Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest raises the question of whether marriage should be for love or to better position oneself in life. Is marriage a life-long pleasure or is it just a means to an end? Possible matrimony is something that society expects of us when we reach a young adult age. Generally, the older generation described in the days and times of The Importance of Being Earnest seems to think of marriage as a way to improve social rank and to qualify for such a position as marriage. In other words, a suitable marriage partner had better have some funds in their account or they will end up with a less than desirable partner in life. Other desirable qualities in a suitable partner for wedlock are those that have good …show more content…
Jack plays the role of the protagonist. Jack was discovered as an infant by the late Mr. Cardew in a handbag at the train station in London. After he was adopted by the wealthy Cardew family, Jack grew up to be responsible and respectable, became a major landowner and a Justice of the Peace. However, he has made up a younger brother who lives in the city as an escape from this responsible life. Algernon Moncrieff is a member of the wealthy class, who lives a life of bachelorhood in London. He has made up a friend in the country who is an invalid named Bunbury to escape his responsibility and social commitments in the city. The two bachelorettes in Wilde’s story are Gwendolyn and Cecily who are both in love with Ernest or the idea of marrying a man named Ernest. Gwendolyn meets Jack, who she thinks is Ernest because he is pretending to be Ernest and falls for him. Jack proposes to Gwendolyn and she accepts. Gwendolyn’s mother Lady Bracknell arrives and she is aghast at the situation. She interviews Ernest or Jack and determines he indeed has money, and is socially astute but he is an orphan, so his family ancestry cannot be traced or his has no parents. She denounces the engagement. Gwendolyn pleas her love for Ernest or Jack and begs Lady Bracknell to allow her to marry Ernest but Lady Bracknell will not hear of it unless they can prove he has parents or can find his family. …show more content…
Earnest implies having a purpose and being steadily and soberly eager in pursuing it. (Web: Dictionary.com). The name Earnest comes from German decent and means serious or determined. (Web: SheKnows.com). In contrast, Wilde uses the term bunburying in the story after the fictitious, invalid friend of the character Algernon. Bunburying means to gallivant around under a false identity. (Urban Dictionary) However, Jack, the character whom Wilde uses as the protagonist, is an upstanding citizen, well established and dependable and has only created a younger brother named Ernest so he can go into the city and socialize and do all the deplorable things he publicly chastises this fictitious younger brother for doing without anyone knowing. Now that Gwendolyn is in love with Ernest or Jack, he must find a way to reconcile his two worlds. Algernon, pretends to be Ernest and goes to the country where Jack resides to pursue the lovely Cecily who falls for Ernest whom she has always fantasized over when Jack speaks of him and his wild life. The two hit it off until Lady Bracknell and Gwendolyn arrive just before Jack also arrives. Gwendolyn and Cecily learn of the trickery going on with Jack and Algernon and that there is no Ernest and are rather upset until Jack who is trying to prove his worth with Lady Bracknell accidentally discovers because of a cigarette
However, in the second act, it is revealed that he does not have a brother. Shockingly, it turns out Jack does have a brother and it is none other than Algernon! I am afraid that the news I have to give you will not altogether please you. You are the son of my poor sister, Mrs. Moncrieff, and consequently Algernon’s elder
Gwendolen confesses to Jack, or his confidante Ernest, “The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a friend called Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you” (10). That quote proved that Gwendolen’s drive to marry “Ernest” for him having the name Ernest, rather than marrying him for his character. Cecily also confesses something along the same lines as Gwendolen to Algernon, that even though she had never met him before she fell in love with him: “Well, ever since dear Uncle Jack first confessed to us that he had a younger brother who was very wicked and bad, you of course have formed the chief topic of conversation…a man who is much talked about is always very attractive…I daresay it was foolish of me, but I fell in love with you, Ernest” (32). She is led to believe that Algernon’s real name is Ernest. Cecily and Gwendolen are attracted to Jack and “Ernest” because of their histories. Gwendolen was excited to find o...
Algernon, disagrees with the marriage after Jack fails her test of
In the Victorian era, courtship rituals were slightly different from modern time courtships. It started with couples speaking first, going out together, and finally they would keep each other company after mutual attraction was confirmed. The character Jack, in all his seriousness, refutes these rituals. Gwendolyn says “I adore you. But you haven’t proposed to me yet. Nothing has been said at all about marriage. The subject has not even been touched on.” (Wilde, 622) This shows that Jack is ignoring the stages of courting and jumping right into marriage. Wilde is certainly satirically commenting on courting and how there really just has to be a mutual attraction. Upon Gwendolyn’s acceptance of his proposal, the problems with different social affairs begin to be unraveled. Gwendolyn says “I am told; and my ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence…” (Wilde, 622) In fact, Ernest's love for Gwendolyn seems rather arbitrary while Gwendolyn indirectly admits that she loves Ernest only for his name. This just adds to the satirizing of courtship because the girl only will marry him because he has the name Ernest.
Jack’s reaction shows evidence of his happiness of his new found brother. The same man that played his brother in their mind games with friends and family.
