The Important Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde

The Important Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde
Seiryu Hayashizaki
Mr. Todd
Language and Literature
10, January, 2018
Q&A
Wilde wrote his play during the Victorian era because of the ridiculous manners that occurred during
this era. "The Important of Being Earnest" was a satire about Victorian society, which means Wilde
was criticizing Victorian society. During this era, the most important factor of living was your social
class, such as your family relationships and your wealth. In the play, Jack said: "Between seven and
eight thousand a year." (Wilde, 992). Lady Bracknell said that this income was satisfactory, but
when Jack said he had no family, Lady Bracknell gave up on Jack. What she wanted was not only a
higher reputation, but a higher social class. Wilde wrote this satire about Victorian ... Show more
content on Helpwriting.net ...
He is making fun of the extras who use excessive efforts in order to gain attention from the director.
They want to get one short line of dialogue to read in the movie. Alford wrote this story in a first
person point of view. He was actually one of the extras in the movie "Godzilla". I think Alford
writing this story in a first person point of view makes him seem more sympathetic toward the
extras because he is one of them. They are so desperate to get one short line of dialogue from the
director. "Zilla monster ate me baby!" (Alford, 1000). Alford tried a Cockney accent which didn't
work. He is being sympathetic to extras because he is one of them. He shares the same perspective.
In the story, "Big Kiss", Alford used a lot of dialogue to express his feelings. This dialogue added
humorous factors to the story. However, the inner thoughts of Alford also increased the humor of the
satire. "I love this work. I would be hard–pressed to recount any event from my personal or
professional life that more accurately typified the phrase crazy fun." (Alford,999). Even though
Alford thinks being an extra is very stupid, he is saying he loves this job, which means Alford is
being sarcastic about his
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...

The Pathetic Fallacy in Camus’ the Stranger and...
The Pathetic Fallacy in Camus' The Stranger and Yoshimoto's Kitchen
English A1 – Higher Level World Literature Paper 1
Ojiugo Nneoma UCHE Candidate Number: 1415–068
1480 Words
May 2010
In Camus' The Stranger, and Yoshimoto's Kitchen, both authors use the literary technique of pathetic
fallacy – a branch of personification – which gives to the weather and physical world, human
attributes. In both texts, this technique enriches the narratives both aesthetically and in terms of
meaning – by telling the inner emotions of the characters. However, while in Kitchen, the pathetic
fallacy is employed throughout the text, in The Stranger, it takes centre stage only at the most
crucial point in the book – with Meursault, the protagonist killing ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
The "glittering" night in this case is thankfully left alone to ring with all its positive connotations;
without the show – spoiling, depressing adjective "lonely"(6) or its companions. With the
reoccurrence of death, loss and with them, sorrow, Mikage says: "I watched the gloomy clouds of
the orange of the sunset spreading across them in the western sky. Soon, the cold night would
descend and fill the hollow in my heart" (56). Scenery which in better circumstances would have
been a beautiful sunshine and the coming of a peaceful night, become "gloomy" and "cold." Thus,
the "spreading" and "descen[t]" are not really of the sunset, or of the night, but of the sorrow that
comes with loss. With the reappearance of hope in the final cycle, the pathetic fallacy is both a
reflection on the past, as well as an evidence of tenacious hope. Mikage says: "The moon shone
down from high above, crossing the sky, erasing the stars in its path. It was full. I watched it go
behind a cloud, completely hidden, and re–emerge" (94). Stars usually have a positive connotation
as they hold light in the sea of the night's darkness However, in this scene, there is a seeming
contradiction as they are "eras[ed]" (96). This is however merely 'seeming' because with the full
moon, an atmosphere more positive than that of stars in a dark night is created. The moon leaves a
bright

The Importance Of Being Earnest Truth And Truth Essay
In The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Algernon tells Jack that "The truth is rarely
pure and never simple" and because the truth is this way, it makes "modern literature a complete
impossibility" (10). Throughout this play, all the characters try to find their own truths, some by
bunburying and others by writing their own truths. Either way, Wilde makes the truth about his
characters nuanced and ambiguous, which in turn allows his audience to question his true intentions
for The Importance of Being Earnest. For the characters, the truth is hard to figure out because there
is confusion between things being serious or trivial. This confusion is the source of inspiration for
the characters to create their own truths, which are clearer, ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net
...
Cecily spends most of her time writing in her diary, especially instead of reading her boring school
books. When Algernon, under the guise of Ernest, asks to take a peek inside Cecily's diary, she
responds that her diary is "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"
(35). She speaks so highly of her diary that she deems it important enough for publication. Soon,
Cecily reveals to Algernon (Ernest) that they have been engaged for the past three months, and that
she even broke off their engagement once already to confirm that it was a serious engagement.
Cecily tells Ernest that she fell in love with him at first mentioning by her Uncle Jack. Furthermore,
Cecily even claims that she was forced to write Ernest's love letters (to her) for him. Cecily has
absurdly created an imaginary life in which she happily married a "bad boy" to break the rules of
fiction. Likewise, Gwendolen also thinks very highly of her diary. She describes her diary as
"something sensational to read in the train" (40). When both characters are questioning each other's
engagement to the character Ernest, they both pull out

The Importance Of Being Earnest Essay
In the short story, The Importance of Being Earnest, written by Oscar Wilde there are three major
elements, which help form the main idea of being earnest. The main character, Jack, originally lives
in the countryside, but chooses to go to the city to live a double life. Throughout the story, Jack
struggles to be honest with the girl he loves and wants to marry. Jack is afraid the woman will not
love him if she knows his real name is not Earnest, but is actually Jack. From the drama, the main
idea of being earnest is clear when understanding the theme, dramatic irony, and symbolism, which
are apparent throughout the story. The first clear element in the story is the theme, which is about
being earnest. Throughout the story, Jack and Algernon, his male friend, both struggle with being
earnest to the women they both love, Gwendolen and Cecily. An example of this struggle ... Show
more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The author uses a black leather bag to represent Jack's underlying need to be apart of a family. The
black bag is important to Jack because it was the bag he was put into as a baby, which he kept.
When Jack and lady Bracknell a conversation, jack tells her how he was found "Yes lady Bracknell.
I was in a hand–bag– somewhat large, black leather hand–bag, with handles to it–an ordinary hand–
bag in fact" (Wilde 1948) . The author makes Jack aware of the meaning of the black bag by having
Jack keep the bag throughout his entire life. Jack brings down the bag and says to Ms. Prism "Is this
the hand–bag, Miss Prism? Examine it carefully before you speak. The happiness of more than one
life depends on your answer"(Wilde 1977). The bag played an important role because without the
bag, Jack would have never discovered he had family. The bag kept a goal for Jack to reach so he
could find out who he was as an individual looking for a family. Wilde uses this last element to put
his story

