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What does wilde say about the importance of being ernest
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Sometimes, people may not be the best in character, and their values may be superficial in nature. Although this may be the case, these people may have a reason for their questionable character. These people may have been treated poorly before, or their influences make them poor characters. Such is Gwendolen Fairfax in Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Ernest. To the audience, she may seem to be someone shallow, dishonest, or even insincere. The audience is most likely correct, although if one pays attention, one may realize the reason why Gwendolen has such a character. Throughout the play, Wilde shows how Gwendolen’s trivial and insincere character is influenced by her mother and the people around her, as well as the result of …show more content…
She only becomes insincere towards Cecily when she sees the other as a threat to her relationship with Ernest. Although being insincere to someone is not the best decision, Gwendolen uses it to cover up her insecurity. When she finds out that Cecily is Mr Worthing’s ward, she tells the younger girl, “Disloyalty would be as impossible to [Ernest] as deception. But even men of the noblest possible moral character are extremely susceptible to the influence of the physical charm of others” (163). Gwendolen expresses to Cecily how she wished the other was older and uglier, making the chances of Ernest being attracted towards her decrease. Gwendolen is a lady of appearance, and she is confident of her own, but she is still insecure towards Cecily. Because of this, she becomes rude towards Cecily. Yet, however, Cecily explains to Gwendolen that Ernest Worthing is not her guardian, but Jack is. In response to this, Gwendolen shows her relief by telling Cecily, “You have lifted a load from my mind. I was growing almost anxious” (163). Here, Gwendolen admits that Cecily made her anxious about her relationship with Ernest; she relaxes once she finds out that Ernest most likely has not met Cecily if that is the case. With this, the audience sees how her insecurity causes her insincerity towards Cecily, and how much she cares about her relationship with
The social standing of actors and actresses in the late eighteenth century was mostly understood to be of the lower class but they were not always treated so. "Many performers, furthermore, were received everywhere with cordiality and respect. Several of them made marriages with persons of distinction;" (Hogan, cxx). A problem that would often occur to dampen a performer's social standing would be the result of a character they played. People of the audience would often hold the performer accountable for the faults of their character. "For an actress to portray an adulteress was not only immodest, but it would almost certainly induce her to become one in reality; of an actor profligacy and immorality were his chief characteristics;" (Hogan, cxx).
While it is widely understood now that Victorian society was one of excess and frivolity, it most certainly seemed legitimate to members of high society at the time. However, this was not the case with Oscar Wilde, who in his final play made mockery of his countrymen by satirizing the way in which they lived. This play, entitled The Importance of Being Earnest, follows the courtship of two young girls and exaggerates the absurd formalities of such a process in high society. The characters are shallow and delusional as a result of their upbringing, and collectively their words bring harsh criticism to the British upper class.
Gwen’s community was not tolerable towards transexuals as she paid with her own life the ignorance of individuals, which resulted in transgender activist coming together from the nation to demonstrate support to Gwen’s visibility in the transgender community. The article Learning From the Death of Gwen Araujo? Transphobic Racial Subordination and Queer Latina Survival in the Twenty-First Century, by Linda Heidenreich discusses the gay panic and race issues involving the Araujo case. Due to the color of her skin, she did not get media attention, until the LGBT community enforced the legitimacy of her case as important as a white transgender victim. Heidenreich states, “Why did the death of this young blond man [Matthew Shepard] garner so much
Similarly, in “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Jack and Algernon both begin their marital lives based on deception and lies. As a matter of fact, Gwendolen and Algernon both know Jack as Ernest. When Jack proposes to Gwendolen, she becomes overly attached to the idea of marrying someone called Ernest. Gwendolen exclaims: “My ideal has always been to love someone of the name Ernest/There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence/It is a divine name/It has a music of its own/It produces vibrations” (Wilde 106), and Cecily is of the same opinion “it had always been a girlish dream of mine to love someone whose name was Ernest/I pity any poor married woman whose husband is not called Ernest” (Wilde 116). Jack and Algernon never admits to Gwendolen and Cecily that they are living a double life, their relationships are based on lies. They are more occupied with the name Ernest than the fact of actually being earnest. In spite of leading a deceptive and double life, both men
The Victorian stage melodrama was made up of six stock characters: The hero, villain, heroine, aged parent (Lord Caversham), sidekick and a servant (Phibbs). A stock character is a fictional character that is based upon a stereotype or well-known traits within society. Stock characters rely heavily on the names that they’re provided with (language used, personality and dress code). Stock characters are placed in order for parodies to occur which will amplify any labels connected with these characters. Several stock characters can be applied to characters within ‘An Ideal husband’ and Oscar Wilde’s use of this was intentional to create a comical effect to the play instead of being serious.
The Importance of Being Earnest is one of Oscar Wilde’s many masterpieces. The famed comedic play is about Jack Worthing and his friend Algernon Moncrieff, who create double identities and are eventually caught in their lie. When analyzing this play the author made it easy for the reader to identify the different gender roles & gender specific stereotypes he uses in order to criticize the Victorian values.
