The Victorian era consisted of many ideals of life that would often be satirized by authors during the period. Oscar Wilde, for example, criticizes the standards of the Victorian age and often depicts the upper middle class as arrogant, as can be seen in Lady Bracknell his play The Importance of Being Earnest. In the play, Wilde often includes epigrammatic lines that the reader may not find of any significant meaning, but with careful consideration of why Wilde chooses to incorporate it into the play, the line comes to portray the shallowness of the Victorian ideals. Lady Bracknell represents the typical Victorian figure in which the Victorian ideals must come first in finding a suitable partner. Wilde’s characterizes Lady Bracknell as a person who only cares about the aesthetics of a person, and if they meet her standards, she approves of them. For instance, …show more content…
What more can one desire?” (Act III, 180), shows the importance of looks to Lady Bracknell, but at the same time, the truth and falsehood in the statement can be seen throughout the play and can be related to a certain extent. The expectations of marrying a man for the upper middle class women usually consists of their looks and status. Jack, who calls himself Ernest in the city, worries that Gwendolen will not love him the same if he were to change his name to Jack. As a result, Gwendolen first shows how she herself conforms to this stereotype when she admits to Jack that “The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a friend called Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you.” (Act I, page 128-129). Before meeting Jack, Gwendolen falls in love with
[Pointing to Lady Bracknell. ] There is the lady who can tell you who you really are (Wilde 53).” They then elaborate into the story of his unnamed father, and it is because of this that Miss Prism acts as the deus ex machina, a rhetorical device that transforms the outcome of the play from dismal to wholly euphoric. She saves the end from a tragic display of heartbreak and undestined romance for the main characters such as Jack and Gwendolen, who, without this sudden revelation of heritage never would have been able to marry.
Oscar Wilde’s, “The Importance of Being Earnest”, play carefully uses satire as a didactic tool to mask the underlying social commentary with the help of comedy through characters theme and dialogue. Wilde uses satire to ridicule class and wealth, marriage and the ignorance of the Victorian Age. Audiences are continually amused by Wilde’s use of linguistic and comic devices such as double entendre, puns, paradox and epigrams, especially in the case of social commentary and didactic lessons. Characters portrayed in the play such as Jack, Cecily, Algernon and Lady Bracknell, allow Wilde to express his opinions on the social problems during the Victorian Age.
Initially, Catherine fully anticipates marrying John, begging her father not to let her down and “forbid the match” (8). However, as the scene continues Catherine’s attitudes do not match the expected emotions of an engaged woman. Her mother criticizes, “You’re such a funny girl…You don’t behave as if you were in love,” showing that society has standards for women in love (9). Catherine, choosing to satisfy her mother, declares, “I love John in every way that a woman can love a man, and far, far more than he loves me” (9). Realizing his sister’s intellect and the superiority complex of patriarchy Dickie warns, “Suppress your opinions. Men don’t like ‘em in their lady friends, even if they agree with ‘em. And if they don’t – it’s fatal. Pretend to be half-witted…then he’ll adore you” (32). At this point in the play, Catherine still feels the looming patriarchal power and prioritizes her relationship with John. Placating Dickie, she assures him that in a battle between her heart and mind, “there’s not much doubt about which will win”
Gwendolen and Cecily act like air-heads and are easily won over by the men they plan to marry. Gwendolen simply wants to marry a man named Earnest. She tells Jack “my ideal has always been to love someone of the name of Ernest” (I.381-82). The mere idea of marrying a man for his name shows how easily Gwendolen can attach herself to a man. Marriage is the most serious of all relationships and Gwendolen is foolish to deter...
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.
In the above statement, Pamela Loy relates Victorian ideals, which correlated with ideas presented in the play. Wilde places women in position of authority, when it comes to selecting their men. Cecily and Gwendolyn have tight control and influence over their suitors’ behaviors. When Gwendolen and Cecily fantasize about marrying a man named “Ernest”, they threaten to suppress their love from any man who does not hold the name. Both women remark, “Your Christian names are an insuperable barrier.
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
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.
Both Algernon and Jack assume the identity of "Ernest" yet ironically, they both plan on starting their married life with a lie. Lady Bracknell represents the typical aristocrat who focuses the idea of marriage on social and economic status. She believes that if the men trying to marry these girls are not of proper background, there is to be no engagement. Through this major exaggeration, Wilde satirically reveals the irrational and insignificant matters that the upper class society uses to view