The Importance of Being Earnest, written by Oscar Wilde, pokes fun at the Victorian earnestness with sarcasm. The first piece of wit shown by Mr. Wilde is in the subtitle when he writes, “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People.” He continues to make general quips and witty remarks throughout the play, all the while prodding at the Victorian people. Mr. Wilde’s purpose of writing this play is to show how strict society is, how superficial everyone is in society, and how certain individuals do not agree with their society. The Victorian Era is portrayed as having a strict society. Mrs. Prism says, “Cecily, Cecily! Surely such a utilitarian occupation as the watering of flowers is rather Moulton’s duty than yours? Especially at a moment when intellectual Even though Cecily enjoys to water flowers, she is made to stop from doing so by Mrs. Prism to do more intellectual activities. According to the Victorian society’s rules, a young woman of Cecily’s social status should not doing such things as water flowers, which is chore for the lower class workers, even if she enjoys doing such a lowly act. There are many things that one may do which are improper and proper. Another example of a strict Victorian society is shown when Algernon is talking with Jack and says, “You are absurdly careless about sending out invitations. It is very foolish of you. Nothing annoys people so much as not receiving invitations” (Wilde 6). Invitations are a very important role in the Victorian society. One must send out invitations so long before the actual event is to happen or else it is rude. This is an example of one of the many rules that the Victorian Mr. Wilde engendered this play to show society how superficial they are being by writing a character named Lady Bracknell. One of the many examples of Lady Bracknell’s superficialness is when she asks, “What is your income?” when she is interviewing Jack as a potential candidate to marry her daughter, Gwendolen. (Wilde 13). This question, among other, is a very superficial question to ask when marrying off one’s daughter. Lady Bracknell never asks Jack if he loves Gwendolen or if he will care for her. She asks about his income and investments. Lady Bracknell then asks about Jack’s parents and finds out that he does not know them. She says in response, “The line is immaterial … it could hardly be regarded as an assured basis for a recognized position in good society” (Wilde 14). Lady Bracknell is written into the play to portray the average parent during the Victorian Era. Lady Bracknell represents the Superficialness for the play. When she is deciding to marry off Gwendolen, she asks the suitors about their connections. She asks about their income and family ties. When Algernon tells her that he is going to marry Cecily, Lady Bracknell immediately responds with questions about Cecily’s heritage and fortune. Lady Bracknell is wary of Cecily until Jack mentions that Cecily has a very large fortune. After hearing that Cecily has a very large fortune, Lady Bracknell says, “Mrs. Cardew seems to me
Gwendolen is a shining example of a victorian woman like most women in the era she has ideas, it was said she attended lectures, and is bent on self improvement, her costume should be a very frilly dress suited to the style of the time. Jack the play’s protagonist is another very victorian era character in public he is depended upon by his servants and his land, he’s also seen as a caretaker by many of the other characters throughout the play, by victorian era standards he is seen as a respectable and responsible young
Oscar Wildes ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’’ is believed by many to be his most genius work and certainly has withstood the test of time. The play is set in London during the 1890’s in which time frame aristocracy and upper class held the majority of the countries wealth. Many of the comical aspects question the morals of the upper class in which he satirises throughout the play. One method of this, for instance is through one of the main protagonist, Algernon Moncrieff. Algernon is an upper class individual who is oblivious to the world around him in such an exaggerated manner that it makes his character comically adjusted for Wildes own views. Many aspects of the time period are made a mockery through puns and witty remarks from the main protagonists, most if not all are portrayed in a sense that makes them undoubtedly a laughing stock. Wildes methods are not discrete; nor are they obvious, many of the comical comments made are by none other than the protagonists themselves. This furthermore enforces the corrupted morals of the time periods prestigious upper class by showing their sheer inability to acknowledge hypocrisy. For example, in act one; Algernon states “ Lane's views on marriage seem somewhat lax. Really, if the lower orders don't set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility.” This is especially amusing as Algernon believes that the lower class have a duty to set an example when in reality the matter of fact was quite the contrary. Algernon states that he believes the lower class are lacking in morals, he being arguably one of the most morally distorted characters Wilde created makes the double standards more prominent.
In the Victorian era, in New York City, men and women roles within the society were as different as night and day. A man regardless of his extra curricular activities could still maintain a very prevalent place in society. A woman’s worth was not only based family name which distinguished her class and worth, but also her profession if that was applicable.
The wit of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest stems from his place in society and his views of it. He mocks the Victorian aristocracy through his statements and satirising of marriage dependent on social class and wealth, the careful implantation of comedic techniques which add to the effect of the message Wilde aims for the society to take into consideration and the ignorance portrayed by the Victorian society. These socially acceptable mockeries allow the audience to laugh at the satirical social statements while learning a didactic lesson about the current society issues. Through Wilde’s satirical wit, he completes the educational tales he was aiming for, emphasising to readers the insaneness that society can be and its rules.
During the Victorian Era, society had idealized expectations that all members of their culture were supposedly striving to accomplish. These conditions were partially a result of the development of middle class practices during the “industrial revolution… [which moved] men outside the home… [into] the harsh business and industrial world, [while] women were left in the relatively unvarying and sheltered environments of their homes” (Brannon 161). This division of genders created the ‘Doctrine of Two Spheres’ where men were active in the public Sphere of Influence, and women were limited to the domestic private Sphere of Influence. Both genders endured considerable pressure to conform to the idealized status of becoming either a masculine ‘English Gentleman’ or a feminine ‘True Woman’. The characteristics required women to be “passive, dependent, pure, refined, and delicate; [while] men were active, independent, coarse …strong [and intelligent]” (Brannon 162). Many children's novels utilized these gendere...