Gwendoline Fairfax is a prime example of London’s finest fashionable and sophisticated upper-class. She is in love with Ernest (Who is really Jack), and the daughter of Lady Bracknell. Gwendoline is so set on marrying Ernest (who is really Jack) that she is willing to do it even before she meets him in person. Gwendoline’s character challenges the typical Victorian roles where the female is submissive to the male, She is more aggressive in what she wants and going after it. Which is portrayed in parts of the play where she fights the urge to do what she wants and the urge to do what she is told. However, Gwendoline still embodies the Victorian era by being so fixated on marrying someone named Ernest it does not matter to her if the man is a good person morally or not as long as his name is Ernest. We find that Gwendoline instead of facing the truth when she finds out the about Jack she gives herself her own answer, one she can live with, to why he lied to her in the first place about who he really was. Luckily for her, Jacks real name in fact does turn
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.
Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew offer representation of the ideas of the woman toward the turn of the century. They happen to be similar in many ways but still have their differences. Gwendolen and Cecily are insistent and take initiative in search of their own aspirations. Gwendolen follows Jack to the country, a place most likely very unfamiliar to her, and Cecily pursues Algernon as soon as she sees him. They are also both capable of escaping those who intend to keep them from their goals. Gwendolen is able to flee her overbearing mother, Lady Bracknell; Cecily outsmarts Jack by organizing Algernon to stay, and also avoids Miss Prism to continue on a rendezvous with her lover. For both women, material and small things are most important. Gwendolen insist on marrying a man with the name Ernest merely based on the name's connotations. Cecily also craves the same as she believes Jack's brother is an immoral man and ever though she has never met him, the thought of him sounds idealistic. She rebelliously and romantically toys with pursing the "immoral brother," but clearly she will shape him into the man she wants him to be. The name of Ernest is also important to her. Both Gwendolen and Cecily are products of the Victorian concept in which how one accomplishes is more important than why. Though seeming very similar Cecily and Gwendolen are divergent in certain aspects, Gwendolen is confident and knowing, while her mother has taught her to be short-range. She is also raised in the only traditional family in the entire play. On the other hand, Cecily is more sheltered, and more primitive. She doesn’t really experience motherly love other than her governess. The character of Gwendolen is tool used to confer marriage and give Wild...
This makes the characters humorous, but it also makes them seem hypocritical because if they are lying about their names then they aren’t being earnest. On page 10, after suggesting to Gwendolyn, Jack asks her “But you don’t really mean you couldn’t love me if my name wasn’t Ernest?”. In response Gwendolyn says she couldn’t, she must marry a man named Ernest. This is extremely funny because his name shouldn’t affect Gwendolyn’s decision in the first place, and in the second place shouldn’t she prefer him to be earnest? Jack must sacrifice his honesty, his earnestness in order to appear Ernest for Gwendolyn’s affections. Similarly later in the book both Algy and Jack attempt to be christened in order to remain Ernest. On page 42 Algernon says “I have just made arrangements with Dr.Chausable to be christened at a quarter to six under the name of Ernest”. Here you can see Algernon is clearly not being truthful to himself, the priest, and formerly to Cecily, or earnest in his wishes to be christened. If this was real life all of these actions would seem highly ridiculous, but in Wilde’s time and with these extreme characters it appears highly
...ejudice and realizes her faults she develops towards Darcy and is then prepared for a more fulfilling happy marriage.
The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedic play, bringing humor to readers through sarcastic and witty words, ironic situations, and foolish ideals. Jack, best friend of Algernon, guardian to Cecily, and respected man of Hertfordshire, is surrounded by humorous situations and people. Jack himself creates a comical situation through his scapegoat, Ernest, who has a lady in love with him. Oscar Wilde fabricated the classic and very humorous play, The Importance of Being Earnest, through cucumber sandwiches and an engagement, a man with a double life, and a naive girl who has fallen in love with an imaginary man.
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.
In A Doll's House and The Importance of Being Earnest, many of society's preconceptions are challenged, for example the sedentary, sheltered and congenial role of middle and upper class women that was expected in Victorian society. However, the two playwrights take two very different approaches to addressing these prejudices. Henrik Ibsen provides a controversial realist drama or, as he put it, a “description of humanity” chiefly in order to criticise the traditional roles of men and women in 19th-century marriage. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde uses “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People” in order to convey a social satire that focuses on the ridiculous elite. In this, he light-heartedly portrays the flaws in Victorian society. There are numerous similarities between the two plays, with regard to the subjects of criticism at least. The method of criticism is undoubtedly different, and reflects the different natures of the two playwrights and thus the style of work produced by each. In this essay I hope to present a view on the statement, by comparison and contrast of the two Victorian plays.
Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest is merely a trivial and frivolous exercise in art for art’s sake whilst it illustrates his wit and verbal brilliance; ultimately it has no underlying purpose or meaning. Many people may agree with the statement due to the mockery of gender roles conveyed, however through the themes of class and respect and reputation this statement can be proven incorrect. The wit and verbal brilliance of Oscar Wilde is portrayed through his mockery of the gender roles in the Victorian era and particularly in his portrayal of Lady Bracknell. Through the theme of class along with respect and reputation which are expressed throughout the play show how Wilde’s play does contain an underlying purpose and meaning.