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Oscar wilde the importance of earnest critical analysis
Oscar wilde the importance of earnest critical analysis
Oscar wilde the importance of earnest critical analysis
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/ .‘Divorces are made in Heaven . . .’ Is Wilde’s presentation of marriage in The Importance of Being Earnest intended to be serious criticism or light-hearted fun?
Oscar Wilde is the brilliant dramatist of the Victorian age in England. Akin to Shakespeare, Dickens and many others who worked in this field, his talent was unique in terms of self-expressions through different literary styles. Of course, the aesthetic manner of Wilde’s literature (as common to think as his highest achievement) has been already flourished earlier in the outstanding prose, but the innovative playwriting such as The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) shows the infinite origin of author’s ideas. And this one was an exception within the others, because throughout the play Wild draws the higher society in the most unattractive way. “ Trivial comedy for the serious people” is the epigraph of the book, which addresses its meaning certainly to the heart of the public author knew very-well. Therefore, the most beloved characters of his previous dramas like dandies appear now to be the objects of cruel mocking. In the page 4, Algernon pronounces the phrase with the laughing tone in response to Jack’s explanation of why he is going to propose to Gwendolen, and Algy says ‘“Divorces are made in heaven”’ (Wilde, 1895, p. 4). Why Algernon has changed this widely used expression about the marriage? How this represents the point of view of other protagonists? And, what is it: a witty wordplay or a worldview?
The answers on these questions will help to understand Wilde’s position towards the problems he rises in the play. Where are a lot of them, and this fact makes harder to take one as the most central. In all three acts, the reader faces with such problems as: r...
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...wledging some facts from his life. As already been said Lady Bracknell has an impact on Algy, hence when he says about the proposal to Cecily, the future of the marriage depends on her confirmation. Lady asks Cecily a couple of questions about her biography. Afterwards, then everything (the family solicitors, fortune, etc.) is digestible for Lady Bracknell; she mentions ‘“There are distinct social possibilities in Miss Cardew's profile “’ (Wilde, 1895, p.43). In this context, the word ‘profile’ seems to have a similar meaning to ‘earnest’. This paronomasia is not occasional here, but specially imbedded by Oscar Wilde as another link between the characters. Girls want to marry Ernest, but they imply different qualities of these men should hold. That can be explained by the different age of all the women personages of the book: Cecily, Gwendolen, Bracknell and Prism.
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.
...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
Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest. Peter Raby, ed. Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays. London: Oxford University Press, 1995. 247-307.
...erpreted as dark and significant to the period. The comedy Wilde achieves is at the expense of the characters who are seemingly intelligent adding to the ironic structure that much of the comedy is based on. Many of the comic elements of the play are shown through human reactions to Victorian repression and the effect it has on the men and women of the time. Love seems to be nonexistent within the finds of the fierce and brutal Aristocracy when so many of the qualities they value are not based on human qualities but that of the class’s social norms. Wildes Characters are at often times not subtle about their distaste in marriage and love, Algernon is no exception to this “In aried lie, three is company, two is none” showing that they all have distorted views on many of the social practices that make them morally sound, thus adding to the satire elements of the play.
This play brings out the differences between the upper class to that of the middle class and lower class people. Moreover, the characters’ follies and foolishness lies at the core of this drama. Deceit and lies, love and marriage are also some major themes in this drama. There are three acts in this drama, all interlinked with each other. The first act of this drama introduces us to the main characters, their complications and sufferings. There are more complications in the second act. These complications lead the plot to its climax and finally the happy conclusion in the final act. The plot of this play is based on inconsistent actions, unbelievable characters and coincidences. The plot is compact and closely knit but the audiences appreciate the play not because of its unity of scenes but due to the art of characterization employed in the play by Wilde.
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 conclusion, The Importance of Being Earnest strongly focuses on those of the upper class society and the vanity of the aristocrats who place emphasis on trivial matters concerning marriage. Both Algernon and Jack assume the identity of "Ernest" yet ironically, they both are beginning their marital lives based on deception and lies. Lady Bracknell represents the archetypal aristocrat who forces the concept of a marriage based on wealth or status rather than love. Through farce and exaggeration, Wilde satirically reveals the foolish and trivial matters that the upper class society looks upon as being important. As said earlier, a satirical piece usually has a didactic side to it.
...ll’s power overtakes the other male characters like Algernon and Jack, who have their own personal unresolved crises in the start, putting them lower down the scale of the social group. There is the idea that Wilde portrays Lady Bracknell as the ideal figure for upper class women that both Gwendolyn and Cecily should aim to rival in the future. However, the playwright already demonstrates how the younger women in the play provide the main source of conflict, as they are the objects of affection, so the notion of the ‘New Woman’ may enable them to surpass the elder women’s, who still own patriarchal values, power in the society. At the same time Wilde is able to criticize the drama that not only the women but the whole of the upper class create from the details of each other’s personal affairs. Wilde’s ultimate point is that comedy reacts against social conformity.
In essence, this comedy of manners does have traces of movement from distress to happiness as all the characters within the play were either involved in ‘good’ or ‘bad’ affairs. But despite this, in the resolution Jack learnt from his mistakes which resulted in happiness for him and Gwendolyn as she got married to a person named Earnest. Similarly, Cecily also got married which resulted in celebration, but as Algernon didn’t tell her the truth about his name he hadn’t reformed in the process which indicates that he did stay ‘bad’. Likewise, Lady Bracknell also stayed distressed when she was not part of any comic resolution. As this is the case, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ does conform to this model, but this movement from ‘good’ to ‘bad’ is dependent on the different characters that Wilde has constructed and the situations that they went through.
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”
Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband Oscar Wilde (1845-1903) lived an outrageous and controversial life which was well publicized and condemned, as his life defied the strict social mores of the time. He was put into this public position due to the success of his plays which challenged Victorian earnestness while being hilariously funny. His plays, in particular An Ideal Husband, 1895 portray Victorian society as viciously hypocritical at it's worst and laughably pretentious at it's best. Wilde expressed this point of view in An Ideal Husband through the rich use of plot development, construction of characters, dramatic irony, hyperbole, witty and epigrammatic repartee and satire. The central plot of An Ideal Husband begins with the antagonist, Mrs Chevely, tries to blackmail Sir Robert Chiltern (one of the protagonists) with a secret from his past.
Both Algernon and Jack assume the identity of "Ernest" yet ironically, they both plan on starting their married life with a lie. 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 to be no engagement. Through this major exaggeration, Wilde satirically reveals the irrational and insignificant matters that the upper class society uses to view
In the play, Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde ridicules and identifies the negative aspects of Victorian society through comedic dialogue. He uses characters with ridiculous personalities to demonstrate his idea of Victorian life. By making absurd scenes with foolish characters, it is his way of mocking the Victorian lifestyle passive aggressively.
Wilde’s didactic satire delves deep into the problems of society, highlighting to the audience all the flaws of human beings and their social obligations while keeping it light-hearted and enjoyable for audiences. The author’s mockery and satire of society, as seen in his play, is most likely stemmed from his lack of acceptance and frustration at the society he believes to be ‘proper’. Readers today laugh at the situations portrayed because they are satirical and humourous, but they also question the motives behind the character “Earnest” because they see that “earnest”, meaning seriousness or sincerity, is the one thing the characters most certainly do not portray. However, towards the end of the play, when all has come out, Jack states that “I’ve now realized for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest” (Wilde 2000, p.358), which may in fact be the most blatantly satirical line of the play, and a great summation of the lies the play relied on. This explores Wilde’s use of double entendre as Jack lives a double life, alongside the use of an elaborate p...