Oscar Wilde 's Character, Jack Worthing, And The Other
Oscar Wilde's protagonist, Jack Worthing, carries on two distinct identities throughout the play. One
of the personas is a countryman in Hertfordshire named Jack Worthing, and the other is a dandy in
London named Ernest. Wilde intentionally creates two different characters, which are contradictory
to the reader's expectation whenever they first read the characters' names. The name Ernest
correlates with the actual definition of the adjective earnest, which means a person who is honest,
serious, and sincere. Later in the play, Jack realizes his name is actually John, however both have
the same connotation. Gwendolyn states in the first act, "there is very little music in the name Jack...
I've known several Jacks, and they all without exception were more than usually plain" (Wilde 25).
Evidently, in the Victorian Era, a man with the name Jack or John was expected to be plain or a man
who is not a dandy, but an ordinary man who has responsibilities. The names Wilde gave to his
characters seem to be appropriate, however, once the reader dissects the play, the names Jack and
Ernest would have been better applied to their counterparts.
The brilliant title that Oscar Wilde gives his play is a pun in itself. The pun depends on not only the
adjective earnest, but after the farce has ended the audience will recognize that there is an actual
importance in being a gentleman named Ernest. In the Victorian era, the idea of earnestness was a
virtue that the people attached the

Gender Roles In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde was an Irish poet born in October 1854. "In 1871, Wilde enrolled at Trinity College in
Dublin. The years from 1874–1878 were spent at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he received a
first class degree in Classics and the Newdigate Prize for poetry with his poetry submission of
Ravenna." (Bloom 11). Wilde was married to a daughter of a wealthy Irish barrister in 1884, and had
two sons in the following years. (Bloom 11). Before he died in November 1900, he wrote several
plays, including The Importance of Being Earnest. There are several themes placed throughout
Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, such as: gender roles, love and marriage, and society v.
hypocrisy. Gender roles are an important theme placed in The Importance of Being Earnest. "The
feminist movement has already been in full swing. Women already moved in the path of education.
With the considerable level of education, women have already started toward the direction of
freedom." (Bachelor and Master). In the play, Cecily has a governess hired by Mr. John Worthing
educating her to become more successful on her own. "Wilde presented Lady Bracknell talking
about the position of men. She says, in her talk with Gwendolen 'house is the proper place for man.' .
. . This bit of conversation reveals women have also begun to move freely in the occupational
world." (Bachelor and Master). Prism is used by Wilde, in the play, as an awakened woman who
serves as a governess to Cecily, who writes novels. Wilde averted to see the limitations of the
feminist movement. Feministically awakened and educated women to cling to more job of
governess. (Bachelor and Master). Miss Prism is used as a symbol of feminism used by Wilde in
The Importance of Being Earnest to show that women were on the move in life advancements. "In
the play, Cecily and Gwendolen discuss changing their gender roles in their conversation about male
domesticity, indicating that their belief that 'homes seems to be the proper sphere for the man.'
Marriage, however, remained most women's primary goal and occupation. Arranged marriages had
been on the decline since the late eighteenth century, but were not unknown among the Victorian
upper class." (Bachelor and Master). "LADY BRACKNELL.

Deception In The Importance Of Being Ernest
"The truth is rarely pure and never simple." The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, is a
story in which the attitude and dialogue simply distinguishes each character for who they truly are.
Additionally, the key setting of The Importance of Being Earnest revolves around the idea of
deception. Throughout the story, the characters begin to unveil their actual backgrounds after
committing the act of telling a variety of lies. Correspondingly, in this victorian era society the
character live in, it is ingrained in the minds of individuals that marriage has everything to do with
status; or in this case, the name. One character in particular that caught my attention was Algernon
Moncrieff. I believe this because through the use of deception, Wilde manages to contribute to the
work as a whole through his bravado attitude, comedic relief, and the honest threaded into his lies.
... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
To be more specific, it is easy to identify Algernon as one of the most laid back characters, as chaos
passes by. An example of this deceit is when he asks for Gwendolyn's hand in marriage. In this
instance, he begins to lie about his name, simply because Gwendolyn does not seem to be
interestested in a man named Algernon. In the act of these lies, Algernon manages to stay loose, and
follow through with his attitude. Due to this, he gives a filter to the readers that everything is okay,
even though towards the end, all the truth is

What Are The Arguments Made By Oscar Wilde
The general argument made by Oscar Wilde in his work The Importance of Being Earnest is that
education in England is flawed and produces no useful effect. More specifically, Wilde argues that
modern education is useless since it does not contribute to social status. He writes, "The whole
theory of education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no
effect whatsoever" (Act 1). In this passage, Wilde is suggesting that education can only be afforded
by the wealthy and therefore royalty remain in power, and the poor remain uneducated. In
conclusion, Wilde's belief is that education is worthless to people of higher class since it doesn't
provide any meaningful benefit. In my view, Wilde is right, because

The Importance Of Being Earnest Satire Essay
Maverick Yabut
Professor Tina Regan
ENGL 200
June 18, 2017
Satire in the Importance of Being Earnest
Introduction
Throughout Oscar Wilde's play "The Importance of Being Earnest", Oscar Wilde routinely uses
satire throughout the story amongst character dialogue and actions to scorn the Victorian society
audience. Oscar uses satire to mock love, and the concept of marriage as well as the Victorian–
aristocratic class system and society mentality. The play is described as "A trivial comedy for
serious people". Satire makes this seemingly serious play into a comedy, but nevertheless Wilde uses
the play to tackle subjects such as marriage, hereditary priveleges, education, the Church, sexual
roles and language, and also tells us that ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
However, the writing of the play relies on a creativity and richness that combine different styles.
Oscar Wilde was gay in a society stifled by social conventions and governed by very tough laws on
homosexuality. Nevertheless, some critics have argued that the playwright dared include
homosexual connotations in the text. However, I would argue that more generally, despite very little
room for maneuver, he managed brilliantly to challenge the social norms, sexual stereotypes and
gender representations of his time while pleasing aristocratic London socialites." Amongst the
Victorian era citizens, a social system was categorized by the hostilities between the poor class and
the rich class. During this time, the rich treated the poor poorly and unfairly. The self–centered and
aristocratic Victorians placed high value on respectability and values, but in hindsight they
themselves did not uphold their standards and customs. The play satirizes the etiquette, class system
as well as the disposition of the Victorians, (Bastiat, 2010).
Another use of satire Oscar Wilde implements into his play is the fallacy of marriage and to
demonstrate the falseness in marriage among the audience. Otto Reinert claims, "Wilde's basic
formula for satire is his characters assumption of a code of behavior that represents the reality that

Oscar Wilde Sexuality
Oscar Wilde's play, The Importance of Being Earnest; A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is best
described as such, a trivial comedy for serious people. Wilde's play is structured through the
influences of social drama and farce. This play was written in 1895 during the Victorian era where
an expected behavior governed all areas of life including sexuality and frivolity. Oscar Wilde's own
sexuality is historically well–known as he was married to a woman, but partook in sexual relations
with men ("Oscar Wilde"). This play was birthed during the midst of pressures that Wilde
experienced in balancing his marital life and precariously trying to maintain his homosexual
proclivities. Wilde's response to the English aristocracy, in all its arrogance,

