This presentation was given as the semester-end presentation on the Hypocrisy in Victorian Society In connection with ‘The Importance of Being Earnest'. for the paper 'Literature of Victorian Era 104' in the M.A. English Semester 1

1. Hypocrisy
in Victorian
Society
In connection
with ‘The
Importance of
Being Earnest’

2. Introduction
Name: Ghanshyam Katariya
Roll No:8
Paper No: 104
Paper Name: Literature of the Victorian Era
Topic: Hypocrisy in the Victorian Society
Submitted At: Smt. S. B. Gardi. Department of English
Email ID: gkatariya67@gmail.com

3. Content
1. Importance of Being Earnest
2.Victorian Society
3.Dialogues from The Play
4.Hypocrisy in India

4. Importance of being Earnest
● The Importance of Being Earnest,
A Trivial Comedy for Serious
People is a play by Oscar Wilde.
● First performed on 14 February
1895 at the St James's Theatre

5. THE HYPOCRISY OF THE UPPER CLASS IN
VICTORIAN SOCIETY
● A major theme in The Importance of Being Earnest is
the hypocritical tendencies displayed throughout Upper
- Class Victorian Society .
● Wilde's witty writing style is used to expose these
tendencies through his use of epigrams and
paradoxical situations .
● Many quotes and scenes found in the play result in the
opposite of what an audience would expect .
● Irony and inversions are utilized in Wilde's The
Importance of Being Earnest to expose the extreme
hypocritical tendency of victorian society (Stockett)

6. CECILY.
“You see, it is simply a very young girl’s record of her own thoughts and
impressions, and consequently meant for publication. When it appears in volume
form I hope you will order a copy.”
GWENDOLEN.
“I never change, except in my affections.”
GWENDOLEN.
“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to
read in the train”(Wilde)
Some Dialogues of the Play

7. LADY BRACKNELL.
“To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may
be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both
looks like carelessness.”
JACK.
“My dear fellow, the truth isn’t quite the
sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet,
refined girl. What extraordinary ideas you
have about the way to behave to a
woman!”(Wilde)

8. ● Margaret Thatcher has been reported as
saying that she would be pleased to
restore all of the Victorian virtues with the
exception of hypocrisy . If she did say that
, she betrayed a serious misunderstanding
of Victorian virtues .
● Hypocrisy , as La Rochefoucauld
memorably put it , is " the homage that
vice pays to virtue . " It is also the homage
that manners pay to morals . The
Victorians thought it no small virtue to
maintain the appearance , the manner , of
good conduct even while violating some
basic precept of morality .(HIMMELFARB)

9. Hanihfa Nurhasanah notes
in her research that,
Throughout the Victorian
era movements for justice,
freedom, and other strong
moral values dominate
opposed to greed,
exploitation, and cynicism.
In Victorian era concern in
morality and one of the
behaviors moral is
hypocrisy. (Nurhasanah)

10. Hypocrisy in India
● Sensuality is the spice of life. Sensuality is
essential for the survival of the human species, it
is essential for all art, culture, civilisation.
Sensuality is what makes life worth living.
● Sensuality is the essence of being
human.Indians are highly sensuous people. This
is reflected in our spicy food, colourful clothing,
our music and dance, rituals and celebrations
and even in the explosive growth of
population!Sensuality is the spice of life.
● Sensuality is essential for the survival of the
human species, it is essential for all art, culture,
civilisation. Sensuality is what makes life worth
living.

11. ● From ancient times, we have celebrated
sensuality in all its aspects. From erotic
paintings and sculptures in the temple art
of Ajanta, Ellora, Konark and Khajuraho to
erotic poetry in Sanskrit, to the world-
famous treatise on sensual pleasure —
The Kamasutra, which dares to merge
sensuality with spirituality
● The film Rang Rasiya(Mehta), was
submitted to the Central Board of Film
Certification as the Censor Board is called
now. It was denied censor certificate by
the screening committee, who found the
theme very controversial, the depiction of
sensuality shocking.

12. VS

13. VS

14. Works Cited
HIMMELFARB, GERTRUDE. “Manners into Morals: What the Victorians Knew.” The American Scholar, vol.
57, no. 2, 1988, pp. 223–32. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41211525. Accessed 18 Oct. 2022.
MEHTA, KETAN. “The hypocrisy of sensuality in India | Hindi Movie News.” Times of India, 26 October 2014,
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/the-hypocrisy-of-sensuality-in-
india/articleshow/44932426.cms. Accessed 18 October 2022.
Mehta, Ketan, director. Rang Rasiya. Pen India,, 2008.
Nurhasanah, Hanihfa. “Hypocrisy of Victorian Morality Reflected In A Woman of No Importance (1893) By
Oscar Wilde: A Sociological Approach.” 2017.
Stockett, Kathryn. “Description Of Hypocritical Tendencies in The Importance of Being Earnest - Free Essay
Example.” EduZaurus.com, https://eduzaurus.com/free-essay-samples/decription-of-hypocritical-tendencies-
in-the-importance-of-being-earnest/. Accessed 18 October 2022.
Wilde, Oscar. “The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by Oscar Wilde.”
Project Gutenberg, 1 March 1997, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/844. Accessed 18 October 2022.

15. Thank You