Oscar Wilde Flippantly Disregards Moral Codes in The Importance of Being Earnest
analytical Essay
656 words
The morals of the Victorian Era gained renown for their strict socials roles that existed for both men and women. However, Oscar Wilde rejected these morals as he not only wrote characters but also acted as a character who flippantly disregarded the strict moral code. In his play The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde elicits a thoughtful laughter through the constant hypocrisy and non-sequitous behaviours of Lady Bracknell. Wilde uses her to explore the hypocrisy that he detested within Victorian Society, and through Lady Bracknell’s commentary on gender roles and marital roles, Wilde illustrates his own personal contentions with Victorian morals. In the first act and the first appearance of Lady Bracknell, Jack receives a thorough interview from Lady Bracknell regarding his social status to validate his worth as a suitor to Lady Bracknell’s daughter, Gwendolyn. Lady Bracknell questions Jack concerning his smoking habits, and when Lady Bracknell learns that he smokes, she replies with: “I am glad to hear it. A man should always have an occupation of some kind. There are far too many idle men in London as it is” (Wilde 45). The immediate humor of her response occurs due to Non-Sequitous logic she employs in that she regards smoking as an occupation. However, beyond the humor her diction reveals a Victorian view on gender relations since she only uses the words “man” and “men” indicating that she only objects to idleness in men. This attitude reflects the Victorian morals of the time but appears ironic since she and her daughter act as idle figures throughout the play, only talking and taking no action of their own. Additional, irony occurs in the statement that “a man should always have an occupation” since Jack in his r... ... middle of paper ... ...e acts as a social construct since she details her own rise to riches as a result of marriage, but society ignores the larger significance of marriage: procreation. This major aspect never receives any attention from either Lady Bracknell or Victorian society due to a cultural taboo. Wilde uses her views on marriage to illustrate the fundamental perversion of the Victorian matrimonial ideal since it uses marriage as a social construct while ignoring the sexual construct. Lady Bracknell, as a character, acts as a caricature of Victorian society and morality, and when her views aspects of gender relations and matrimonial relations receive inspection, her true significance appears. Wilde intends to evoke laughter through her extremely strict and antiquated morals, but at a deeper level, he seeks to attack any system of rigid morals that often plague societies.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how oscar wilde rejected the strict morals of the victorian era. in his play the importance of being earnest, he elicits a thoughtful laughter through lady bracknell's hypocrisy and non-sequitous behaviour.
- Analyzes how wilde uses the ridiculous reply of lady bracknell to show the idiosyncratic nature of victorian morality in regard to upper class men.
- Analyzes how wilde uses lady bracknell's views on marriage to illustrate the fundamental perversion of the victorian matrimonial ideal since it uses marriage as a social construct while ignoring the sexual construct.
- Analyzes how lady bracknell acts as a caricature of victorian society and morality, and when she views aspects of gender relations and matrimonial relations, her true significance appears.
Related
- analytical
- The Importance of Being Earnest, uses comedy and farce to display a light hearted approach to the hugely powerful upper class of Victorian society and add a playful edge to their actions. Although it could also be seen as a comedic shell for the true nature of Wilde’s comment upon the society in which it is set, exposing the flaws and inconsistencies that the upper class was built upon. It will be necessary to consider whether Wilde is purposely commenting on the dysfunction of the society in which he lived, or if it does in fact only serve as a comedy.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how wilde's writing is funny because it allows a victorian audience to laugh at their own behaviour.
- Analyzes how wilde creates playfulness in the importance of being earnest by following the classic structure of comedy moving from disorder to harmony at the end.
- Analyzes how wilde mocks the victorian fixation on material worth and how this can affect the pursuit of love.
- Analyzes how wilde's play is a sharp satire as he mocks social obligations, suggesting that people had to escape the unrealistic pressure society placed upon them.
- Analyzes how wilde uses the title, the importance of being earnest, to create irony and satire as the characters despite striving to, act without any morality.
- Concludes that wilde's play is a harsh comment on the victorian society in which it is set, despite the use of classic comedic devices.
- Analyzes how wilde's the importance of being earnest uses comedy and farce to display a light hearted approach to the hugely powerful upper class of victorian society.