The Importance Of Being Algernon
I watched the Oak Ridge Production of The Importance of Being Earnest on Thursday, March 10.
The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedy about a man named Jack Worthing, who has a fake
brother named Ernest, who gets is very mischievous. We soon learn that Jack created his brother and
uses his name when he goes to London, but he uses the name Jack when he is in the countryside.
This is all revealed in Act 1 of the play when Jack is talking to his best friend, Algernon Moncrieff.
Jack has fallen in love with Algernon's cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax. Algernon becomes suspicious of
Jack, and he confronts him about his double life, based on Jack's cigarette case, that has, to Uncle
Jack from Cecily, written in it. Jack confesses and tells Algernon that his real name ... Show more
Jack however, being the Cecily's legal guardian, that he give consent to Algernon and Cecily getting
married. Jack states that if Lady Bracknell consents his marriage, he will do the same. She refuses
this offer, and she and Gwendolen are about to leave when Dr. Chasuble shows up to change Jack
and Algernon's name. He mentions Cecily's governess, Mrs. Prism, which catches Mrs. Bracknell's
attention. She demands that Mrs. Prism is to be sent for, and when she arrives, Lady Bracknell
accuses her of stealing her sister's baby. Mrs. Prism confesses and says that she lost the baby at a
railway station after she had put the baby in her handbag. This catches Jack's attention because that
was what happened to him when he was a baby. After asking Mrs. Prism some questions, Jack puts
the pieces together, and runs of stage. He comes back with a handbag, and asks Mrs. Prism if it is
hers, and she says yes. Jack gives her a huge hug and yells, "Mother!" After while of sorting out all
the details, Jack learns that he is not Mrs. Prisms son, but the son of Lady Bracknell's sister, which
makes him Algernon's brother. He also learned that he had been christened Ernest John, so in the
end, he had been telling the truth all

The Importance Of Being Earnest And Oscar Wilde's The Man...
"Never speak disrespectfully of Society, Algernon. Only people who can't get into it do that," Lady
Bracknell, the aunt of the frisky cast in The Importance of Being Earnest, warned. Ironically, Oscar
Wilde wrote this witty play in order to disrespect the "Society"of the late 19th century, and to point
out its many flaws. His boisterous characters romp about, causing trouble as they socialize in their
upper–middle class world. He uses different Similarly, John Galsworthy's The Man of Property
disrespects and carps on the upper–middle class world inhabited by the conceited Forsyte family
living in the Victorian Era. Oscar Wilde and John Galsworthy satirize the antiquated and superficial
19th century attitudes of marriage for economic or social gain, of men's preferable position over
women, and of the superiority of the middle class in their respective works.
In the Victorian Era, marriage in the middle class functioned as another institute in which to acquire
property. The Man of Property provides plenty examples of this. Soames, "the man of property"
himself, considered his wife Irene as part of his property. He was continually frustrated when "he
did not own her as it was his right to own her, that he could not, as by stretching out his hand to that
rose, pluck her and sniff the very secrets of her heart." (PAGE). Galsworthy satirized the belief of
Soames, and his class, by showing how greedy and selfish he sounds when depicting Victorian
ideals of marriage. In

The Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde And...
Oscar Wilde was a 19th century poet and playwright, well known for works such as The Picture of
Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest. One of Wilde's famous quotes claims that,
according to history, disobedience is a valuable human trait that promotes social progress.
Disobedience is defined as the refusal to obey rules or someone in authority; in society, it is fueled
by the free will of the people and their desire for freedom and justice. There have been both
altruistic and malevolent leaders at every point in history, as well as those who follow them
peacefully, or stage a rebellion. The ability to disagree with one's government and to act upon this
discontent is the core skill of the people when attempting to dethrone ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Prior to her act of defiance, Park was active in the civil rights organization, the NAACP, so she fully
knew the personal and political consequences of her decision. Disobeying the Jim Crow laws
nonviolently was a key technique in the civil rights movement; in this instance Parks's rebellion
resulted in her being arrested and fined. In both the civil rights movement and the holocaust, laws
were put in place to put one group of people unfairly above another. Through perseverance and
courage, people have fought against the law and those enforcing it, to create racial tolerance in
society. Some may think that disobedience is a dangerous action because laws are in place for
protection and guidance, and if they are broken, then society would be damaged. In many cases, the
damage is obvious, such as with the Las Vegas shooting on October 1st of this year. Over 600
people were injured or killed by a man who decided that the law, and all of the people that he hurt,
didn't matter. One could argue that violence is the inevitable outcome of people thinking that
obeying the law is conditional. However, applying this assumption to every situation would be
unreasonable; breaking the law may heal society, instead of harming it, such as when someone kills
an attacker in self defense. There will always be those who break the law for selfish reasons, but to
make it impossible for anyone to ever break any laws would require the absence of all freedom; it is
necessary for

What Are Gender Roles In The Importance Of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest is one of Oscar Wilde's crowning masterpieces. The acclaimed
comedic play tells the tale of Jack Worthing and the mischief he causes when he and his best friend,
Algernon Moncrieff, assume double identities. When analyzing the play from various critical
perspectives, the reader can divulge into the various historical roots and gender roles that the author
uses to promote his message and criticize the Victorian upper class.
Evaluating the play from a historical critical perspective offers a retrospective look into the various
references the play makes to Victorian England. The Victorian Era of England is typically defined as
the period in which Queen Victoria reigned as monarch. "The Victorian period ... Show more
Perhaps the most overarching gender roles throughout the play are those associated with courting.
Both Gwendolyn and Cecily are convinced that they could not be with someone who's name isn't
Ernest. Gwendolyn tells Jack this in Act I. "I have known several Jacks, and they all, without
exception, were more than usually plain. The only really safe name is Ernest'" (Wilde 20). Cecily
again reiterates a similar message to Algernon in Act III. '"You must not laugh at me, darling, but it
had always been a girlish dream of mine to love someone whose name was Ernest. There is
something in that name that seems to inspire absolute confidence. I pity any poor married woman
whose husband is not called Ernest'" (Wilde 61). Both Gwendolyn and Cecily are convinced that
Ernest is the optimal name for a partner due in large part to the qualities that society perceives from
it. It is in this aspect of their attractiveness to the name that both characters reflect the gender roles
of courting to satisfy society rather than themselves. They both like the name Ernest not because
they themselves enjoy it but rather because they enjoy how society interprets it and how it makes
them look. "Men and women searched for an ideal relationship based on the expectations of a
demanding society. If a man or woman did not possess the qualities desired by the Victorian society,
the opposite sex may have dismissed the person as an unsuitable mate" (Appell). Both men and
women were expected to court those who fit society's expectations, not their own, and this gender
role is present in the play. Another gender stereotype present is patriarchal authority and superiority.
Throughout the Victorian Era, men were valued more than women. The man was the head of the
household and their word was final. This is very much present throughout much of the