“Ignorance is like a delicate fruit; touch it, and the bloom is gone,” engraves Oscar Wilde as he sets the literary table with a bountiful demonstration of Victorian satire. “The Importance of Being Earnest” is evidently a comic critic of late Victorian value (Schmidt 5). Brought into this world from Dublin, Ireland, to well-heeled parents in 1854. Wilde received an opportunity for social improvement when graduating from Oxford University, after receiving a financial scholarship that gave him a first hand account of the upper crust society lifestyle which allowed him to acquire material to poke fun at (Moss 179). Wilde shows his characters as if they knew that people were watching them.
...Lady Bracknell was excited to hear that Cecily has wealth; she almost instantaneously consented to her marriage to Algernon. Wilde uncovers the frivolousness of their proclaimed love by displaying how Lady Bracknell would only consent for
. Generally, Lady Bracknell is first and foremost a symbol of Victorian earnestness and the unhappiness it brings as a result. She is powerful, arrogant, ruthless to the extreme, conservative, and proper. In many ways, she represents Wilde’s opinion of Victorian upper-class negativity, conservative and repressive values, and power. Her opinions and mannerisms betray a careful and calculated speaking pattern. She is able to go round for round with the other characters on witty epigrams and social repartee. Despite her current position, Lady Bracknell was not always a member of the upper class; she was a social climber bent on marrying into the aristocracy. As a former member of the lower class, she represents the righteousness of the formerly excluded. Because she is now Lady Bracknell, she has opinions on society, marriage, religion, money, illness, death, and respectability. She is another of Wilde’s inventions to present his satire on these subjects.
In Oscar Wilde’s drama The Importance of Being Earnest, he uses light-hearted tones and humor to poke fun at British high society while handling the serious theme of truth and the true identity of who is really “Earnest.” Truth as theme is most significantly portrayed through the women characters, Gwendolen and Cecily but to present serious themes comically, Wilde portrays women to be the weaker sex of society, despite the seriousness of the subject—the identity of the men they want to marry.
The Importance of Being Earnest appears to be a conventional 19th century farce. False identities, prohibited engagements, domineering mothers, lost children are typical of almost every farce. However, this is only on the surface in Wilde's play. His parody works at two levels- on the one hand he ridicules the manners of the high society and on the other he satirises the human condition in general. The characters in The Importance of Being Earnest assume false identities in order to achieve their goals but do not interfere with the others' lives. The double life led by Algernon, Jack, and Cecily (through her diary) is simply another means by which they liberate themselves from the repressive norms of society. They have the freedom to create themselves and use their double identities to give themselves the opportunity to show opposite sides of their characters. They mock every custom of the society and challenge its values. This creates not only the comic effect of the play but also makes the audience think of the serious things of life.
The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedy of manners, whereby Oscar Wilde uses satire to ridicule marriage, love and the mentality of the Victorian aristocratic society. It can also be referred to as a satiric comedy. What is a satire and what is Oscar Wilde trying to emphasize by employing it in his play? A satiric comedy ridicules political policies or attacks deviations from social order by making ridiculous, the violators of its standards of morals or manners. Usually, a satiric piece doesn't serve only as a form of criticism, but to correct flaws in the characters or to somehow make them better in the end.
The Importance of Being Earnest is a play written by Oscar Wilde during the Victorian era. It is a farcical comedy in which the main characters live and maintain a fictional persona to escape their responsibilities. To which Oscar Wilde uses secondary characters within the play such as Lady Bracknell to humorously make her the tool of the conflict and much of the satire. She is the first and foremost a symbol of Victorian earnests and the unhappiness it brings as a result. Lady Bracknell was specially designed to represent Wilde’s opinion of the upper Victorian class repressiveness and traditional negativity. Hence minor characters such as Lady Bracknell play essential roles as they help both the plot and support the themes with assistance
Victorian society could be quite pleasant, but only if one were fortunate enough to be born into the upper or at the very least the upper middle class. Members of the upper class lived in grand mansions on great estates; they kept busy with parties, dances, and keeping track of what other people in the same social class were doing. The only career for a woman in this society was marriage. Society wives were expected to represent their husbands with impeccable manners and grace and provide no hint of scandal. Etiquette was a full time occupation; what to wear, who to speak to, and when to curtsy, was of the highest importance. One of the biggest fears of the socially aware was ostracism. (Rose, 1999- 2012)
During the Victorian Era, the concept of how a “proper” man and woman were to behave came under fire and there were men and women on both sides willing to argue for their beliefs. Though the traditional Victorian Era attitude is long since gone and devalued, it can be very enlightening to see the ways in which these attitudes surfaced themselves in the literature of the time. Sarah Stickney Ellis wrote The Women of England: Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits from the viewpoint that women should self-abnegate their own beliefs and become fully interested in the man. And to illustrate this point, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnet 43” will be closely looked at along with the essay to make some critical points.
Lady Bracknell represents the typical aristocrat who focuses the idea of marriage on social and economic status. She believes that if the men trying to marry these girls are not of proper background, there is no engagement. Through this major exaggeration, Wilde satirically reveals the irrational and insignificant matters that the upper class society uses to view marriage.