulness makes the reader wish he could shout a warning past the pages when Algernon fixes his attention on a young woman. As Algernon pours forth crass statements and makes no attempt to conceal his wickedness, his friend Jack (only slightly less iniquitous than himself) does try …show more content…

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Dr. Jekyll begins well enough; he has a reputation in his community for being kind, philanthropic, and gentlemanly. Yet, there is a part of Jekyll (as in every man) that longs to live for his own indulgence – a wish that is granted when he stumbles upon the secret to splitting his soul. As the evil counterpart of his better self, Jekyll becomes entangled in a depth of corruption that both frightens and thrills him. Describing the ecstasy of embracing Hyde, his more nefarious personality, Jekyll writes “I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked, sold a slave to my original evil; and the thought, in that moment, braced and delighted me like wine” (Stevenson 1710). Against the advice of his friends, Jekyll continues to indulge the darkness within and becomes addicted to the sense of power that becoming Hyde provides. More beast than human, Hyde tramples children and murders old men on impulse; and the good doctor enjoys this momentary freedom from the limitations of what is socially and morally acceptable. Jekyll recalls that “at that time my virtue slumbered; my evil, kept awake by ambition, was alert and swift to seize the occasion” (1711). After choosing to become Hyde again and again, Jekyll finally reaches the point where he no longer has a choice: he is Hyde, and

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