The Importance Of Being Earnest Value
Jaci B. Gray
Professor James Reed
English 1302.2532
March 26, 2017
The Importance of Value In the drama "The Importance of Being Earnest," by Oscar Wilde, Lady
Bracknell is right to say that "We live, I regret to say, in an age of surfaces" (Wilde 1604). This play
emphasizes that the Victorian era did not value sympathy for the underprivileged, responsibility, or
even true honesty. Only wealthiness, class status, and style were what the Victorians' cared about.
An example of this would be when neither Lady Bracknell nor Algernon exhibited much
compassion when Bunbury had "died." The drama offers the idea that Earnest and Bunbury are very
similar in this play, because they are both completely made up and that they also symbolize the
empty ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The handbag that Jack was found in was described as being normal, but a little ragged from overuse.
The handbag Jack was placed in as a baby was found in a cloakroom, which is no coincidence
considering that this ordinary handbag was found in a common place where garments such as coats,
scarves, and cloaks are hung. Those pieces of clothing could all be worn to disguise an identity or a
face. The fact that Jack is found at the intersection of two lines of trains heading two different places
really puts him in an identity crisis. Even though Lady Bracknell has no idea of Jack's original
origin, she still tends to look at the negatives and judges him based on his past. But what she does
not take into consideration, is that since he was found at Victoria Station, the reader could interpret
that his social life would be very successful and eventually hold a very reputable position. Although
this idea is foreshadowed by the fact that Jack was found on Brighton Lane, which happens to be the
road that leads straight to the richer parts of town. The story of Earnest focuses mainly on Jack's
social advancements. At the end of the play it is actually divulged that he is a true member of the
aristocracy, being a part of the

John Ruskin 's Impact On Society
To do what one thinks and believes in, regardless of the positive or negative outcome, is very
important in society to create change. This is something people are lacking today. John Ruskin has a
famous quote, supporting this idea. "What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the
end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do." To start off, society has this idea
that consequences are only negative affects, but really, the definition of consequence is a result or
effect of an action or condition. Using all of that to understand the quote from John Ruskin, I
interpreted it in the way that all people have thoughts, knowledge, and beliefs. But, what the people
do with those thoughts, knowledge, and beliefs, are what will make a change in the end. If no one
tells their ideas, how will anything ever change? A prime example of a person who wasn't afraid to
tell their beliefs would be Martin Luther King Jr. He was not phased by people judging him for his
skin color or beliefs. He just said what he thought was right, and although he died for it, he did
change society in a positive way. I strongly agree with Ruskin's quote because change only occurs
when someone goes out of their way to try and cause it.
Generally speaking, it seems like the most common subjects people are afraid to speak out about is
regarding government and the economy. In 1984 by George Orwell, it shows an entire society who
can not speak out about their beliefs, and if they do

How Does Oscar Wilde Conform To Society
John Lahr, a critic of the famous author and playwright Oscar Wilde, once claimed, "To stand out in
Victorian culture,Wilde had to stand against it." Wilde definitely did not conform to the society by
which he was surrounded; being an aesthetic homosexual was not the typical or ideal Victorian man.
His distaste for the era he lived in is seen clearly in his humorous play The Importance of Being
Earnest. Wilde was personally judged and outcasted by his own society, which caused him to mock
his audience and argue that the Victorian Era was not as virtuous as those of that time attempted to
appear. He uses this piece of writing as an opportunity to not only stand against and disprove the
Victorian ideals, but to persuade his audience to realize ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Choosing a humourous style of writing allows him to attack the Victorian ideals without being too
offensive. Simply watching the play won't tell the audience his true purpose in writing this script;
after analyzing his writing, it can be seen that his tone in the play furthers his argument against the
era. The audience is watching a play that is a direct mocking of them without realizing it
immediately. The title of the play itself reads The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy
for Serious People. Not only is it a comedy, but it is meant for "serious people," meaning the people
of the Victorian Era. Being so caught up in their "morals" or "standards" allowed them no time for
humor and fun. The need to be a typical Victorian citizen overpowered their ability to enjoy being
themselves. Again, this leads back to the idea of how people had to conform and change in order to
fit the mold of the Victorian person. Furthermore, Wilde's work can be referred to as a satire,
meaning that Wilde uses his humor to mock the "vacuities" of this time (Niederhoff). Beyond his
style of writing, Wilde's choice in characters also allows an emotional connection to form between
the audience and play. Having roles that represent people the audience could relate to allows them to
attach themselves to the characters they are watching. Both the male and female roles of this play
are similar to the average

The Importance Of Being Ernest
In Oscar Wilde's The importance of Being Earnest both the men and the women struggle with facing
reality. Bot of the men run away from reality by being a whole different person. On the other hand,
the women run away by imagining life different from what it is. We see both genders struggling with
the theme from the ironic title "The Importance to Being Earnest". The first man one should look at
is a man named Jack. Jack lives in a large country house with his cousin Cicily. Whenever Jack
wants to escape his country life he goes to visit his "sick brother" Earnest. When he is "visiting"
Earnest, he is actually in the city being Earnest. This is his way for escaping the life of Jack. Earnest
gets to have adventure in the city. This is why he leaves his country life back at home, along with his
old name. Earnest even falls in love with a young woman named Gwendolyn. ... Show more content
on Helpwriting.net ...
Gwendolyn has always said that she would love a man with the name Earnest. "my ideal has always
been to love someone of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute
confidence. The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a friend called Ernest, I knew I
was destined to love you." (p. 1485) This is a somewhat crazy idea. The only reason she is so madly
in love with him is simply because his name is Earnest, when in reality his name is actually Jack.
Even when she find out that he lied about his name, she justifies the lie. The way she can justify it is
that she thinks that he lied in order to win her affection. This proves that she doesn't care about the
true characteristics of being earnest, but simply just the

The Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde
The Importance of Being Earnest is viewed as a standout amongst the best plays composed by Oscar
Wilde, an incredible nineteenth century writer. Oscar Wilde manages something one of a kind about
his contemporary age in this show. It addresses Victorian social issues, French theater, sham, social
dramatization and acting. Every one of these factors influenced the structure of the play in a huge
scale. This play is essentially a Victorian mocking dramatization displaying the social, political,
monetary and important religious changes that influenced eighteenth century England. It was during
this time that the British Empire had taken over most of the world including Ireland, Oscar Wilde's
home. The privileged people of England turned out to ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
When we read this play, we see that the producer depicts each character to portray the false
reverence of the contemporary Victorian culture. Wilde manages the irregularity of nature of men
here. None of the male characters are earnest or sincere in nature. There is absence of good values in
each character. "The characters repudiate themselves more often than not. Jack, the hero of the play,
tosses out Victorian esteem despite the fact that he speaks to the model Victorian man" (Crombie
154). "Through his depiction of conflicting characters, Wilde ridicules upon the English society and
the bad faith predominant in the Victorian period" (Crombie 154). In any case, the female characters
portrayed in the play are a great deal more predictable and appear to take after the general beliefs of
marriage and love, as it is very clear in eighteenth century England. Gwendolen and Cecily are
infatuated and they need to get married, "as marriage appears to give the fundamental government
managed savings that was required by women in the Victorian time" (Foster 23). Through the
connections between the female and male characters, Wilde depicts the irregularities of eighteenth
century England. In the play false reverence is uncovered by the hero, Jack Worthing's character and
unexpected articulations. He is delineated as a high society character, without qualities. "Jack speaks
to the life of

In the play by Oscar Wilde "The Importance of Being Earnest", Wilde takes a comedic stance on a
melodrama, portraying the duplicity of Victorian traditions and social values as the modernism of
the twentieth century begins to emerge. The idea of the play revolves around its title of the
characters discovering the importance of being earnest to their individual preferences. The author
uses the traditional efforts of finding a marriage partner to illustrate the conflicting pressure of
Victorian values and the changing presence of modern thought.
In the first act, Wilde portrays the characters of Algernon, Earnest (who is actually Jack), and the
butler Lane to discredit the romantic notion of being married. Using the careless opinions from the
butler, Lane and the mention of divorces by Algernon to challenge the changing moral views on
marriage. In the phrase "if the lower orders don't see us a good example, what on earth is the use of
them?" (Wilde 1734). Asking the question, why continue to uphold an outdated standard. Later in
the play Wilde again contests, traditional values by eluding the notion of choosing a spouse based on
financial and social gains instead for romance and love.
Each of the female characters is determined to marry a guy named Earnest. Gwendolen Fairfax with
the social gracefulness of the Victorian Era with the help of her mother Lady Bracknell are intensely
determined to continue the Victorian lifestyle of social prominence by marring Earnest.