1202 wordsRead More - Man In Oscar Wilde's 'The Importance Of Being Earnest'analytical essayBeing an only child, raised by a single mum, has allowed me to understand the person I wanted to be. From a young age my mother has instilled in me certain characteristics, qualities and the importance of being a true gentleman. As a young male living in the 21st century trying to behave in a gentlemanly manner I was dared by my mates to ask a girl out. Instant rejection followed; her response “Sorry, you are just, how should I put this not ideal.” Later that night as I buried my face into my pillow, it hit me. How am I not ideal? Heck what does she mean by ideal? Is it possible her view of me was influenced? I needed to find out if the feminine view of males has been clouded by media and classical literature. It would make an interesting story, so I started with Oscar Wilde 's famous play ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (1895).
In this essay, the author
- Explains that being an only child, raised by a single mum, has allowed them to understand the person they wanted to be.
- Analyzes how wilde's portrayal of the ideal man is inverted to the normal embodiment of that era as jack was portrayed as a dandy.
- Analyzes how wilde's humor mocks the so-called ethical male dominance of the victorian era by interchanging the roles
- Analyzes how lady bracknell concludes that a high income is also an expectation for the ideal man.
- Analyzes how jack allows gwendolen's desires to change his characteristics. the connotations of the name earnest mean perfection, honesty and sincerity and the male protagonist jack represent the complete opposite.
- Analyzes how wilde has inverted the gender roles of male and female characters that displays the archetypal male as wealthy and a man of acceptable heritage.
- Analyzes how the impressions of the ideal male are influenced by the archetypal female's perception of what is considered ideal by interpreting jane austen’s “pride and prejudice.” the story revolves around a female protagonist elizabeth bennet who is being attempted to be married off
- Analyzes how "pride and prejudice" has a main focus on marriage amongst many of the young men and women introduced.
- Analyzes how mrs bennet changes her mind when introduced to mr bingley and mr darcy during the bbc version of 'pride and prejudice' and advances on him based on his wealth.
- Analyzes how mr bennet and mr darcy portray mannerisms which become desired attributes of a future husband.
- Argues that the concept of the ideal man has been corrupted by classic literature that features a male protagonist with unrealistic characteristics that not all man can attain.
1420 wordsRead More - Jack And Algernon Essayanalytical essayLane, for example, the lowly butler of Algernon, is used to give an unfamiliar perspective to the social class problem: the neglected lower class is finally given a voice (Wilde 7). Reality in this period was that the lower class virtually never got to state their opinions or defend themselves, so Wilde used the character of Lane for people to visualize their treatment of the lower classes and be held accountable for their distasteful actions against them (Victorian). Furthermore, Lady Bracknell represents yet another perspective: the posh, frivolous lifestyle of the upper class and how backwards their thinking was. At one point in the play, Jack and Gwendolen are discussing their plans of marriage to Lady Bracknell. After interrogating Jack about his familial ties and his past life, she disapproves of their engagement (Wilde 69). Her reasoning was clear: she did not want Gwendolen to have even the slightest chance of marrying into a poor family, even if that was what made her happiest. Bracknell's eternal craving for more wealth and reverence is exactly what Wilde wanted readers to frown upon and take out of their own
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how characters play a crucial role in the importance of being earnest. jack and algernon establish themes such as the double life while addressing social issues of the victorian era.
- Analyzes how wilde used the character of lane to depict the social class problem in the play. lady bracknell represents the posh, frivolous lifestyle of the upper class.
- Analyzes how bracknell's eternal craving for more wealth and reverence is exactly what wilde wanted readers to frown upon and take out of their lives.
- Analyzes how the theme of not conforming to other people's views of perfection is discussed in the play.
