The Importance Of Being Earnest, By Oscar Wilde

By stating that he did not know anyone by the name of Cecily, Jack initiates his own debacle. He has to clarify that Cecily is actual his ward. Nonetheless, Jack bears no anguish to dissembling to his closest companion. Jack’s morality has been impaired by his lies and it implies that his animalistic qualities control him. Yet, he falls in love and he must tell Gwendolen, his sweetheart, of his morally wrong character. In order to do so Jack has to disclose that Ernest was not in fact his real name but a mere alias created to cover up his dastardly ways. He can think of no other way than to “kill” his brother. Wilde shows how Jack’s urbane nature begins to be marred by his animalism since he was willing to kill a man, fictional or not. Ensuing in the play Jack is speaking with Algernon and he begins to ponder on how to commit the murder. He states “My poor brother Ernest is carried off suddenly in Paris, by a severe chill. That gets rid of him” (Wilde 16). Though fictional, Jack’s murder of Ernest still seems to carry the same implications further into the book. This murder eventually skews his reputation once his lies become known. Wilde proves how Jack’s lies soon catch up to him and flaw his esteemed moral persona. Later in the play Algernon sets off on a trip to Jack’s country estate and claims he is Ernest Worthing. Later when Jack arrives Cecily informs her caretaker that his brother Ernest is in his room. Jack replies

“The Importance of Being Earnest,” a satirical play written by Oscar Wilde, discusses a vast variety of criticisms regarding the late Victorian societal period. In this comedic drama, focusing on and analyzing certain minor characters leads to a more effective interpretation of the messages attempting to be portrayed to the audience. For example, through the persona of Lady Bracknell, Wilde effectively mocks the concept of marriage for social status rather than love. Additionally, interpreting the roles of the lower class servants allows the readers to internalize the desperate need for social reform that the author felt at the time period. Finally, the entire concept of Bunburyism, or masquerading as an alternate persona, satirizes the hypocrisy of the Victorian Era.

Oscar Wilde is judging society as pertaining to them living two different lives where they can be who they actually, want to be. Jack and Algernon run to the city where they can go to do the things they judge people for while in the country. Jack feels "When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring". The characters have also created a thing such as Bunbury which gives them a way of life which offers away for the characters to escape from the social norms. Oscar Wilde has created two completely different society's one where the characters can go. We also can begin to see the story of Oscar Wilde into this book and how he is considered a higher member of society but he is also living another life as being a homosexual man we could question maybe if he was questioning the way that he lived and how he felt he

In the play, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, there is a lot of humor that can be found. Specifically, developed behind the characters in this play that display many instances of irony and how important it was to fit into the “status quo” of this time period. There are specific behaviors from the characters of Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen, and Algernon that portray Wilde’s opinion of society during the Victorian Age. The attitude of these characters is snobbish and their manners display double standards and superiority. The play’s use of mockery and irony of these satirical situations is meant to publicly ridicule the self- loving attitude of the upper class while exposing their true absence of intelligence which causes their absurd social behaviors

The Importance of Being Earnest, written by a fascinating Oscar Wilde reveals a story of social class and hierarchy during the roaring Victorian time period (1837-1901). Focusing his writing on the social classes, the play becomes comical when he exposes the flaws held by the upper class during this time. Wilde saw earnestness as being a key ideal in Victorian culture for much of British society struck Wilde as dry, stern, conservative, and so “earnestly” concerned with the maintenance of social norms and the status quo that it had become almost inhuman. This play depicts certain characters that conform so easily to the conventional social status and characteristics of the Victorian culture. Such characters include Algernon, Jack, Cecily, and Gwendolyn. These characters introduce many themes that focus on the Victorian lifestyle, primarily the issues of being “earnest” and one’s own morality.

The play ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ by Oscar Wilde is set in England during the late 19th century during the rule of Queen Victoria and features two bachelors, Algernon Moncrieff and John Worthing, and their struggle to impress the women they want to marry while remaining their true selves. Wilde presents the theme of superficiality through the approach to names in the play and the importance of appearances. (or looks? Gwen and Cecily fight plus dandy).

Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest (.1993.) is an enlightening epitome of social class in the Victorian era. The satire is driven by the frivolous behaviour, superficial lives and artificial norms within the Victorian aristocracy. Incorporating his own opinion into the play, Wilde continually attacked and mocked their hypocrisy, views on marriage, and their mannerisms. Throughout the play, Wilde used an abundant range of literary techniques to reinforce his opinion. Irony, paradox and hyperboles, as well as witty epigrams and aphorisms were used astutely and were ubiquitous throughout the play. This contributed to the satirical style and tone of the text, and enabled Wilde to effectively communicate his critical perspective on social class in Victorian England.

Later, when Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen enter, two more ideas of marriage are brought to the forefront. Lady Bracknell portrays the aristocratic Victorian view of marriage but to a more extreme extent. According to Ziegenfuss, marriage in the Victorian era was not romanticized or fairytale-like. Love actually played a very minor role in the majority of matrimonies that took place. Engagement was entered into as one would approach a business deal, with rules and guidelines (Ziegenfuss). This is blatantly obvious when Lady Bracknell interviews Jack to see if he’s fit to marry Gwendolen. She attacks Jack with questions about family, fortune, and even place of residency and his answers need be appropriate for a union between the two families. (Kupske, Souza, 122). Even when Algernon wants to marry Cecily, Lady Bracknell voices, “I think some preliminary inquiry on my part would not be out place.” (Wilde, 46). Gwendolen, however, has the same view of marriage as Jack but, still has strong ideals about social protocol. This is seen when Jack tries to propose, she replies, “Of course I will darling…I am afraid you have had very little experience in how to propose!” (Wilde, 11)

One thing that Jack and Algernon have in common is that they both have these false faces. Algernon’s alter ego Bunbury is a version of himself used in the country but he uses Ernest to marry Cecily. The story deals with Ernest, this immorally imaginary man that both Cecily and Gwendolyn become engaged to, it exemplifies the irony within the name. Most of the irony comes from this character. One of Wilde's satiric targets is romantic and sentimental love, which he ridicules by having the women fall in love with a man because of his name rather than more personal attributes. Gwendolyn said “No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces

Jack is a leading character in Oscar Wilde’s play, “Importance of Being Earnest”, is used as a representation for a set of ideas/attitudes of the upper class. Jack also gives the author, Wilde, the chance to show the Victorian lifestyle. As a member of the upper-class Victorian, Jack has earned respectability only because of his adopted father's fortune. It has put him in a position to know the rules of behavior of polite society. When Lady Bracknell questions his qualifications for marrying her daughter, Gwendolen, he knows she wants to hear about his pedigree, but Jack cannot tell her about his.

Specifically, Wilde ridicules the fixation his characters have with wealth and social status. For instance, the cunning and narrow-minded Lady Bracknell is extremely fascinated in discovering what the wealth and statuses people surround her have. An example of this is when Lady Bracknell challenges the guardian of Cecily Cardew - Jack, in regards to her wealth: "I had better ask you if Miss Cardew has any little fortune?" "A Hundred and Thirty thousand pounds in the funds," this alerts Lady Bracknell whom instantaneously switches her views of Cecily, due to having some wealth. This portrays the hypocrisy of Lady Bracknell and this hypocrisy is furthered as she says: "Few girls of the present day have any really solid qualities."

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

In Oscar Wilde’s play, he showed the upper class had many requirements for potential wedding partners, wealth being a key requirement. He also showed that women weren’t allowed to marry outside of their class, even if they loved the person. Overall, the text above shows that marriage was different for the lower and upper classes of society.

Wilde packed into this speech Lady Bracknell’s basic social assumptions(‘the ordinary decencies of family life….social indiscretion…a recognized position

In John Drinkwater’s “Wilde's `The Importance of Being Earnest'”, Drinkwater goes in depth on the intensity of his play. Drinkwater strongly believes that this is “the only one of Wilde's works that really has its roots in passion” (Drinkwater 1). He has studied many Oscar Wilde plays and, under his eyes, sees