What Is The Theme Of Sexualism In The Eve Of St Agnes By...
Pre–Raphaelite art was a movement was born of poetry, English Romanti cism texts inspired the
young artists of the Brotherhood. The first of these texts The Eve of St Agnes, a poem by John Keats
and key text from Romanticism that served as inspiration for John Everett Millais and William
Holman Hunt and spawned the dawn of the Pre–Raphaelite Brotherhood. A romantic tale of
elopement and awakening sexuality, young Porphyro hides in Madeline's bed chamber,
Even to Madeline's chamber, and there hide Him in a closet, of such privacy that he might see her
beauty unespied,
And win perhaps that night a peerless bride,
While legion'd faires pac'd the coverlet,
And pale enchantment held her sleepy–eyed.
Another version of this tale by ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The name Pre–Raphaelite came from their opposition of the academy's promotion of the
Renaissance painter Raphael. Other inspirations came from art critic John Ruskin's encouragement
to 'go to nature', believing art to be a serious subject that should be treated with maximum realism
and truth.
The principal philosophies of their movement were primarily religious, but would often draw
inspiration from texts and literature, particularly those associated with death and love. In their
paintings, the Brotherhood created an entirely new manner of presenting human anatomy by
imbuing their depictions of men and women with medieval and spiritual ideas in which they were so
captivated. Its original members; John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel
Rosetti's work became heavily influential after great opposition at the beginning, and a second phase
of the movement occurred at around 1860 with particular works ¬¬¬¬majorly influencing the
succeeding Symbolism movement.
After a 1984 exhibition of the Pre–Raphaelite's works at the Tate Gallery, a shift in the interpretation
of their work took place. Instead, analysis grew upon the subject of gender and sexuality when it
came to light the relationships between the artistic work and the circumstances of its creation.
Priorities over the attitudes concerning women that thought of them as either 'devilish femme–
fatale's or virtuous illuminated the limited

The Importance Of Being Earnest Analysis
The play, The Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde, describes two main protagonists
living in 1890's England, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff (Algy), who, for the sake of love,
both use the same name (Ernest) to conceal their true identity. Algy has a cousin named Gwendolen
Fairfax, whom Jack is in deep love with. On the other hand, Algy falls in love with Jack's ward, who
is Cecily Cardew. At first, everything goes well, until both Jack and Algy end up together in the
country, leading to a comedy of mistaken identities. The play uses satire to ridicule the issues such
as money, marriage, and social status during the Victorian Age. The upper–class society of the
Victorian period can be exemplified by the characters to give us knowledge and understanding of
the play. One scene where Lady Bracknell disapproves of Algernon's proposal to Cecily because she
thinks that Cecily does not possess a lot of money nor social status. As such, Wilde believes that the
Upper–class Victorian society should not take trivial matters such as money, marriage, social status,
and appearance seriously.
According to Wilde, Lady Bracknell disapproves Algernon's proposal to Cecily because she thinks
that Cecily is not nearly good enough for Algernon. This is evident by the line: "Ah! A life crowded
with incident, I see; though perhaps somewhat too exciting for a young girl. I am not myself in
favour of premature experiences" (Wilde). As Lady Bracknell is the quintessence of society in the
Victorian era, she believes that social status and wealth is of the utmost importance and that
marrying someone without money is intolerable. Jack, knowing that Lady Bracknell is a
materialistic person, persuades her sarcastically, "Oh! About a hundred and thirty thousand pounds
in the Funds. That is all. Goodbye, Lady Bracknell. So pleased to have seen you". (Wilde) Lady
Bracknell changes her mind immediately after knowing that Cecily is wealthy and has large funds:
"A moment, Mr. Worthing. A hundred and thirty thousand pounds! And in the Funds! Miss Cardew
seems to me a most attractive young lady, now that I look at her" (Wilde). Lady Bracknell consents
the marriage of Algernon and Cecily because of Cecily's Wealth. This is

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Wilde's 'The Importance Of Being Earnest' explores various themes of love and marriage, especially
in Act 1, where marriage in Victorian society is widely contradicted as a 'very pleasant state,' instead
using various comedic devises, such as puns, double entendres and inversions to mock its virtue and
morality.
Wilde creates comedy through the presentation of Victorian views on the functionality of marriage,
ridiculing it as a social tool. The fact that Victorian society does not value the 'love' and romance of
marriage is witnessed from the exposition, where Algernon's mockery of social constraints is shown
through his statements of "is marriage so demoralizing as that?" and "I really don't see anything
romantic in proposing." This cynical view creates vast amounts of disorder as Algernon's desire to
escape his responsibilities clearly overrides his desire to settle down. This is illustrated through his
view that "the very essence of romance is uncertainty" and therefore, perhaps, Victorian ideals,
which dictate marriage to be a conventional source of gain, are not suited towards his anti–realist
nature. Within his refusal to follow social conventions of the Victorian era, whereby courtship is
typically functional rather than romantic, Wilde mocks the superficial tendencies of marriage as a
social tool, as is displayed through the proposal that marriage is "demoralizing." This not only
conveys the concept of futility in marriage and loss of hope for a future that is not

Double Standards In The Importance Of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde, playwright of the play The Importance of Being Earnest, uses the relationships and
interactions of his characters to satirize the moral beliefs and customs of Victorian Era England.
Wilde's play follows the life of Jack Worthington who is trying to earn the approval of his fiancee,
Gwendolen's, mother in order to marry her. Lady Bracknell's disapproval stems from the ambiguity
of Jack's birthright, despite him being a wealthy man. Her disapproval serves as a mockery to
Victorian society and its upheaval of social status and wealth above love and companionship as the
basis of marriage. This is seen again when, despite her initial refusal, Lady Bracknell allows her
nephew, Algernon, to marry Jack's ward Cecily after hearing of her vast wealth. Her approval of this
relationship further mocks the Victorian belief that monetary gains is the most important aspects
when considering marriage. With these two separate ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Despite Cecily being orphaned just like Jack, because she is a girl with wealth and status, she is held
at a lower standard than Jack, a man of her same caliber, when Lady Bracknell is mulling over the
prospect of marriage. With this situation, Wilde reveals the double standard of Victorian society that
still lasts until this day. This double standard also relates to marrying up into wealth. Lady
Bracknell, despite coming from an impoverished background, is allowed to marry a wealthy and
aristocratic man. But when Jack asks to marry Gwendolen, he is subjected to a lengthy interview in
which he must prove that he has enough wealth to support her. Again, Wilde puts his characters into
common Victorian England situations to mock the practice involving marriage, wealth and status.
Wilde manages to provoke thought into his readers and audience to question the values they grew up
learning about through the actions and interactions that his characters must face to reach their