1136 wordsRead More - In Oscar Wilde's 'The Importance Of Being Earnest'analytical essayIntrinsic to the construction of an identity is the external presentation or performance of selfhood. Therefore, performance and selfhood are implicitly connected. However, the extent to which external performance is employed and its impact on the internal sense of selfhood has been presented both positively and negatively. Oscar Wilde represents identity as performative in his play ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (1895), and suggests society should embrace the artifice of performative identity. In contrast, Mark Ravenhill, whose play ‘Handbag’ (1998) is a response to Wilde’s, also regards crucial aspects of identity as performative but criticises society for using it as a vehicle for consumerism.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how oscar wilde represents identity as performative in his play ‘the importance of being earnest’ (1895). mark ravenhill criticises society for using it as a
- Analyzes how wilde disrupts the sense of secure of identity through the resources of theatre and uses satire to imply that all displays of selfhood are inheritably performative.
- Analyzes how ravenhill reacts to the conventions of heteronormative society and the marketing of queer identities through his collapse of the boundaries of theatre.
- Analyzes ravenhill's horror at the way in which performed identity has become meaningless and reduced to a commodity.
- Analyzes how both writers criticize the relationship between performance and selfhood. one embraces performative identity as liberating and the other suggests it has led to an empty, meaningless sense of self.
788 wordsRead More - Wilde’s Masterpieceanalytical essay“The Importance of Being Earnest” is a comedic play by Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde. It was first performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London (Woodring). “The characters in this play are Mr. Worthing (Ernest in town, Jack in the country), his ward Cecily Caldew, his fiancée Gwendolen Fairfax - daughter of Lady Bracknell, and his friend Algernon Moncrieff - nephew of Lady Bracknell; the plot is that Algernon, as her guardian's fictitious younger brother Ernest, becomes engaged to Cecily, so both girls are engaged to 'Ernest' but neither to Ernest. (Stone).” The title “The importance of being Earnest” is a clever play on words because suggests a connection between the name “Earnest” and the action of being earnest, but; in the play, the characters that uses the persona of Earnest are not earnest at all (Schmidt). Oscar Wilde lived during the nineteenth century, also known as the Victoria era. During this time, people placed emphasis on self-image and had high moral values. One could say that his play, “the importance of being earnest”, is a play about social rank and moral standards. The moral of the play is that “honesty is the rule of the day” (Schmidt). Although the lesson is an apparent one that supports Victorian values, Wilde uses a creative way to create an engaging story that displays and slightly mocks Victorian social norms.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how oscar fingal o'flahertie wills wilde's "the importance of being earnest" is a comedic play about social rank and moral standards.
- Analyzes how oscar wilde mocks the role of women during his time. jack and algernon are so in love with gwendolen and cecily that they consider getting christenings to change their names. lady bracknell holds a copious of power
- Analyzes how the women in "the importance of being earnest" are obsessed with the idea of a marriage from the beginning.
- Analyzes how social class has a great impact on the story line of the play. lady bracknell's actions show her concentration on wealth and social image.
- Analyzes how in the 1800's people were not empathetic about death; they were simply a fact of live and people lost loved ones all the time.
- Explains that oscar wilde's "the importance of being earnest" is his masterpiece. every character and dialogue is based on the social norms of the victorian time period.
- Analyzes how wilde's choice of names in the importance of being earnest was reflected in the play.
- Analyzes stone, geoffrey, and darga's rpt. in drama criticism.
840 wordsRead More - Oscar Wilde's Victorian Stage Melodrama, An Ideal Husbandanalytical essayOscar Wilde began to write An Ideal Husband in the summer of 1893, he completed it later that winter. At the time of when it was written, he was familiarised to success, and in writing this play he wanted to guarantee himself to stay in the public eye. An ideal husband is one of the most serious social comedies that Oscar Wilde published, it contains bold political tinges, ironically and pessimistically looking at the current political background. The central focus of the play is the corruption of great wealth, which is where the public are usually uninformed. The play is about London society throughout the mid 80s, it condemns the value of Victorian society – it can also be perceived as a social satire.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how oscar wilde began to write an ideal husband in the summer of 1893 and completed it later that winter. an ideal husband contains bold political tinges, ironically and pessimistic looking at the current political background.
- Explains that the victorian stage melodrama was made up of six stock characters: the hero, villain, heroine, aged parent, sidekick, and a servant.
- Analyzes how an ideal husband mocks, ironizes and imitates the themes of faithfulness, sacrifice, eternal love, mercy, commitment, etc., with more dandified and crooked characters.
- Explains that a hero's characteristics are known as strong, independent, helpful, handsome, and most importantly defeat the villain. lord goring is able to resolve problems that arise throughout the play and aids other characters that are in need of his help.
- Analyzes how lord goring states that he will help get robert chiltern out of the chaos. the hero is usually in love with the heroine but is separated from her and she is left emotional and deserted.
- Analyzes how lord goring has been too focused on everybody else's problems to notice mabel chiltern’s feelings towards him.
- Analyzes how mrs cheveley tries to belittle robert chiltern by making him feel like he has no escape. this event within the play creates suspense as the audience do not know what’s going to happen next.
- Analyzes how mrs cheveley has caused tension and anxiety to lady chiltern as she is now worried what her husband is getting himself into.
- Analyzes how mrs cheveley is desperate to get what she wants, but lord goring turns her down and she becomes a character to laugh at now she has nothing.
- Explains that a heroine's characteristics are identified as honest, beautiful, innocent, vulnerable, and goes through emotional torment all the time. this type of character can be comparable to mabel chiltern as she never does wrong.
- Analyzes how the quote fits the heroine stock character perfectly as mabel chiltern felt vulnerable and weak as she was alone with tommy trafford who she doesn't want to marry.
- Analyzes how the plot of 'an ideal husband' follows a well-known chronological order. the audience knows more about the scenario than the characters within the play.
- Concludes that oscar wilde has successfully conformed to the model of the well-made play with stock characters and storylines because of how easy it is for the audience to stereotype characters within the play.
1112 wordsRead More - Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnestanalytical essayAccording to two female characters in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Ernest is a name that is typically desirable for a husband and represents high social status and wealth. Earnest, on the contrary, according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, means to be “serious, sincere”, or, in other words, honest (“Earnest”). Within the irony of the title of Wilde’s play itself, the hypocrisy of the high social class of the Victorian era is revealed. Wilde himself said of the play in one of his letters to Lord Alfred Douglas from Worthing, “The real charm of the play, if it is to have a charm, must be in the dialogue. The plot is slight…but…adequate” (Ericksen, 145).
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how oscar wilde's the importance of being earnest portrays the hypocrisy of the high social class of victorian era.
- Analyzes how the importance of being earnest is a comedy of manners, revealing the shallow mindset of victorian high society through satirical, yet critical tone.
- Analyzes how wilde reveals victorian high society's false sincerity and shallowness through the dialogue between characters.
- Analyzes how lady bracknell's values are not held in the character of the individual, but in silly things like wealth and status.
- Analyzes how gwendolen fairfax and cecily cardew defy victorian ideals for women of modesty, unassertiveness, and naivety.
- Analyzes how wilde exposes the prevailing class prejudices of nineteenth century england through the character, values, and dialogue of the characters.
1137 wordsRead More - The Life of Oscar Wildeanalytical essayThe Life of Oscar Wilde The year is 1884 and many things have taken place in the life of our literary giant, Oscar Wilde has been married years and his touring of the United States and other countries have shown his of success in his writing all over the literary world. Some of his most recent writtings are "The Picture of Dorian Gray"(1891), "A Woman of No Importance"(1894) and his most resent essay known as "The Decay of Lying" is Oscar’s story of his outrage about the current style of writing that is going into the art society. What has happened to the spectacularness of this art, it has come down to being as horrid as what is being published in the local newspapers. Is it true that " The Decay of Lying" has fallen to its deepest shadow of shame? It seems that in the words of Oscar Wilde, that is the shameful truth.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how oscar wilde's life has changed since 1884. his recent writtings include "the picture of dorian gray" and "a woman of no importance"
- Analyzes how oscar wilde's "the decay of lying" has fallen to its deepest shadow of shame. the victorian society believes that the romanticism of life is still coursing through their veins.
- Analyzes wilde's criticism of wordsworth and other writers of the romantic era, saying the solutions to societies problems can best be remedied in nature.
- Opines that wilde's essay "the decay of lying" was written to wake up the present day writers about their failings to keep art as it is art.
- Analyzes wilde's creative writing as an outlet to escape from the realism of life, which emphasizes the importance of the ordinary, the lay person, and the simplisticness of lives varied situations.
