All in all Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ preserves its comedic appeal to an ever changing contemporary audience despite the fact it was written in the Victorian era. The use of literacy devices and satirical techniques exhibits the themes of marriage, death and the use of the word earnest and how it correlates to the play showcase the satirical craftsmanship of his epigram and with this proves that this renowned piece of literature sparked uproar during 19th century Britain which preserved the Irish born playwright as one of the greatest.
I think that there is more to drama than didactic plays intended to improve society, and other purposes can be to simply entertain a crowd or toy with the audiences emotions. In my opinion however, the best dramas are usually thought-provoking, and provide a great basis for discussion concerning profound, timeless social issues. Word Count: 1550 Bibliography •A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, 1879 (Drama Classics Edition) •The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, 1895
Wilde’s Earnest Satire The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedic play that was written by Oscar Wilde in the late 1800s. He believed that people in the Victorian Era took life too seriously. He wrote this play with various forms of satire to ridicule the strict lifestyle the upper-class were boxed into. The upper class had pretentious values and behaviors that characterized Victorian life. During the Victorian Era, people were living under Queen Victoria’s monarch.
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.
It is ridiculous, but entertaining and it is completely reasonable to believe that that’s all it was meant to be- from a surface level, that is. If one looks deeper, it becomes clear that Wilde had inserted commentary within the absurdity. Earnest provides a closer examination of hypocritical Victorian ideals through its characters, who are caricatures of the types of people one would see everywhere in society. To use the idea of being earnest (or “Ernest”) ironically as a key part of his play, Wilde could fully explore his points against the world he lived in. Wilde is claiming that in the Victorian age, sincerity is next to impossible, honesty is accidental, and acting moral is more important than actually being
Because this play is meant to embody victorian society, Wilde is able to interpret and criticize the high importance of social identity to Victorians. The encompassing critic that Wilde addresses in his script involves the corrupt nature of society and the hypocrisy of presenting oneself as a wholesome, earnest person when reality indicates otherwise. This play symbolically allows us to view the characters as an example of all elite Victorian society. Bromige declares that, “reading or watching the play is to observe the unconscious of the society of Wilde’s day” (1). The bulk of the play revolves around the character’s fixation on their reputation and their desire to be seen prestigious members of society; Wilde makes a mockery of these priorities to satirize aristocracy.
True love is not found within the goals of economic survival or societal gains, rather it is found when two individuals unite in marriage because they have a genuine affection for each other. In her novel, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen depicts what love in a traditional Victorian era would be defined as. Austen displays love as the center of attention for all of society, along with the influences society has on it. Through various characters, such as Mr. Collins and Mrs. Bennet, Austen demonstrates how money and status can largely shape love and the idea of who to love. Yet, with the characters of Jane and Bingley, Austen conveys, in the end, that true love results not from economic necessity or societal gains, but from a sincere affection.
Marriage in The Importance of Being Earnest The Importance of Being Earnest is a play by Oscar Wilde. Oscar describes his play as A Trivia comedy for serious people. The protagonists in the play maintains being fictitious in order to escape burdensome social obligations. The play is lighthearted with flippant comments and offhand jokes, however the play contains serious undertones and social commentary about marriage and the society. Oscar Wilde in his plat portrays marriage in the Victorian Era as arranged for the upper class.
/ .‘Divorces are made in Heaven . . .’ Is Wilde’s presentation of marriage in The Importance of Being Earnest intended to be serious criticism or light-hearted fun? Oscar Wilde is the brilliant dramatist of the Victorian age in England. Akin to Shakespeare, Dickens and many others who worked in this field, his talent was unique in terms of self-expressions through different literary styles.
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. The The Importance of Being Earnest can be seen as comedic because Wilde uses the subversion of gender roles to give an indication that the play is merely superficial. Lady Bracknell is an amusing character because she has so much control over the other characters: “you’re uncle would have to dine upstairs.