More handpicked essays just for you.
What are things that the importance of being earnest satirizes
The importance of earnest character analysis
What are things that the importance of being earnest satirizes
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
"You can't possibly ask me to go without having some dinner. It's absurd. I never go without my dinner. No one ever does, except vegetarians and people like that" (Wilde 42). Algernon cannot believe Jack has just asked him to leave his house without providing dinner first. Even though Algernon has just made Jack confess his fake identity of Ernest to Gwendolen, and also has been caught in the act of deception trying to be Ernest for Cecily. Yet, through all the pretense and distress Algernon still clings to the fact that it is preposterous for Jack to not serve him an evening meal. During the Victorian Period, food is of the upmost importance. The role of food within the play is to create the customs of good society, shield feelings of disdain,
Hand that to Miss Fairfax. (38)
The subtle remarks and actions display the amount of displeasure that is appropriate for a Victorian women quarrel. The altercation is all indirect disdain by Cecily providing Gwendolen with the items she did not want. Gwendolen implies a jab towards Cecily and her social class by telling her that "cake is rarely seen at the best houses." Comparatively, civil mockery concurs with respectful scorn. Algernon finds himself in a disagreement with Jack because he is asked to leave Jack's house and plays on subtle mockery:
JACK [Picking up the muffin-dish]. Oh, that is nonsense; you are always talking nonsense.
ALGERNON. Jack, you are at the muffins again! I wish you wouldn't. There are only two left. [Takes them.] I told you I was particularly fond of muffins.
JACK. But I hate tea-cake.
ALGERNON. Why on earth then do you allow tea-cake to be served up for your guests? What ideas you have of hospitality! (42)
Algernon mocks Jack's idea of hospitality while taking all the muffins for himself. He thinks that it is fair for him to be selfish and leave Jack with the option he does not prefer. All the while, Algernon is taking advantage of Jack's hospitality by mocking him and refusing to
The meal, and more specifically the concept of the family meal, has traditional connotations of comfort and togetherness. As shown in three of Faulkner’s short stories in “The Country”, disruptions in the life of the family are often reinforced in the plot of the story by disruptions in the meal.
The complexity of food and drink changes from book to book. Extravagant and sophisticated food and drink litter the background in The Great Gatsby. For instance, chapter three of The Great Gatsby describes “buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-d’oeuvre, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold” (Thomas, 2010). Here, Gatsby’s ostentatious display merely offers a descriptive backdrop for the story. They do not eat it. Instead, its presence simply provides a conspicuous display of wealth. Quite the opposite is true in The Grapes of Wrath. The Joads have over-simplified and often disgusting foods. Chapter 19 portrays a scene in which they eat milled nettles and fried dough made from flour swept off the floor of a boxcar (Steinbeck, 2006). The family gobbles up anything it can get their hands on, whether it’s side-meat, beans, or week-old food. There is no need for elaborate food. They are not compelled to impress others with displays of fancy food, like in The Great Gatsby. Instead, any form of nourishment will suffice. Food serves as a means of survival for the Joad family, while the characters of Fitzgerald’s piece regard it as though it’s insignificant.
Algernon takes eating very seriously throughout ‘The importance of being earnest’. I believe this is done by the writer to not only show his character to be of comic type, but also to show his insecurities within the world he lives and his inability to function in a high society. In page 8 Algernon takes sandwiches that are intended for his guest, Lady Bracknell. In victorian times it would be greatly frowned upon to consume food that is laid out for your guests and Algernon is aware of his ungentlemanly actions. When his Aunt asks where the cucumber sandwiches are, Algernon pretends to be shocked by their absence ‘Good heavens! Lane! Why are their no cucumber sandwiches?’ This ability to lie with such impeccable composure suggests he is familiar with the act of covering up his food indulgences. Algernon is not only greedy but also selfish and does not like the idea of Jack eating bread and butter, an obvious act of hypocrisy however he is content with his beliefs. I believe this is done by Oscar Wilde to further enforce how out of touch Algernon is from his surroundings. We even see...
Food is probably the most vivid icon of all the signs in this story. Its easy detection is likely because of how boldly Wilde uses it. In Act II, Algernon shows that he's in a controlling position while everyone thinks him to be Earnest by eating Jack's muffins. This is properly shown at the end of Act II when Jack says, "Algernon! I have already told you to go. I don't want you here. Why don't you go!" and Algernon replies, "I haven't quite finished my tea yet! and there is still one muffin left." ( 46 )
...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.
Tom then gets into an argument with Gatsby. Daisy intervenes, but shortly after, the boys break out into another scuffle that no one can stop. Just like that, the atmosphere of the story is turned completely around. A successful meal indicates an improving and strengthening relationships. A failed meal can foreshadow a multitude of consequences yet to come.