Analysis Of ' Ruination And Drosscape '
Ruination and Drosscape
Ruination is a recurring theme through the creative field; primarily in art, art theory and poetry.
There is a grand human reaction to ruin that transcends this word into a conceptual state. It is a
concept that artists have had an abiding interest in, which has in turn led the conception of the
modern ruin. My uncoverage of this concept has been through a multitude of resources whilst
researching for my own artistic practise. Art theorists and artists have thematically looked to ruin as
an aid to understand human nature and the ways in which we cope with the rapidly developing
world around us through a sentimentality for what is past and lost. There is a need to discern this
reaction to ruin and to simultaneously validate it. Ruins hold a curious charm that is produced by the
coinciding state of decay and regeneration, which oscillate randomly and chaotically. Ruins draw
people in and inspire creation. Similarly, art necessarily develops from the past's foundation, the
neglected; without a break, and wherever it may end up, reference to the past remains. Ruin
provokes nostalgia for the aesthetic forms and iconography of the former, resulting in an ongoing
phenomenon that recycles and regenerates in art and art theory.
In Allan Smith's Essay Entropic steps: Rocks, ruins, and increase in John Ruskin, Robert Smithson,
and Per Kirkeby, he triangulates the writings of Ruskin, Smithson and Kirkeby, in order to show a
breadth of reaction to ruin (primarily

Homoeroticism In The Picture Of Dorian Gray
Wilde's sexuality and effeminate nature shaped his relations to the natural beauty of the world,
which in turn manifested itself in the moral implications of his now famous works. For example, his
very own personal ordeals are envisaged through the passages of The Picture of Dorian Gray, and it
has been passionately hypothesized that characters such as Basil, Dorian, and Lord Henry are
personalities of Wilde's own flamboyant character. In an interpretation written by Donald H
Ericksen, Wilde had written the following: "Basil in how I see myself, Lord Henry how the world
sees me and Dorian how I would like to be". The discussions surrounding The Picture of Dorian
Gray were linked to the egregious homoeroticism displayed through the synergy of Wilde's
characters and how they interacted with each other. In a time of irrational Victorian thinking, it
comes as no surprise that Wilde's writing had evoked such a backlash. For people during the
Victorian period, Wilde's male characters and the relationships in which they maintained were more
than abundantly suggestive to enable thoughts of disgust in even the most tolerant of people. Wilde's
own sexual orientation laid out for the reader just how these relationships were assembled. In the
opening of The Picture of Dorian Gray, ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
He who finds them has brought them". In accordance with this declaration, Jacqueline Rose
contends that "the sexuality lies less in the content", but rather "in the subjectivity... in the
relationship between what is looked at and the developing sexual knowledge of the child". And,
because no sexual act is ever categorically voiced, readers evolve their own interpretations, which
conclusively contributed to the denunciation of Oscar Wilde, and to the overwhelming amount of
investigation used to examine homoerotic codes in The Picture of Dorian

The Importance of Being Earnest Essay
A Trivial Comedy for Serious People
Oscar Wilde mocked his audience while he entertained them. Perhaps his most loved and well–
known work, The Importance of Being Earnest, satirises the manners and affections of the upper–
class Victorian society. Satire is a literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or
weakness, usually with the intent of changing or correcting the subject of the satirical attack. The
play focuses on the elite, while making fun of the ludicrousness and extremity of their behaviour. By
employing many different types of humour, including witticisms, sarcasm and irony, Wilde
produced, arguably, the most popular and enduring pieces of social satire to ever surface from the
Victorian era.
The major target ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Although the characters in The Importance of Being Earnest strive to be respectable, none actually
believe in the socially–set standards.
As subset of the theme of values, Wilde explores in depth what it means to have a dual identity in
Victorian society. Wilde himself knew the nature of the double life, having indulging in activities
that were illegal and vilified by "respectable" society while appearing to be a husband and father in a
traditional household. The theme of a double life of outward respectability while secretly
transgressing society's moral code is central to the plot of the Importance of Being Earnest. This is
epitomised by the concept of "Bunburying". Bunburying is, defined by Algernon, an elaborate lie
allowing one to misbehave or escape social obligations while appearing respectable and dutiful. This
idea is summed up in the text when Jack quips "When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one
is in the country one amuses other people." Through Jack's wit, Wilde suggests that duplicity is an
essential part of existence in late–Victorian society. Both Jack and Algernon struggle to remain free
of the restrictions of Victorian convention.

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, premiered in London in 1895 when Wilde was in
the peak of his career. During this time of the Victorian Era, society was very moral and chaste, at
least on the surface. There was a very specific code of behavior that governed almost everything, but
focused mainly on the topic of marriage. This affected Wilde first–hand as he was married to a
woman but also involved with men which was forbidden at the time. Using the themes of dualism
and marriage, Wilde is trying to show the audience the ridiculous nature of Victorian society.
Through the reoccurring theme of dualism, Oscar Wilde uses sizable amounts of satire to not only
mock the trivial Victorian society, but more specifically to ridicule ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Later, when Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen enter, two more ideas of marriage are brought to the
forefront. Lady Bracknell portrays the aristocratic Victorian view of marriage but to a more extreme
extent. According to Ziegenfuss, marriage in the Victorian era was not romanticized or fairytale–
like. Love actually played a very minor role in the majority of matrimonies that took place.
Engagement was entered into as one would approach a business deal, with rules and guidelines
(Ziegenfuss). This is blatantly obvious when Lady Bracknell interviews Jack to see if he's fit to
marry Gwendolen. She attacks Jack with questions about family, fortune, and even place of
residency and his answers need be appropriate for a union between the two families. (Kupske,
Souza, 122). Even when Algernon wants to marry Cecily, Lady Bracknell voices, "I think some
preliminary inquiry on my part would not be out place." (Wilde, 46). Gwendolen, however, has the
same view of marriage as Jack but, still has strong ideals about social protocol. This is seen when
Jack tries to propose, she replies, "Of course I will darling...I am afraid you have had very little
experience in how to propose!" (Wilde, 11)
Satire, in which Wilde places throughout the dialogue, is used to deride Victorian age concept of
marriage and exhibit the theme to the audience. This is evident when Wilde addresses how
Gwendolen and Cecily refuse to marry a man if their names were not

