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William Shakespeare : Othello analysis
Analysis of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare : Othello analysis
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A very intelligent novelist, Oscar Wilde, catches his reader’s attention in his satirical play, An Ideal Husband, through a humorous drama filled political scandal and blackmail. Wilde sucks his audience into the romantic comedy by placing the reader with the characters throughout all their battles—in which he points out their bad habits and their faults. Wilde accomplishes drawing readers in by creating the satirical message of his play through satirical elements such as exaggeration, sarcasm, and irony. Wilde accomplishes achieving the satirical message that he intended for the readers through his use of exaggeration. He begins by Mrs. Cheveley spitefully telling Lady Chiltern that her “house” is “a house bought with the price of dishonor”
Cheveley, she is heartbroken by the past corruption in Sir Robert’s life. She expresses to Sir Robert that “the world seemed” a whole lot “finer” to her just “because” he was “in it” and the “goodness more real because” he had “lived” (62). Wilde exaggerates how much Lady Chiltern loves Sir Robert—in order to prove his point. Lady Chiltern feels as if Sir Robert makes the world so much better, when in reality, he hides things from her due to him being afraid of how she would react. Although Lady Chiltern feels a lot of distress due to how she just found out the truth of her husband’s wealth, it is obvious that Lady Chiltern and Sir Robert still love each other. Sir Robert exclaims to her that “it is not the perfect” but it is “the imperfect” that is in need of love (63). Lord Goring can see that Sir Robert, does in fact, love Lady Chiltern when Sir Robert tells him that he loves his wife because “love is the” greatest thing “in the world” and “nothing but love” (75). Oscar Wilde has Sir Robert say that “love is the great thing in the world” in order to exaggerate the love for his wife, which the readers pick up on. There is way more in the world than love, but because he loves his wife so
Wilde begins his ironic aspect through Mabel Chiltern and Lord Goring’s dialogue. Lord Goring exclaims to Mabel that he has multiple “bad qualities” that she does not know about—but Mabel acknowledges that she “delight[s] in” his “bad qualities” and she “wouldn’t have” him “part with one of them” (16). This quote symbolizes situational irony. As a reader, you would not expect Mabel to tell Lord Goring that she likes his bad qualities. Most people would want to overlook a person’s bad quality but instead, Mabel delights in his. The way she tells Lord that she delights in his bad qualities, he possibly begins to think that he is perfect and ignores his bad qualities. Later in the play, Lord Goring is having a conversation with Sir Robert and tell him he does not need to keep anything from his wife and needs to tell her the truth because “women have a wonderful instinct about things” and they “discover everything except the obvious” (37). Lord uses a sarcastic tone in an ironic way in order to tell Sir Robert that he needs to tell his wife the truth and not keep a secret from her. Lord Goring says that “secrets from other people’s wives are a necessary luxury” (37). He proposes an ironic attitude towards women when he states that they discover everything, “except the obvious.” At the end of the play, Lord Caversham and Mabel
The idea of absurdity in Victorian times was embraced by some writers and looked down upon by others. Oscar Wilde embraced the absurd whole-heartedly. This is obvious, if not even the theme, of The Importance of Being Earnest. Not only is the word "absurd" used many times in the story, but the ridiculousness of the characters and their roles conveys the ideas of absurdity in the Victorian Era.
Thoughtful laughter is a technique used frequently in satirical pieces in literature. It allows for the audience to enjoy the wittiness of a work, later ponder on the meaning, and then apply the message to reality. Thoughtful laughter is often an inner experience that can only be achieved by authors who write meticulously. Two examples of satirical works in literature that display this concept explicitly are Voltaire’s Candide and C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters. Both authors explore the depths of satire and simultaneously deliver an important message to readers through skillful technique.
...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
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.
Wilde does this in order to portray Lady Bracknell with very strong Victorian views that are illogical and humorous to the reader thus satirising the values which are prominent in Victorian standards. Consequently it can be seen that Lady Bracknell is corrupt beyond reason, sacrificing the happiness of her daughter for her Victorian values and ridiculing Jack for his less than exemplary past. Some critics believe Lady Bracknell to be a ‘living parody of upper class values’ which can be
Wilde’s play demonstrates how idealism influences individual’s potentiality to make fate-determining decisions. He does so through the character development of Robert and Gertrude Chiltern. The Chilterns’ idealistic attitudes regarding fiscal, social, and matrimonial issues play large roles in steering the plot to it’s exultant conclusion. For Robert, staying true to his ideals earned him a happy ending. For Gertrude, being gracious and flexible in her ideals led to her to a jubilant outcome. The two married characters bring balance as well as a genuineness to the nature of idealism. Whether an individual is persisting in their convictions or modifying their standards, idealism leads to characters determining their own destinies.
Throughout The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde plays around with the standard expectations along with the absence of compassion of a Victorian society in the 1890’s, he demonstrates this through several genres of comedy such as Melodrama, Comedy of Manners, Farce, dark humour and Irony, as well as portraying the themes, death and illness, in this play in a brilliance of unusual amount of references.
In this passage from the play it is very clear that Wilde likes to give
Foster, Richard. A. A. “Wilde as Parodist: A Second Look at The Importance of Being Earnest” In College English, Vol. 18, No. 1 -. 1, October, 1956: pp. 113-114. 18-23.
Woodcock, George. The Paradox of Oscar Wilde. London-New York: T.V. Boardman and Co., Ltd., 1950.
It is in these ways Wilde challenges Victorian earnestness.
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.
Wilde’s criticism of high society and manners are explored through the characteristics of Lady Bracknell; the dialogue between Gwendolen and Cecily; and the characteristics of Jack in the country. Wilde’s criticism of high society and manners is shown by creating absurd situations and characters whose lack of insight causes them to respond in an inappropriate manner. An example is shown in Lady Bracknell’s preoccupation with her own parties and that the lack of sympathy for invalids makes her react to the news of Bunbury’s illness in an exaggeratedly cold manner. “I think it is high time that Mr Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or die. I should be much obliged if you would ask Mr Bunbury, from me, to be kind enough not to have a relapse on Saturday, for I rely on you to arrange my music for me”.
To conclude, Oscar Wilde has successfully conformed to the model of the well-made play with stock characters and storylines because of how easy it is for the audience to stereotype characters within the play to people they know themselves or other plays/literature etc. Oscar Wilde may have done this in order to create a light hearted way of getting his opinions across to the public without being too serious – scandals and secrets within his own life. The play also leaves the audience thinking and questioning their own lives to what they’ve had to sacrifice to get where they are today.
...e poor rioting against the rich. It adds realism to an otherwise foolish conversation and is a signature of Wilde’s humour.