Similarly, in “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Jack and Algernon both begin their marital lives based on deception and lies. As a matter of fact, Gwendolen and Algernon both know Jack as Ernest. When Jack proposes to Gwendolen, she becomes overly attached to the idea of marrying someone called Ernest. Gwendolen exclaims: “My ideal has always been to love someone of the name Ernest/There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence/It is a divine name/It has a music of its own/It produces vibrations” (Wilde 106), and Cecily is of the same opinion “it had always been a girlish dream of mine to love someone whose name was Ernest/I pity any poor married woman whose husband is not called Ernest” (Wilde 116). Jack and Algernon never admits to Gwendolen and Cecily that they are living a double life, their relationships are based on lies. They are more occupied with the name Ernest than the fact of actually being earnest. In spite of leading a deceptive and double life, both men
own stuffy Victorian world as Jack. While explaining his presence in town to Algy, Ernest states, “Oh,
Two of the main characters, Jack and Algernon, strive to be "Ernest" and "Earnest" in the play, yet they both deceive others to escape lives which they grow tired of. They both hope to marry the girls that they love, yet they are starting the relationship based on false pretence and lies. It is ironic that they both call themselves "Ernest," a name that suggests honesty and sincerity, yet they both create stories to escape something or the other. Jack creates a brother called "Ernest" in the city that he uses as a scape goat' to leave his prim and proper, respectable country life, whereas Algernon creates a friend by the name of "Bunbury" to escape his aunt's high class society parties. He shows his lack of interest in such social events when he tells Jack.
She is constantly doing the opposite of what is expected of her. She falls in love with Ernest against her mother 's will. In the Victorian age, men were chosen for the women to marry by their families. She is flirty and very outgoing when it comes to what she wants. Gwendolyn 's obsession with a man her mother does not approve of is not a norm in her societal role. Gwendolyn also has a habit of going against her mother Lady Bracknell 's rules. She is forbidden to talk to Ernest, but she goes to the country and sees him nonetheless. "Ernest, we may never be married. From the expression on mamma 's face I fear we never shall. But although she may prevent us from becoming man and wife, nothing that she can possibly do can alter my eternal devotion to you." (The Importance of Being Earnest line 270-272) Along with her misbehavior, she talks back to her mother, which is not expected of daughters to do back then. Gwendolyn falls in love with Ernest even though he is not as rich as her, this is another abnormal thing in Victorian times. Many women are drawn to more wealth than they have. In her case, she was drawn to the complete opposite. Gwendolyn may have been raised by a perfect Victorian woman, but she is drawn to a more modern way of
...ngagement, their re-engagement. Cecily is not the natural country girl. She possesses the self-assurance of the experienced woman. Without being cynical she makes her desires clear. And when Gwendolen and Cecily discover that their Earnests are impostors whose names are Jack and Algernon they decide that love can be restored only if Jack and Algy christen themselves Earnest.
Catcher in the Rye Catcher in the Rye, a coming-of-age novel by J.D. Salinger, is a story set in the 1950’s and is narrated by a young man named Holden Caulfield. His location of where he tells the story in unknown, but it is noted that he is undergoing some sort of mental treatment. In the story, there are many characters and objects that serve as symbolism and a deeper meaning, such as the recurring mention of the ducks at the lagoon, James Castle, and the museum. Because Holden has this idea that everyone is a phony and that change is unnatural, he starts to become obsessive with the concept of preservation. Holden’s story doesn't just give light to his view of the cruel world he lives in, it goes deeper and reveals what's actually going on inside of his head.
One major theme of The Importance of Being Earnest is the nature of marriage. Throughout the entire play, marriage and morality serve as the catalyst for the play, inspiring the plot and raising speculation about the moral character of each person. Throughout the entire play, the characters are constantly worried about who they are going to marry and why they would marry them. This theme is the most prevalent theme throughout the entire play and shows what impact marriage had on a Victorian society. This essay will prove that marriage is the theme of this play.
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”.
She only becomes insincere towards Cecily when she sees the other as a threat to her relationship with Ernest. Although being insincere to someone is not the best decision, Gwendolen uses it to cover up her insecurity. When she finds out that Cecily is Mr Worthing’s ward, she tells the younger girl, “Disloyalty would be as impossible to [Ernest] as deception. But even men of the noblest possible moral character are extremely susceptible to the influence of the physical charm of others” (163). Gwendolen expresses to Cecily how she wished the other was older and uglier, making the chances of Ernest being attracted towards her decrease. Gwendolen is a lady of appearance, and she is confident of her own, but she is still insecure towards Cecily. Because of this, she becomes rude towards Cecily. Yet, however, Cecily explains to Gwendolen that Ernest Worthing is not her guardian, but Jack is. In response to this, Gwendolen shows her relief by telling Cecily, “You have lifted a load from my mind. I was growing almost anxious” (163). Here, Gwendolen admits that Cecily made her anxious about her relationship with Ernest; she relaxes once she finds out that Ernest most likely has not met Cecily if that is the case. With this, the audience sees how her insecurity causes her insincerity towards Cecily, and how much she cares about her relationship with
When Gwendolen and Cecily get into an argument about which one of them is engaged to Ernest, they attempt to remain as civil and polite as possible. Hurling insults so subtle as Cecily's, "flowers are common here, Miss Fairfax, as people are in London" (Wilde 37), the passive aggressive nature of this conflict shows that these women were determined to maintain the image of being prim and proper young ladies despite how enraged they truly were. While Gwendolen and Cecily hid their feelings for the sake of appearances, Lady Bracknell speaks her mind when told Algernon's friend Bunbury is sick again. Annoyed with how he has disrupted her dinner plans, Lady Bracknell says, "I think it is high time that Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or die. This shilly-shallying with the question is absurd" (Wilde 9).