Oscar Wilde Satire In The Importance Of Being Earnest
Sofi Sosa
Professor Klein
British Literature
11 December 2017
Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest presents a satirical play that is used to emphasize
the insignificance and absurdity of certain "rules" within Victorian society. The main characters in
the play characterize Victorian high society; therefore, the criticism that arises from Wilde's
exaggeration extends further than the play itself. More specifically, Wilde exaggerates the
consumption of food, something that seems to be routine in everyday life. Wilde plays on this theme
of presenting such an ordinary event as an emotionally moving experience. He does this by making
a connection between the presentation of food and a characters feeling of emotion that is unusual
during the Victorian society.
During the Victorian society, it was considered disrespectful for members of the upper classes of
society to show conflicting and personal feelings. In public, any kind of overbearing emotions
needed to be prevented in order to maintain proper appropriateness. In response to these societal
rules, Oscar Wilde uses the characters' exaggeration of their food intake to represent the emotions
that they are unable to show. By using food to mask and restrain unpleasant feelings like lust,
aggression, and stress, Wilde conveys the Victorian Era's dislike towards public displays of such
emotions.
Through discussing one's feelings of sexual desires, rules of the political system regarding polite
conversation were

The Folly And Dual Identities Of The Victorian Society
Angela Reyes
Mrs. Garner
AP English Literature and Composition
28 October 2017
The Folly and Dual Identities of the Victorian Society
Stephen Colbert states, "Status is always ripe for satire; status is always good for comedy." The
timeless message of the social elite's obsession with their self–imposed high statuses is the target of
Oscar Wilde's satirical play, The Importance of Being Earnest. Wilde defaces the reputations elites
upheld in the Victorian era and outlines the deviant display of Victorian manners as hypocritical.
The quick–witted dialogue of his characters incites comedy which masks the underlying criticism of
the Victorian way of life. Oscar Wilde's masterful use of satire, the neologism Bunbury, and
mockery of the Victorian society establish the theme of duality embedded throughout the play, The
Importance of Being Earnest.
Satire is applied to highlight the folly embedded in Victorian logic, demonstrated by their manner of
addressing important matters with triviality. Lady Bracknell, a Victorian social elite condemns
Algernon's neologism Bunbury's history of terminal illnesses, an unexpected approach to the
situation considering the uncontrollable nature of illnesses. Lady Bracknell advised, "...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). The folly of the Victorian elite is apparent in the manner with
which Lady Bracknell demeans the seriousness of

Marxist View On The Importance Of Being Ernest
Viewing the play of The Importance of Being Earnest from a feminist perspective portrays the men
in the Victorian Era to be misogynistic. A perpetuated stereotype in this play is that women should
be protected from the truth. "Jack:[In a very patronizing manner] 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"(29)! The belief that women are fragile and unable to handle anything
serious is present. Furthermore, when Algernon discovers that Cecily is convinced that they had met
before and had had many romantic encounters, she is presented as mentally insane. This perpetuates
the belief that women depend on men and could not be satisfied without one in their life. In addition
to this, Gwendolen and Cecily are the ones being deceived by Jack and Algernon. This shows that
women are stereotypically submissive to men and can be taken advantage of. Through evaluating
The Importance ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
While those of the Victorian upper class were usually the most refined and intelligent, Wilde
portrays them as ignorant and dense. One of the most well described ladies, Miss Prism, is shown to
be the least aware. "The most cultivated of ladies, and the very picture of respectability"(63). She is
ultimately the most absent minded and leaves baby Jack in a handbag in a cloak room of a major
railway station. Through Miss Prism, Wilde is able to propagandize the intelligence the aristocrats
usually embody. In addition to this, Wilde refutes the morality of the Victorian elite. The main two
characters, Jack and Algernon, are deceptive and are rarely seen to have any morals. Reviewing this
play with a sociological/Marxist perspective provides insight on how Wilde wants others to perceive
the elite of

Being Ernest
The Importance of Being Earnest is a play by Oscar Wilde. The Importance of Being Earnest is a
drama. It takes place in London, England. The main character in this drama is Jack, who is also
pretending to be Ernest. Jack and Algernon both lie about being Ernest. Jack pretends to have a
brother Ernest, but it is a lie; there is no brother Ernest. Jack also fell in love with Algernon's cousin
named Gwendolen. Algernon is the second leading character in The Importance of Being Earnest.
Algernon always eats something when he is not happy. At the start of the play, Lane and Algernon
conversation about marriages while eating cucumber sandwiches. Food is used to symbol in the play
such as cucumber sandwiches, cake, bread, butter and muffins. A character in play uses food to
show their emotion to let reader and audience know. There is always conflict once food is served ...
Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Algernon and Jack are found guilty of pretending to be Ernest. Jack says he just wants to engaged to
Gwendolen. Algernon replies that he wants to engaged to Cecily. They both think that Algernon is
not going to marry Cecily, and Jack is not going to marry Gwendolen. Algernon eats a muffin
calmly. Jack implies on muffins, "How can you sit there, calmly eating muffins when we are in this
horrible trouble, I can't make out. You seem to me to be perfectly heartless" (Wilde 29). According
to Algernon, it is clear that while eating muffins it helps him to be stable. Eating calmly is only way
it helps Algernon to comforts him. Algernon implies, "When I am in trouble, eating is the only thing
that consoles me. Indeed, when I am in really great trouble, as any one who knows me intimately
will tell you, I refuse everything except food and drink. At the present moment I am eating muffins
because I am unhappy. Besides, I am particularly fond of muffins" (Wilde 29). It helps him
overcome with problems in front of

Earnest Social Structure
Oscar Wilde demonstrated the complex social structure of the Victorian era of society through
comedy and satire in his play, "The Importance of Being Earnest". Despite the play's title, neither
male leading characters, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff are entirely earnest. In order to
secure their engagements and protect their social standings, both create long exaggerated stories and
lie about their true identities. Wilde continues to display the faults of the Victorian upper class
through characters, Cecily Cardew and Miss Prism. Both women prove to be hopeless romantics
with unrealistic perspectives on fantasy versus reality. Based off of Prisms novel and her obvious
desire to become a romantic novelist, and Cecily's delusional writings in her diaries, Wilde is trying
to convey that essentially anyone in Victorian society may be considered a writer. When Wilde first
introduces Cecily, it becomes apparent to readers that she is bored with her current lifestyle. She
shows little interest in her lessons and a strong passion for writing in her diary. Unlike Gwendolyn,
Cecily's family background and lifestyle are significantly different than her traditional upper class
London setting. Cecily's life takes place in the much less sophisticated countryside of England with
only her guardian who she refers to as "Uncle Jack" and her tutor Miss Prism, who acts as a sort of
motherly figure. Because Cecily is not a product of upper class London society, and she desires
more out of

A comedic work of literature is often just one that was meant as pure enjoyment for the reader.
Other times, comedy is meant to shed light on a serious situation or instance the public refuses or is
uncomfortable talking about in a non–comedic setting. However, the greatest type of comedy is one
that makes the reader think, one that provokes "thoughtful laughter" from them. "The Importance of
Being Earnest", a satirical play written during Victorian Era Britain by Oscar Wilde, is such a piece
literature. By poking fun at the time period in which his characters live in during one particular
scene, as well as illustrating the unsubdued hilarity of a character during that scene, Wilde is able to
elicit thoughtful laughter from his audience, ultimately showing them that life is far too serious and
needs to be taken more lightly. Throughout much of the play and especially the beginning, Wilde
satirizes the setting in which both the characters as well as his audience live in. This satirization
specifically requires that the audience be thoughtful whenever Wilde makes a joke, resulting in the
thoughtful laughter which makes a true comedy. "The Importance of Being Earnest" is set during the
late 20th century in Britain, a time period known as the Victorian Era, in which the British Empire
was at its absolute peak. The dominance of Britain in world affairs resulted in a sense of
Sreedhar 2 superiority among its citizens, especially among the upper class, who behaved very

