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What does oscar wilde critique on the importance of being earnest
The theme of the picture of dorian gray
Analysis of the play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
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Oscar Wilde was one of the most successful playwrights of the late nineteenth century, but even today he still remains as somewhat of an enigma; full of peculiarities and seemingly full of contradictions. He was born in Dublin with the name Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wils Wilde, in 16 October 1854. Wilde’s mother was a revolutionary poet, his father was a surgeon. He went to Trinity College in Dublin and then to Magdalen College in Oxford. After graduating, he went on a lecture tour throughout the United States, London and Canada to teach aesthetic values in 1879; he also became a pioneer for the aesthetic movement whose maxim was ‘art for art’s sake’. He married in 1884 and had two sons.
He wrote three collections of short stories in his early career, but had little success. Wilde began to gain fame when he published the essay
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The Importance of Being Earnest is a play concerned with double identities and a question of what is true. Jack and Algernon adopt another identity in order for them to lead a double life and win the love of an attractive woman. The dualistic theme is present throughout the play including its language; the name ‘Ernest’ being a pun and the huge amount of double entendres hidden in the woven lines of the play.
The most evident example of duality of identity in The Picture of Dorian Gray is Dorian himself. Dorian faces a struggle of good and evil; he appears youthful, whereas his portrait depicts ugliness. However, it is revealed that appearances can be deceiving so Dorian does not seem as good as his appearance suggests, he is simply a human being that can be good yet evil at times. Wilde proves the existence of the dual nature of man by having both good and evil work in conflict with each other as Dorian and the portrait are both good and
Jack’s persona ‘Earnest’ has been described by Miss Prism as “irretrievably weak and vacillating” (701.35). Not only that, but Jack uses his persona of Earnest to make it seem like Jack adheres to notions of duty, honor and respectability all the while getting into mischief in London as his fake brother Ernest. Jack has shown that he will even lie to his loved ones his persona in order to get away with misbehaving and be seen as upright and moral. Later into the play Jack and his double life collide when the woman he loves starts to love his alter ego Earnest, although Ernest was an escape Jack used for his personal life but when his personal life and his real life collide he has to embrace his deception to get the life that he truly
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.
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.
Two adolescent women who incorrectly consider the men’s names to be Ernest, and who are passionate about the men for this very reason think highly of both Jack and Algernon. In relating the story of mix-ups and mistaken identities, the ideals and manners of the Victorian society are satirized in a comedy where the characters "treat all the trivial things of life seriously and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality"(Wilde, Oscar). Oscar Wilde’s amusing scenes often take their source in societal satire and unconventional (Baselga 15). All the way through his play, The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde satirizes education, women, and morality.
The Picture of Dorian Gray can be scrutinized and understood to approve of the merit of life in accordance with hedonistic values, this is partially due to the novels publication during the Aesthetic Movement of Victorian England along with congealing with the trite virtues of Oscar Wilde. We are able to understand Oscar Wilde’s interpretation of the Aesthetic Movement in sum to be the ideal person whose actions create maximal amounts of pleasure and joy in their life and nothing more (1Duggan). The Picture of Dorian Gray begins in the home of the renowned artist Basil Howard, along with an admirer, Lord Henry; these two men discuss the beauty of the newly done painting of a party guest, Dorian Gray and upon this event the catastrophic downfall of the three main characters is launched. Basil, sensitive to emotions, already consumed with idolatry towards Dorian Gray now has a new form of competition in the form of Lord Henry’s influence and cynicism upon the young man Dorian. Although Dorian is warned by Basil proclaiming Henry’s wrongful authority, Dorian cannot help to be intrigued by the hedonistic selfish lifestyle. While taking a walk in the garden Lord Henry pressures Dorian Gray to live unregretful and spend his precious seconds “always searching for new sensations” rather than devoting himself to “common” or “vulgar” pursuits (1Wilde pg. 24). In this ins...
Oscar Wilde is arguably one of the most intriguing and thought-provoking poets, writers, and playwrights of the Victorian Era. Oscar Wilde was born an exquisite and brilliantly creative person, who wrote some of the most well known plays and poems of the Victorian Era. Most of Wilde’s critically acclaimed works have been centered on certain pivotal principles he credited in his artistic ways, and in his personal life. The most important of these central views is, “the critical and cultured spirits…will seek to gain their impressions almost entirely from what Art has touched. For Life is terribly deficient in form” (Ericksen 8).