- Opines that wilde's essay "the decay of lying" will highlight this point.
- Analyzes how wilde uses his two main characters vivian and cyril to explain the ills of the days society.
- Opines that many poets and artists have written books, prose and other artistic impressions that talk to us about life and the day to say struggles.
- Analyzes how wilde's "decay" set the stage for his next play, "the importance of being earnest." algeron and jack are the epitome of unconscionable adults.
- Analyzes how jack proposes to gwedolyn, earnest, and asks her how she would react if his name was jack. jack becomes distressed about the problem his lady love had let him know that she could never marry a man with the name.
- Explains that wilde's plays, poems, and other forms of writing are just entertainment. his goal was not to be a moralist and instill morals for the masses.
1521 wordsRead More - eeanalytical essayIt was during the Victorian Age that one of the most renowned pieces of literature was written. In fact, many religious, political, and social changes were taking place during this era. Oscar Wilde portrayed such changes in a satirical and comical tone via his play, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. The play revolves around two young male characters that create a false identity in an attempt to escape the daily restraints of Victorian Society. They are eventually caught in their lies and falsehood. Generally, the purpose of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ is to poke fun at the strict Victorian morals and values. However, the play can also be viewed via the concept of gender roles and the way in which Wilde’s use of gender role reversal is particularly emphasized. The Victorian era presented an illusion of male supremacy over women. Via Wilde’s reversal of gender roles and having female characters take on the roles of men and vice versa, the flaws of the Victorian gender values are apparent. Wilde’s reversal of gender roles is evident via the two main female characters in the play;...
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how oscar wilde's play, 'the importance of being earnest', pokes fun at the strict victorian morals and values.
- Analyzes how wilde pokes fun at the flaws of the victorian gender values and the ‘supremacy of men’ in the importance of being earnest.
581 wordsRead More - Comparing the Roles of Women in Arcadia, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Look Back in Angeranalytical essayIn 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.
In this essay, the author
- Compares the roles of women in arcadia, the importance of being earnest, and look back in anger.
- Analyzes how oscar wilde's drama the importance of being earnest pokes fun at british high society while handling the serious theme of truth and the true identity of who is really "earnest."
- Analyzes how gwendolen and cecily act like air-heads and are easily won over by the men they plan to marry. wilde exposes the women characters to ridicule.
- Analyzes how gwendolen and cecily are quick to reconcile with the men because algernon and jack tell them of their intention to be christened with ernest.
- Analyzes how osborne's look back in anger portrays women as the weaker sex through the abusive marriage of jimmy and alison.
- Analyzes how jimmy's verbal abuse eats away at his pregnant wife and makes her feel inferior. alison proves weaker than jimmy when he subjects her to physical abuse.
- Analyzes how alison is submissive to jimmy's continual abuse. she doesn't fight back verbally or physically, although she sometimes escapes into a game where she plays squirrel and jimmy plays bear.
- Analyzes alison's role in the play demonstrates the most severe and stereotypical role of a woman—the submissive, dependent and abused wife.
- Analyzes how arcadia, by tom stoppard, breaks the stereotypical weak woman's role with the character, thomasina coverly, who communicates the play’s theme of emotion versus intellect.
- Analyzes how thomasina's natural genius flourishes. her tutor septimus gives her impossible problems to work out, and her understanding of chaos theory and thermodynamics puts her intellect ahead of her time.
- Analyzes how thomasina's intelligence extends beyond academic knowledge into a search for the knowledge of love. she interrupts her lesson with septimus by asking what carnal knowledge is.
- Analyzes how thomasina recognizes the conflict of love versus intellect in a history lesson in her comparison between cleopatra and queen elizabeth.
- Analyzes how thomasina's character and life are cut short when she dies tragically in a fire the night before her seventeenth birthday.
- Analyzes how stoppard creates a positive role model for women through the character of thomasina.
- Concludes that stoppard's creation of thomasina opens the door for more women characters to be created with the same intelligence and respect in regards to love as well as academics.
- Describes the works of john fleming, ira nadel, john osborne, and doreen thompson.
1829 wordsRead More