The White Queen Called It, Living Backwards
The White Queen called it "living backwards." She was referring, of course, to life on the other side
of a looking glass. Indeed, traveling through a looking glass, if it were possible, would be a
contortion of space, a reversal of the orderly world in the "frontward" side of the glass with the
disorder found in the "backward" side. Everything would, like the queen said, be turned around. So
if someone in Victorian England squeezed herself through a looking glass, she might find, instead of
the classic Victorian ideal of the tranquil home where the husband brought home the bacon and the
wife happily cooked it, homes in which strong wives dominated weak, ineffectual husbands and
husbands who, instead of coming home each evening to restore themselves within the loving
familial bond, escaped that bond by taking long naps and dreaming strange dreams. Indeed, instead
of finding homes in which the spaces between marriage partners were narrowed, someone
wandering through a looking glass world would find emotional gulfs between partners, gulfs that
even the most stringent Victorian ideals could not close. These emotional spaces in Lewis Carroll's
Through The Looking Glass and What Alice Found There can be seen through another lens as well.
While Alice, the book's heroine, metaphorically grows into adulthood as she moves her way across
the fictional chessboard, the author remains static; Carroll watches wistfully as the emotional space
between himself and

The Conflict Of Identity In The Picture Of Dorian Gray
The Picture of Dorian Grey as a novel in the Victorian Era was shocking to readers of the time due
to the open nature of topics like: sexuality, greed and corruption. A Freudian perspective of the
characters: Basil, Lord Henry and Dorian can be seen as the Id, Ego and Super Ego. Basil is the
Super Ego, he conforms to a certain extent and tries to make Dorian lead a moral life when it comes
to desperate times of the loss of the 'real Dorian'; Lord Henry can be seen as the Id, the immoral
character who tries to convince Dorian to submit to his natural urges and passions; Dorian is the
Ego, one who in the beginning is in between the two and has a power struggle within as to how he
should act as a character in the novel. In answering this question and exploring the conflicts shown
in the novel one must look at the gender, identity and sexuality.
One conflict shown in Dorian Grey is the conflict of identity portrayed in the novel by Oscar Wilde.
The character Basil describes Lord Henry to be a very influential character to another's identity, for
example, 'Don't spoil him. Don't try influence him. Your influence would be bad.' Spoiling Dorian
shows that he is pure, and should not be tainted by Lord Henry's character; this shows that Lord
Henry is impure in thought and in his actions and this impacts his approach towards others. As Basil
says this, it shows that he understands the flaws in Lord Henry's character, but also his power in
manipulation, especially towards someone like

During Oscar Wilde's life, the practices and standards of society heavily conflicted with his personal
beliefs and stances. Wilde's prevalent homoeroticism during a time in which homosexuality was
socially unacceptable, served as unassailable evidence in his conviction. Ultimately, the inclusion of
such passages resulted in his imprisonment. The necessity to disguise and conceal his homosexuality
led to Wilde's criticism of the need for social facades. He, therefore, used his works, The Picture of
Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest, as a means to convey his true feelings and
beliefs and to criticize and satirize the shallowness and superficiality of the society in which he
lived. Oscar Wilde condemns the suffocating and superficial standards of Victorian era society by
displaying and denouncing the absurdity of social facades. In both his novel and play, Oscar Wilde
presents Victorian era society in a satirical manner, attacking the importance of wealth as it pertains
to marriage, and therefore, portraying such a society as inherently superficial. Wilde argues that in
such a society, wealth plays a fundamental role in the perception of beauty. Lady Bracknell
prematurely judges Cecily's engagement to Algernon, with regards only to the knowledge of Jack's
custodial relationship to her. However, when Lady Bracknell learns of Cecily's wealth, she quickly
reevaluates her perception, exclaiming "'A hundred and thirty thousand pounds! Miss Cardew seems
to me a most

Identity as a Name in The Importance of Being Earnest
Wilde uses Gwendolen's and Cecily's obviously superficial affection towards each other to again
accentuate and criticize the importance that the Victorian's placed on an individual's name. The
practice of naming others as a means to display one's own dominance is satirized by the irony in the
argument between the two young ladies. The audience detects that they are undoubtedly fighting
over Ernest as well as superiority, but their true feelings are ironically hidden (rather poorly) under
fake earnestness. Garland states that, "both women attempt to define the existence of their opponent
through rapidly shifting expression of Identity" (272), and cause a quiet fire in the atmosphere of the
scene. Since their fight is so indirect and blatantly petty, Wilde is able to comically criticize females
of victorian society that are represented by Gwendolen and Cecily. Gwendolen and Cecily are both
fixated on the name Ernest because the superficial society surrounding them unconsciously causes
them to gravitate towards men that they believe have earnest dispositions. Gwendolen asserts her
fondness of the name Ernest declaring, "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 980). Cecily also
admires the name Ernest and makes a statement almost identical to Gwendolen's when she admits,
"it had always been a girlish dream of mine to love someone whose name was Ernest. There is
something in that

Essay on Gender and Consistency in "The Importance of...
The Importance of Being Earnest is regarded as one of the most successful plays written by Oscar
Wilde, a great 19th century playwright. Oscar Wilde deals with something unique about his
contemporary age in this drama. It addresses Victorian social issues, French theatre, farce, social
drama and melodrama. All these factors influenced the structure of the play in a large scale. This
play is basically a Victorian satirical drama showcasing the social, political, economic and religious
structural changes that affected 18th century England. It was the time when British Empire had
captured most part of the world including Oscar Wilde's homeland, Ireland. The aristocrats of
England had become dominant over the middle and poor class people and ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Wilde has beautifully portrayed the characters of the play and they remain alive in each act of this
drama. However, their sense of purpose and values remain foggy and highly confusing till the end of
the play. When we read this play, we see that the dramatist portrays each character to depict the
hypocrisy of the contemporary Victorian society. Wilde deals with the inconsistency of nature of
men here. None of the male characters are serious in life or earnest in nature. There is lack of moral
values in each character. The characters contradict themselves most of the time. Jack, the protagonist
of the play, throws out all Victorian values even though he represents the model Victorian man and
aristocratic English people. Through his characterization and portrayal of inconsistent characters,
Wilde satirizes upon the English society and the hypocrisy prevalent in the Victorian era.
However, the female characters depicted in the play are much more consistent and seem to follow
the general ideals of marriage and love, as was evident in 18th century England. Gwendolen Fairfax
and Cecily Cardew are in love and they want to get married as marriage seems to provide the
essential social security that was needed by women in the Victorian era. Through the interactions
between the female and male characters, Wilde portrays the inconsistencies of 18th century
England.
In this play hypocrisy is exposed by the protagonist, Jack Worthing's character and ironic
statements. He is

The Important Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde

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The Important Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde