The stereotypes following each period have an impact on the character descriptions and problematizing both genders.
Wilde’s usage of hypocrisy in ´The Importance of Being Earnest´ gives reader a sense of instability and insecurity in women characters. They are often foolish and naive in their behaviors in opposite to the two later texts. Firstly, both Gwendolen and Cecily are convinced that a man of the name Ernest is destined to be their husband. The time Gwendolen and Jack meet at Algernon’s household she mentions that ever since Algernon told her about Ernest, she was sure that her fate was to be with him: “my ideal has always been to love someone of the name of Ernest” (p. 895). The same situation follows as Algernon visits Cecily and convinces her to
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(…) I pity any poor woman whose husband is not called Ernest” (p. 912). This ridiculous requirement causes the reader to realize that the characters’ strange concept of a functional relationship and the simplified view of love is somehow a social norm in that period. Another evidence of a foolish behavior is when Gwendolen and Cecily first meet. Wilde problematizes a social norm that corresponds to women’s behavior which is that women are known to change their minds. Once Gwendolen meets Cecily she immediately says “Something tells me that we are going to be great friends. I like you already more than I can say” (p. 913). After a short conversation and realizing that they are both engaged to Ernest Worthing, instead of being furious at the man who, as they thought, had proposed to both of them, they argue about whose right it is to marry the liar. Then, ironically, Gwendolen says “From the moment I saw you I distrusted you. I felt that you were false and deceitful” (p. 916). The reader recognizes both humor and hopelessness in the situation. This
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.
...erpreted as dark and significant to the period. The comedy Wilde achieves is at the expense of the characters who are seemingly intelligent adding to the ironic structure that much of the comedy is based on. Many of the comic elements of the play are shown through human reactions to Victorian repression and the effect it has on the men and women of the time. Love seems to be nonexistent within the finds of the fierce and brutal Aristocracy when so many of the qualities they value are not based on human qualities but that of the class’s social norms. Wildes Characters are at often times not subtle about their distaste in marriage and love, Algernon is no exception to this “In aried lie, three is company, two is none” showing that they all have distorted views on many of the social practices that make them morally sound, thus adding to the satire elements of the play.
Since young women are being surrounded and exposed to different types of media, it also influences the identity of young women by reinforcing negative stereotypes. In Chapter 3: “Bitches and Morons and Skanks, Oh My!” of Reality Bites Back, Pozner reveals how popular reality television shows have a strong impact on today’s society by shaping the way women view things and define themselves. She also states how dating shows, like The Bachelor and Flavor of Love, often describe women as “catty, bitchy, manipulative, not to be trusted, and cannot live without a man” (pg. 97). The problem with these dating shows is that it tells young women that they need to become the most seductive and beautiful to win the guy’s heart. This also convinces the young women, who watch the show believe that they have to be manipulative and untrustworthy in order to obtain whatever they want. Because young women have been subject to these stereotypes, they also begin to make generalization and change their perceptions about other people, especially to women. Another example is the reality TV series, Keeping ...
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
Two adolescent women who incorrectly consider the men’s names to be Ernest, and who are passionate about the men for this very reason think highly of both Jack and Algernon. In relating the story of mix-ups and mistaken identities, the ideals and manners of the Victorian society are satirized in a comedy where the characters "treat all the trivial things of life seriously and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality"(Wilde, Oscar). Oscar Wilde’s amusing scenes often take their source in societal satire and unconventional (Baselga 15). All the way through his play, The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde satirizes education, women, and morality.
The Hypocrisy of the Aristocracy: “The Importance of Being Earnest” Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” is a comical play designed to detail the troubles faced by two young men as they struggle to marry their respective loved ones. While the characters may seem innocent enough, it is evident that the actors possess a blatant disregard for the double standard placed on the lower classes. Take for example the exchange of words between Jack and Lady Bracknell. When Jack desires to marry Lady Bracknell’s daughter, he is not interrogated by a loving mother, but rather a woman ludicrously firm on preserving her family’s social status. Although Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” may seem uncomplicated due to its comedic nature, it is evident that the character’s interactions allude to a much larger
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.
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
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.
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 conclusion, The Importance of Being Earnest strongly focuses on those of the upper class society and the vanity of the aristocrats who place emphasis on trivial matters concerning marriage. Both Algernon and Jack assume the identity of "Ernest" yet ironically, they both are beginning their marital lives based on deception and lies. Lady Bracknell represents the archetypal aristocrat who forces the concept of a marriage based on wealth or status rather than love. Through farce and exaggeration, Wilde satirically reveals the foolish and trivial matters that the upper class society looks upon as being important. As said earlier, a satirical piece usually has a didactic side to it.
The play, The Importance of Being Earnest, was set in the late 1800’s when a woman needed a man to make her someone. This play portrays two young men pretending to be someone they’re not to win the affection of Gwendolen and Cecily, two women they have just recently met. Gwendolen and Cecily, blind for love, ignored all the “red flags” a woman born in the 21st-century couldn’t forget or forgive.
She is constantly doing the opposite of what is expected of her. She falls in love with Ernest against her mother 's will. In the Victorian age, men were chosen for the women to marry by their families. She is flirty and very outgoing when it comes to what she wants. Gwendolyn 's obsession with a man her mother does not approve of is not a norm in her societal role. Gwendolyn also has a habit of going against her mother Lady Bracknell 's rules. She is forbidden to talk to Ernest, but she goes to the country and sees him nonetheless. "Ernest, we may never be married. From the expression on mamma 's face I fear we never shall. But although she may prevent us from becoming man and wife, nothing that she can possibly do can alter my eternal devotion to you." (The Importance of Being Earnest line 270-272) Along with her misbehavior, she talks back to her mother, which is not expected of daughters to do back then. Gwendolyn falls in love with Ernest even though he is not as rich as her, this is another abnormal thing in Victorian times. Many women are drawn to more wealth than they have. In her case, she was drawn to the complete opposite. Gwendolyn may have been raised by a perfect Victorian woman, but she is drawn to a more modern way of
In the play, Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde ridicules and identifies the negative aspects of Victorian society through comedic dialogue. He uses characters with ridiculous personalities to demonstrate his idea of Victorian life. By making absurd scenes with foolish characters, it is his way of mocking the Victorian lifestyle passive aggressively.
Cecily makes quick decisions in her marriage proposal similar to Algernon. When Cecily hears Jack talks about his “wicked” brother named Ernest, she falls in love with Ernest even though she never has met him (Act 2). Cecily even broke her engagement, and she believes that an engagement is not serious if “...it hadn’t been broken off at least once” (Act 2). It is normal for Cecily to fall in love when she hears stories about a man who has been through tough situations. In other words, Cecily feels sympathetic to Ernest, and this can potentially lead to love. It is not right for Cecily to think she is engaged to Ernest when she never met him. In addition, Cecily thinks that her engagement should be broken once in order for it to be serious. This has a negative effect in marriage itself since the idea of breaking off an engagement proves that the Algernon and Cecily go through a rough path, and they can potentially not be right for each other. Unfortunately, Cecily sees this will make their marriage proposal more interesting. This situation shows that Cecily has a childish mind. She does not think deeply about marriage proposal. Third, Cecily is not aware of the fact that her partner is a liar; therefore, she only sees her partner based on his appearances. She does not think that marrying a liar can have a detrimental effect on her marriage. Lying in marriage can lead