Oscar Wilde’s only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, shows a man’s vanity, self- indulgence and utter lack of regard for others through art. The portrait of Dorian Gray, created at the height of Dorian’s beauty, youth and charm is a reflection of the evils in basing the worth of someone on appearance rather than character. Since those around him find him beautiful and charming, Dorian believes that that the only thing matters is his appearance, so that he is able to focus on his own needs and wants. Showing how vain people in a society can really be, and its destructive force, is Wilde’s ultimate statement. After Basil Hallward paints a magnificent portrait of Dorian Gray, the painting changes along with Dorian’s soul, but Dorian’s physical presence stays the same. Evolving into this new person, Dorian tends to collapse people’s reputations and also ends up ruining his own reputation, leaving a path of destruction in the pursuit of his own pleasures and those things to which he feels entitled. Oscar Wilde draws attention to society’s vanity by creating an element of supernatural within the painting. When Dorian does things that are horrid, the painting captures what he has done and starts looking cruel and evil while Dorian’s youth and beautiful appearance remains the same. The painting is a metaphor for Dorian’s soul. His soul and the painting are changing for the worse, but Dorian Gray always looks like the nearly twenty year old boy he was when the painting was first composed. Dorian’s vanity is all that matters.
Through his character’s experiences, Wilde illustrates the soul of the character, the character’s pursuits of pleasure and the character’s opinion of art. The author’s idea of aestheticism is art that exists for the meaning of beauty, alone. Art serves no purpose in the philosophy because “All art is useless.” (Wilde). Dorian’s reaction to the portrait shows the readers all that mattered was he was going to age and the painting was going to stay young and beautiful.
In the beginning of the book, Dorian seems to be an innocent, charming, beautiful young man, and even referred to as “a wonderful creation” (ch 2). Dorian is described as this amazing person, with looks comparable to a God, charm that could swoon any woman, and a mesmerizing persona about him with the ability to draw anyone near, yet he seems to be so imperceptive to himself. His attitude of simplicity causes readers to be fond of him, passing their first judgments that he could not possibly be evil. As the story moves along readers see the first inkling that Dorian may not be so perfect. Dorian comments on “how sad it is…[that he] shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But the picture will remain always young” (ch 2). This statement lets readers inside Dorian’s thoughts, showing how shallow and frivolous Dorian views life to be. He places so much value and esteem on looks alone, forgetting that being painted should be an honor, or at the very least...
He often incorporates moral dilemmas into his work. They usually follow a similar pattern as well. This pattern is composed of two sides: the betrayer/sinner and the victim. It is evident that Wilde supports the morally correct in society. This links to his Christian beliefs.
With similar situations, such as remorse of past sins, and ruining great lives through a societal hypocrisy, Oscar was almost certainly reflecting on his life, and focusing on repentance. An Ideal Husband is his secondly most popular produced show, following The Importance of Being Earnest. The show’s opening night was January 3, 1895, after which Wilde was arrested for “gross indecency” and had caused his name to be publicly omitted from the
Upon stabbing the painting, the painting returns to its original form and leaves Dorian looking aged and withered to the point where he is unrecognizable. The author tries to show that the actions and “ugliness” of an individual cannot remain hidden forever. Wilde attempts to convey the message that although others may be oblivious or unaware of an individual’s inner “ugliness”, an individual cannot always tune their ugliness out to their own self. Although, in his pursuit of desires, Dorian ignores his moral compass, which prevents him from differentiating between good or bad, he is however not able to ignore the “ugly” person he becomes. Dorian isn’t bothered by his ugliness due to moral reasons but more so due to the fact he doesn’t wan others to discover this side of
He lived the life and agreed with the philosophy and movement. Wilde is actually a main figure in the Aestheticism movement. It would not make sense for him to analyze his own lifestyle he was living. However, The Picture of Dorian Gray is not the first time Oscar Wilde’s stories have been read as a critique against morality and beauty. At the University Of North Texas, a professor, Dr. Justin Travis Jones, published in an article titled ‘Morality’s Ugly Implications in Oscar Wilde’s Fairy Tales’.
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 satirical piece usually has a didactic side to it.