In the Victorian era, a woman’s place was in the home, their careers were their marriages to their husbands. From a young age, women were destined to only live for being married to men of their parent’s choice. Societies only saw women as weak, helpless and incapable of making any decisions that were not about the morals of which their children were taught and household duties. Women’s job in the Victorian era were to ensure that their homes were a place of comfort for their husbands and children from the everyday stresses of the world. In the importance of being Earnest, the character Gwendolyn was the opposite of the roles that were typically painted of the Victorian women. She had a mind of her own and did not let anyone dictate what she …show more content…
Well, really, Gwendolen, I must say that I think there are lots of other much nicer names. I think Jack, for instance, a charming name.
Gwendolen. Jack? . . . No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces absolutely no vibrations . . . I have known several Jacks, and they all, without exception, were more than usually plain. Besides, Jack is a notorious domesticity for John! And I pity any woman who is married to a man called John. She would probably never be allowed to know the entrancing pleasure of a single moment’s solitude. The only really safe name is Ernest.
Although she had a very strong mind, she was a bit foolish and ignorant for she sought out to have a marriage life, but her morals of being married was absurd. She did not want to marry someone for love, but more so to an idea, of course she wanted a man of status, but more than that, she wants a man of a certain name, a man by the name of Earnest, regardless of his morals and who he truly is, all that mattered was the name Earnest. She could not see herself in a marriage with a man of an ordinary name such as Jack or John. Simple names like those were too ordinary and for a man that possessed them in her mind that made them plain and nothing was special about
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For the young lady that Jack looked after was a fool as well. Jack not only cast himself as to be the person name Earnest, but while in the country, in order to get away and flee to the city, he made an imaginary person in which he called his brother Earnest. He pretended that he had a sick brother in the city by the name Earnest, and in order to get away from his family in the country to go to the city for business yet mainly pleasure, he lied to his family to go see someone that never existed. Although Earnest “the brother” was not real, Cecily thought he was and was very much in love with him. In her twisted little mind she had already married herself to this character in which she had never saw or talked to a day in her life. How can a person be in love with someone they had never met or even talked to? Was the idea of a person more important than the person themselves? Honestly there were two women who felled in love with an idea of man named Earnest? What is it about this name that makes the man behind it
In “The Importance of being Earnest” the quote by Gwendolen that states “A home is the right place for a man and yes once a man begins to fail in his house duties he becomes painfully feminine or does he? In which makes him attractive.” shows the reversal of gender roles in Gwendolen’s mind. It shows this by turning around the traditional roles of man and women. This tests the ideal’s that say women should raise the children while men work. Instead it shows how women can have jobs or occupations such as men. Thus showing us in this quote how man and women are equal.
rich and noble and Prejudice were the issues of the time. This is a classical love story from the eighteenth
Contrastingly, Mrs. Darling, his wife, is portrayed as a romantic, maternal character. She is a “lovely lady”, who had many suitors yet was “won” by Mr. Darling, who got to her first. However, she is a multifaceted character because her mind is described “like the tiny boxes, one within the other, that come from the puzzling East”, suggesting that she is, to some extent, an enigma to the other characters, especially Mr. Darling. As well as this, she exemplifies the characteristics of a “perfect mother”. She puts everything in order, including her children’s minds, which is a metaphor for the morals and ethics that she instils in them. Although ...
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
But then again, maybe the names have nothing at all to do with the story. Perhaps, O'Connor simply picked the names randomly out of a hat. It's not an impossible idea. But the chance of the names fitting so superbly to each character of the story, just by happenstance, is one in a million. In conclusion, readers should start to focus more on the names of the characters, because the names might give more insight that what is seen on the surface. Besides, Hulga Hopewell doesn't sound like that bad of a name.
In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet’s journey to love and marriage is the focal point of the narrative. But, the lesser known source of richness in Austen’s writing comes from her complex themes the well-developed minor characters. A closer examination of Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s dear friend in Pride and Prejudice, shows that while she did not take up a large amount of space in the narrative, her impact was great. Charlotte’s unfortunate circumstances in the marriage market make her a foil to Elizabeth, who has the power of choice and refusal when it comes to deciding who will be her husband. By focusing on Charlotte’s age and lack of beauty, Austen emphasizes how ridiculous and cruel marriage can be in this time.
The Victorian era was an extremely difficult time for women in Great Britain. They were subject to gross inequalities such as, not being able to; control their own earnings, education, and marriage. As well as having a lack of equality within marriage, women had poor working conditions, and an immense unemployment rate as well. Not only was the fact that women were viewed as second-class citizens and had limited rights compared to men during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a major problem, but women were also held to a much different standard, and expected to carry out many
Comparing the Roles of Women in Arcadia, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Look Back in Anger
The industrialization of the nineteenth century was a tremendous social change in which Britain initially took the lead on. This meant for the middle class a new opening for change which has been continuing on for generations. Sex and gender roles have become one of the main focuses for many people in this Victorian period. Sarah Stickney Ellis was a writer who argued that it was the religious duty of women to improve society. Ellis felt domestic duties were not the only duties women should be focusing on and thus wrote a book entitled “The Women of England.” The primary document of Sarah Stickney Ellis’s “The Women of England” examines how a change in attitude is greatly needed for the way women were perceived during the nineteenth century. Today women have the freedom to have an education, and make their own career choice. She discusses a range of topics to help her female readers to cultivate their “highest attributes” as pillars of family life#. While looking at Sarah Stickney Ellis as a writer and by also looking at women of the nineteenth century, we will be able to understand the duties of women throughout this century. Throughout this paper I will discuss the duties which Ellis refers to and why she wanted a great change.
I use to think that my name means a painting portrait and a brand on a beer bottle. I thought it was stupid, but my grandmother gave me that name for a reason. At first, I did not like my name because it was similar to my cousin’s name. Her name is Jyla Quashun Miller. The pronunciation of her first name is the same as my name.
An ideal person is an earnest person, and ideals are another theme of the play. Mrs. Marchmont and Lady Basildon are two married ladies who, while talking about their "hopelessly faultless" husbands expose earnestness (an "admirable" quality) as 'unendurable' and "tragic". These ladies, through dramatic irony, expose the earnestness of searching for an ideal husband as laughably pretentious and hypocritical. This is because many women at the time were searching for an earnest husband to spend their lives with when there is, as Mrs. Marchmont puts it "not the smallest element of excitement in knowing him." Yet they keep searching for an earnest and ideal husband.
This is true in my opinion, people can think a certain way based on a certain name. "Names make impressions, just as the way you clothe your (child) or, the you way you groom them makes an impression," insisted University of California emeritus psychology professor Albert Mehrabian, who authored a book on "Beneficial and Harmful Baby Names" (http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/07/10/ hat-in-name-more-than-think-experts-say.html). If someone doesn't like the way your name sounds they can think differently about you whether your a good person or not. I personally love my name.
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 main protagonist of the story, Elizabeth Bennet (nicknamed both Lizzy and Eliza), is the second daughter in the Bennet family. Second only to her elder sister in beauty, Elizabeth’s figure is said to be “light and pleasing,” with “dark eyes,” and “intelligent…expression” (24). At 20 years old, she is still creating her place in society. Known for her wit and playful nature, “Elizabeth is the soul of Pride and Prejudice, [she] reveals in her own person the very title qualities that she spots so easily” (“Pride and Prejudice”) in others. Her insightfulness often leads her to jump to conclusions and think herself above social demand. These tendencies lead her to be prejudice towards others; this is an essential characteristic of her role