The theme of the play is the issues within the Victorian society, which mainly focuses on the topic of marriage. This is demonstrated when Jack asked Gwendolen for marriage. Lady Bracknell responded by asking him about his social standing instead of asking do he really love Gwendolen or not. This proves that social rank is more important than people true feelings towards someone. Wilde uses irony to bring out his opinion on the social class issue. In addition, he symbolism to show the differences between the two social classes. Brigitte Bastiat believes that “Therefore Oscar Wilde rebels against the artificial and hypocritical social codes of his class and suggests that anybody can pass for an aristocrat with a bit of practice” (Bastiat), which tells how rank is more important than
In the play, Wilde uses Algernon’s relationship with food to criticize the repression of desires during the Victorian era. Food also played a large role in Victorian society as a symbol of status and repression of urges. Upper-class Victorians were careful not to eat too much to show their self-restraint (“Victorian”). Similarly, eating plays a large role in the book and could symbolize “appetites and emotions that it is not respectable or polite to air openly” (Laws). Algernon’s chief vice appears in his overindulgence in food. Algernon’s preoccupation with food appears many times in the play and he often appears to be “[e]ating as usual,” according to Jack (1.296). At the beginning of the play, Algernon orders cucumber sandwiches for Lady
Every text is an argument to the audience and every argument is influenced by a text and the audience surrounding the author. The Importance of Being Earnest is a play written by Oscar Wilde which was first performed in 1895. The plot centers around the proposal of marriage between Jack Worthing and Gwendolen Bracknell and also the proposal from Jack’s friend and Gwendolen 's cousin Algernon Moncrieff extended towards Jack’s ward, Cecily Cardew. In The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde uses the ideas of his time period, his own background, and absurd comedy to argue that the views of marriage and gender held by those in Victorian Era England are wrong and hypocritical.
Many traditionally accepted practices Wilde finds disgustingly unacceptable; therefore, he completely satirizes them to express how truly shallow those customs are. In that time, and even today, it was very common for the families of two engaged people to do background checks on the opposite family. Therefore, when Jack Worthing, under the fake identity of Ernest Worthing, proposes to Gwendolen, it does not seem strange that Lady Bracknell would want to know Jack’s background. The extreme expectations in which Lady Bracknell has for a man suitable for her daughter are unimaginably high. Jack tells her about his impressive lifestyle and his success and Lady Bracknell complains that he lives on the wrong side of the street. Then Jack tells her the sad story of how he was abandoned as a child and she tells him that he needs to find his parents if he wants to marry her daughter. With these ridiculous responses Wilde is trying to emphasize that the upper class believe that they are worthy of more than anyone else and are insensitive to the feelings of others. Later on, Lady Bracknell tells Algernon that he can not marry Cecily, Jack’s ward. This wealthy woman only decides to chan...
Nothing is taken seriously except trivial things. Firstly, Algernon Moncreiff talks about absurdly trivially nonsense. with complete irrelevance, as when talking about the importance of science, he asks, "Have you got the cucumber sandwiches?" When an intelligent conversation is taking place, the conversation has completely altered, as he chooses to talk about sandwiches, whilst remarking that he is "speaking of the Science of Life". Secondly, Algernon and Jack Worthing are worried about the town and the country.
The irony continues to explain how Jack and Algernon were biological brothers. They were pretending to be earlier to play out their game of Bunburyism. Jack had told everybody he had a brother in which was he used as his justification to leave his home in the country and visit his "brother" in the city. Algernon pretends to be Jack brother "Earnest" in order to win over Jack beautiful "niece" Cecily.
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.
Jack is attempting to prove to Algernon that he is not a liar, ¨I'm not a bunburyist at all...¨ 124. Denying the fact that he has a made up brother that he used to get out of certain events, Jack is the definition of a bunburyist. He is taking advantage of his friend’s blindness to the situation to get unnecessary time away from them. Explaining to Lady Bracknell that he cannot attend her dinner party because. ¨… my poor friend Bunbury is very ill again. They seem to think I should be with him.¨ 127. The amount of times Algernon uses his ill, imposure brother bunburying, goes to show how selfish he is. Putting his own personal needs before making an effort to meet with his family. They only see their family when it is beneficial and convenient for
Although Jack and Algernon are completely different kinds of people, they both hold strong ties with each other. Jack and Algernon both live double lives through nonexistent characters named Ernest and Bunbury. They are always searching for pleasure in their lives. For example when Algernon asks, “How are you, my dear Ernest? What brings you up to town?” Jack replies “Oh, pleasure, pleasure! What else should one bring anywhere”(Wilde 1427)? Algernon also states “My duty as a gentleman has never interfered with my pleasures”(Wilde 1456). Nothing gets in the way of these men pursuing their loved ones.