The Satire of Earnestness
It was a play that made controversy in the lush mansions of Victorian society.
Subtitled "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People," The Importance of Being Earnest jokingly criticized Victorian manners and morals and attacking the society of the rich and luxurious. Oscar Wilde incorporated his own beliefs and ideology into the play by alluding to Victorian society "lets duplicity led to happiness." It is this "happiness" Wilde's play focuses on by concentrating the theme of the play on marriage.
Alluding to marriage, The Importance of Being Earnest begins with the witty and selfish Algernon. It is Algernon who is the amoral bachelor and has not one problem with that because he believes that "divorces are made in heaven" and is utterly against marriage as viewing marriage a waste of time (118). The reasoning for Algernon's views is a stand in for Wilde's own beliefs. The quote on marriage, which there is several from Algernon, is quite entertaining to the reader that is because the reader can see that Algernon's conclusion of marriage is preposterous for that time period. However, in real life, during the twenty-first century, which is well after the Victorian age, the fact that "divorces are made in heaven" is actually quite true by today's standards. Even though Algernon clearly expresses his own views on marriage, Earnest (in the city), who is actually Jack, continues to pursue his plans of proposing to Gwendolyn. The reader is again amused as Earnest attempts to propose to Gwendolyn and Gwendolyn directing Earnest on how to propose. Earnest states "[They] must get married at once" Gwendolyn, who seems surprised, replies to Earnest's declaration be saying "[He] hasn't
proposed yet" Gwen...
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...to, reveals to Gwendolyn and Cecily that there is no Earnest and that they are both not engaged to the same man (167-168). Once again in the play, the parody of the actions of the girls and not wanting to marry Jack and Algernon because their names are not Earnest, becomes apparent to the reader.
The ending to The Importance of Being Earnest is sweet satisfaction to the reader. Jack discovers that his real name is in fact Earnest, and that Gwendolyn and Jack, I mean Earnest, can finally get married. It is the last sentence of the play that the Wilde comes to
reveal the conclusion of "now realizing
the vital importance of being Earnest." The play follows the seriousness of the life of upper class society and displays it as a joke.
However, though the play is intended to be satiric, the reader and Earnest himself realizes
why it is useful to be "earnest."
The idea of absurdity in Victorian times was embraced by some writers and looked down upon by others. Oscar Wilde embraced the absurd whole-heartedly. This is obvious, if not even the theme, of The Importance of Being Earnest. Not only is the word "absurd" used many times in the story, but the ridiculousness of the characters and their roles conveys the ideas of absurdity in the Victorian Era.
...her. Jack and Algernon seem similar and some cases are, but there are some differences that make the play humorous and climatic. Jack, even though he portrays it turns out to be immoral and hypocritical and Algernon turns out to be immoral and honest. One of the moral paradoxes that “The Importance of Being Earnest” seems to express is the idea that the perfectly moral man is the man who professes to be immoral, who speaks truly by virtue of the fact that he admits to being essentially a liar. Both Jack and Algernon want to be “Ernest” but in truth, it is a pun on the word. The women love the name because they think the men are earnest! The main conflict in the play is hypocrisy, and whole notion of Jack and Algernon going against the normal conventions of being a hypocrite. Algernon’s ideologies about marriage, food, women and love are what bring humor to the play.
The plot of the importance of being Earnest starts off with Jack and Algernon as wealthy bachelors, with Jack at the beginning of the play is known to Algernon as Ernest lives a very good life in the country providing
Oscar Wildes ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’’ is believed by many to be his most genius work and certainly has withstood the test of time. The play is set in London during the 1890’s in which time frame aristocracy and upper class held the majority of the countries wealth. Many of the comical aspects question the morals of the upper class in which he satirises throughout the play. One method of this, for instance is through one of the main protagonist, Algernon Moncrieff. Algernon is an upper class individual who is oblivious to the world around him in such an exaggerated manner that it makes his character comically adjusted for Wildes own views. Many aspects of the time period are made a mockery through puns and witty remarks from the main protagonists, most if not all are portrayed in a sense that makes them undoubtedly a laughing stock. Wildes methods are not discrete; nor are they obvious, many of the comical comments made are by none other than the protagonists themselves. This furthermore enforces the corrupted morals of the time periods prestigious upper class by showing their sheer inability to acknowledge hypocrisy. For example, in act one; Algernon states “ Lane's views on marriage seem somewhat lax. Really, if the lower orders don't set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility.” This is especially amusing as Algernon believes that the lower class have a duty to set an example when in reality the matter of fact was quite the contrary. Algernon states that he believes the lower class are lacking in morals, he being arguably one of the most morally distorted characters Wilde created makes the double standards more prominent.
The wit of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest stems from his place in society and his views of it. He mocks the Victorian aristocracy through his statements and satirising of marriage dependent on social class and wealth, the careful implantation of comedic techniques which add to the effect of the message Wilde aims for the society to take into consideration and the ignorance portrayed by the Victorian society. These socially acceptable mockeries allow the audience to laugh at the satirical social statements while learning a didactic lesson about the current society issues. Through Wilde’s satirical wit, he completes the educational tales he was aiming for, emphasising to readers the insaneness that society can be and its rules.
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 Wilde wrote plays with the motivation to encourage people to think against the English aristocracy and artificiality.
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.
Satire in Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. "The Importance of Being Earnest" is a play by Oscar Wilde, set in the late 1800's. His actors are playing upper class citizens who are very self-absorbed. The play is set amongst upper class, wealthy people. They appear not to work and are concerned with their own pleasure.
This creator separates the significance of keeping up the senior high agreeable review over the span of the show and furthermore the time. This source separates the gauge of keeping up amiable financial through the play and how it has an awesome effect. The Importance of Earnest is a sensational play that shows the greater part of that. This play is centered around the origination of the social class and keep up the abnormal state of progress. This significance of this source is that it is making the connection between the idea of social class headway to the play by oscar Wilde " The Importance of Being Earnest". Over the span of the play, there are numerous characters who remain inside their social class yet there are likewise the individuals who are plainly characterized as being beneath a specific class yet plays as their equivalent. For instance, Lane is just Algernon's house keeper however when he
Throughout The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde plays around with the standard expectations along with the absence of compassion of a Victorian society in the 1890’s, he demonstrates this through several genres of comedy such as Melodrama, Comedy of Manners, Farce, dark humour and Irony, as well as portraying the themes, death and illness, in this play in a brilliance of unusual amount of references.
Irony in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde The play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is full of irony. Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, the protagonists in the play, get themselves into a complicated situation called Bunburyism (as Algernon refers to it). They pretend to be someone that they are not to escape their daily lives. They lie to the women they admire, and eventually the truth is revealed.
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 satiric piece usually has a didactic side to it. In this case, Lady Bracknell learns that the same person she was criticising is actually her own flesh and blood.
One major theme of The Importance of Being Earnest is the nature of marriage. Throughout the entire play, marriage and morality serve as the catalyst for the play, inspiring the plot and raising speculation about the moral character of each person. Throughout the entire play, the characters are constantly worried about who they are going to marry and why they would marry them. This theme is the most prevalent theme throughout the entire play and shows what impact marriage had on a Victorian society. This essay will prove that marriage is the theme of this play.
The Importance of Being Earnest is a fantastic play; it is truly a great work of English literature. It makes light of love, marriage, and religion, which are issues that people take very seriously, and that is what everybody needs is to lighten up sometimes. Despite the fact that it was written in the Victorian era, the witty comedic themes are still relevant in today's society, which makes the play all the more entertaining and relatable. Works Cited Wilde, Oscar. " The Importance of Being Earnest.