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The dramatic irony in the importance of being earnest
Oscar Wilde and Victorian Melodrama
The importance of being earnest and the society
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Victorian Wedding In Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde uses this play to playfully criticize how the upper class has these importantly absurd rules that tell members of the upper class how to act proper and go through the process of wooing over their mate. An individual of the upper class must go through court ship rituals that have to be approved by their Guardian. Flirting with one that is not of the same class as that person is likely to get a person in trouble. After courtship is successfully done, one of the upper class moves into negotiations because women, especially at this time, were considered property. If one's family did not approve the negotiations stop. There are certain characteristics the upper-class women …show more content…
Young women were properly trained to be proper which would mean they would learn how to sing and play piano, read light literature, learn a foreign language like French, and most certainly "the rules of etiquette as well as the art of conversation and the art of silence.”(“Courtship.") A person can see this when they look at Cecily and the studies that Ms. Prism presents to her, for example German lessons which Cecily despises. This is a good example of how women were prepped to start looking for a gentleman and behave like a well-groomed woman. Wilde uses this to point out how ridiculous it is to have these high expectations put on young women to behave like a woman should. This is also when Cecily was getting ready for her coming …show more content…
Oscar Wilde wanted to show his audience that this was ridiculous. One can see this with both women in this play when both want to marry the person named Earnest. This represents the ideal stature that a gentleman should have wealth, stature and a name to go with it. In Cecily's case her mother was not there as in traditional Victorian age so that's why Cecily is Jack's ward and does not want Algernon to marry her. He does this to get back at Aunt Augusta. Mr. Wilde uses this to make a satire of the rules of marriage that came into being around the Victorian age.
Aunt Augusta chaperones Gwendolyn around which was the tradition at the time as people can see from this decree obtained from Angelpig.net. “A girl was under her mother's wing for the first few years of her social life. She used her mother's visiting cards, or that of another female relative if her mother was dead. This same person usually served as her chaperone, as a single girl was never allowed out of the house by herself, especially in mixed company.”(“Courtship.") The audience can see this when Lady Bracknell shows up and starts telling
...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.
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.
...her. Jack and Algernon seem similar and some cases are, but there are some differences that make the play humorous and climatic. Jack, even though he portrays it turns out to be immoral and hypocritical and Algernon turns out to be immoral and honest. One of the moral paradoxes that “The Importance of Being Earnest” seems to express is the idea that the perfectly moral man is the man who professes to be immoral, who speaks truly by virtue of the fact that he admits to being essentially a liar. Both Jack and Algernon want to be “Ernest” but in truth, it is a pun on the word. The women love the name because they think the men are earnest! The main conflict in the play is hypocrisy, and whole notion of Jack and Algernon going against the normal conventions of being a hypocrite. Algernon’s ideologies about marriage, food, women and love are what bring humor to the play.
Irony in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde The play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is full of irony. Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, the protagonists in the play, get themselves into a complicated situation called Bunburyism (as Algernon refers to it). They pretend to be someone that they are not to escape their daily lives. They lie to the women they admire, and eventually the truth is revealed.
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 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 satiric piece usually has a didactic side to it. In this case, Lady Bracknell learns that the same person she was criticising is actually her own flesh and blood.
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.
It has been said that ‘Comedy, beginning in turmoil but ending in harmony, celebrates life.’ and this is the general idea with ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ Wilde proves that this comedy of manners does conform to this model. As Lady Bracknell tries to prolong the resolution and tries to prevent the marriage between Jack and Gwendolyn, she can be seen as a ‘gorgon’ because she refuses to let Gwendolyn marry Jack. Despite this, She may be seen as a heroine because she is a strong, commanding woman who isn’t passive like traditional Victorian women as she makes decisions which indicates that she has power within the play. Furthermore, Wilde has constructed her in such a way that she dominates the company wherever she is present and judges people according to their wealth even though she is from a non-aristocratic background. Therefore, Lady Bracknell may be viewed as a character that stays ‘bad’. Despite the obstacles surrounding Lady Bracknell, there are some aspects throughout the play which do conform to this model. For instance, Jack faces problems during the play which are then resolved through his actions and are consequently followed by happiness in the resolution when he finds out ‘the vital Importance of Being Earnest’ . Similarly, the same can be said for Algernon who lies to please the women that he desires to achieve happiness in Act 3. Therefore, depending on each character and their actions beforehand, they either face happiness or distress which indicates that comedy does have some elements of movement from distress to happiness and from ‘bad’ to ‘good’.
Throughout the late nineteenth century, Oscar Wilde wrote plays such as Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest- his most famous play. Earnest is a comedic work that focuses on a pair of wealthy men. They have been leading double lives so that they can go off for periods of time and enjoy living without responsibility while still maintaining their aristocratic reputation. Because of Wilde’s invlovement in the aesthetic movement, it is not uncommon (or unfair) to believe that his work, Earnest included, is nothing more than fluff. That being said, it is also fair to argue that this particular play does have meaning in it. Wilde wrote The Importance of Being Earnest as a commentary on the hypocrisy of the ideal Victorian character. Earnestness is sincerity- which most Victorians believed themselves to be- and so Wilde uses the word ironically. In his eyes, people who considered themselves sincere were actually smug, self-righteous, and pompous. He expresses these opinions clearly through the play’s over-the-top and frustrating characters.
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
Oscar Wilde’s treatment of high society and manners are explored in the play “The Importance of Being Earnest”. Here, members of the upper class display a great deal of pride and pretense, feeling that they are inherently entitled to their wealth and higher social position. An example is Lady Bracknell, who is preoccupied with maintaining the status quo that she quickly squashes any signs of rebellion. Characters from higher societies/classes are mainly concerned about their reputation and respectability. Thus, expectations of the upper class for both men and women include being upstanding, rich and come from a wealthy family. Wilde’s criticism on 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.
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.
In the play The Importance of Being Earnest, written by Oscar Wilde, the superficial victorian society, in which the characters live, allows their names to lead them into lives filled with fiction, hypocrisy and lies. Cecily; a name with the latin meaning of blind. A perfect word to describe the ward of Jack Worthing. The reader meets
Wilde purposely used her role to portray how closed minded the society was, with her opinions and mannerism betraying a carefully calculated speaking pattern with witty epigrams and social wordplay to tear other characters apart. As a ruthless social climber and spokesperson for the status quo, she was not always part of the upper class but rather married into aristocracy, as she previously represent the formerly excluded. However, now that she is Lady Bracknell, she has opinions on just about everything and with her behavior enforcing social discrimination and exclusion for the outsiders from her class; she is an invention of Wilde’s to present his satire on these subjects. For example, when Jack proposed to her daughter Gwendolen, this was the moment that Lady Bracknell was able to “flex” her muscles and bend the rules to suit her pleasure as she saw marriage of more of an alliance for property and social security than love or passion. Thus Jack was placed on her list of eligible suitors if only he could pass her series of challenging tests. Yet at the same time Lady Bracknell relentlessly gives Jack “correct” but immoral advice on finding his parents. "I would strongly advise you, Mr. Worthing, to try and acquire