Earnest Essay: The Importance Of Being Satire

Oscar Wilde’s, The Importance of Being Earnest, explores marriage and the way in which the upper class viewed it as a business. Through his characters Wilde also explores the theme of greed that runs in the upper class and Wilde exposes the pettiness that was typical of the upper class. He explores these themes and ideas by using humour and wit. Throughout these passages Wilde’s characters portray marriage as a business.

The main social group portrayed in the cartoon “On Satire” by Joe Sacco, published in The Guardian, is the cartoonists. “On Satire” portrays other cartoonists as obnoxious, insensitive cavemen who often cross the line between satire and just outright offensive mockery of the religious beliefs of Muslims. The purpose of the cartoon is to ridicule the black and white way of representation/depiction of all Muslims as terrorists. Also he is aiming to get governments and news outlets to consider ways in which to stop terrorism by understanding where they are coming from instead of just eradicating all Muslims and hoping that terrorism dies with them.

In one of Oscar Wilde’s most enduring play, The Importance of Being Earnest, it displays very noticeable pun, referring to the word “earnest” honest and loyal. Filled with parodies of the Victorian society, in where the play shows how deceptive the characters really are. Jack Worthing, who fakes his identity with a fictitious character, Earnest, uses to escape his responsibilities. While Algernon using the same alternative of escape from reality, “Bunbury”,an invalid friend that will provide him a means to do as he pleases. All characters in the play seem to not tell the truth whether it is their names or any details of their lives. With a double meaning title, it seems like Wilde wanted to joke around with his audience, making it the perfect parody to enjoy.

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

While those of the Victorian upper class were usually the most refined and intelligent, Wilde portrays them as ignorant and dense. One of the most well described ladies, Miss Prism, is shown to be the least aware. “The most cultivated of ladies, and the very picture of respectability”(63). She is ultimately the most absent minded and leaves baby Jack in a handbag in a cloak room of a major railway station. Through Miss Prism, Wilde is able to propagandize the intelligence the aristocrats usually embody. In addition to this, Wilde refutes the morality of the Victorian elite. The main two characters, Jack and Algernon, are deceptive and are rarely seen to have any morals. Reviewing this play with a sociological/Marxist perspective provides insight on how Wilde wants others to perceive the elite of

People only stressed attention to manners and and a person’s moral character.. “Ahem! Mr. Worthing, after careful consideration I have decided entirely to overlook my nephew’s conduct to you.”(Wilde 48). This quote was from Lady Bracknell after Mr. Worthing just informed her of Algernon's recent mis-doings. This shows that Lady Bracknell shows no sympathy towards Mr.Worthing, because all she is worried about now is Algy marrying Cecily to make him look better in high society. Another example on how Wilde expresses triviality is with Lady Bracknell again. Lady Bracknell says this just after she had been interrogating Cecily, “...We live, I regret to say, in an age of surfaces...”(Wilde 47). Lady Bracknell is hypocritical too in this act because she was just talking about not wanting her son to marry Cecily, but after hearing about Cecily's fortune she wants her. This clearly shows how the Victorian society did not worry about the person themselves, but focused on if they had money or any other type of fortune. Although Lady Bracknell shows great examples of Triviality, she is not the only person that shows it. Gwendolen in the first act tells Mr. Worthing that she only loves him and would marry him just because his name was Ernest. “I am told: and my ideal has always been to love some one of the of Ernest”(Wilde 10). If this does not show just how insane

Oscar Wilde’s play entitled “The Importance of Being Earnest” illustrates the concept of dual personality, fantasy, love, and lies. Jack, Algernon, Gwendolyn, and Cecily all live in lies. They are manipulated by their fantasies and desire for perfect relationship and love. Jack, the protagonist in the play, is the root of lies because of his imaginary brother named Earnest. Algernon uses the name to win Cecily, while Gwendolyn and Cecily are both fascinated by this name because it expresses strength and perfection of manhood. Due to their search and desire to have Earnest, the male and female characters escape from the reality. Therefore, Wilde in The Importance of Being Earnest portrays a gender doubled

Plays often use literary devices to create humor. Oscar Wilde uses dramatic irony in his play, The Importance of Being Earnest, to satirize the upper class of the Victorian era. This play tells the story of Jack and Algernon, two men who each create alter egos named Ernest, to help them escape the responsibilities in their regular lives. Each man falls in love, Jack with Gwendolyn and Algernon with Cecily, but both women believe they have fallen in love with a man named Ernest. They do not know about the men’s double lives.

In one specific scene of the play Act 1 Scene 2, just after Jack has proposed to Gwendolen, Lady Bracknell enters the room and sends her daughter away; she then begins to interview Jack to see if he would qualify as a possible son-in-law. Based on this specific passage the reader is able to examine the text in its’ irony to influence social agreements of the Victorian era from a gender and

In Oscar Wilde’s whimsical play The Importance of Being Earnest, society,and class are strong motifs as the play progresses. Most prominently, Lady Bracknell’s character is implemented to exaggerate the higher class, depict the ideals of society and effectively expose the other character’s status.’ For instance, Lady Bracknell staunchly believes that one should never waste time sympathizing with “invalids” like Mr. Bunbury, for he should “...[make] up his mind whether he was going to live or [] die,” (1.718); this is exceptionally critical for the seating to be apt at her dinner party. Moreover, while Lady Bracknell holds her nephew, Algernon, in high esteem, her interactions with Jack presents their stark inequality of social status. To expand,

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."

In The Importance of Being Earnest, the author, Oscar Wilde uses characterization to put forth his theme of how humans attach importance to concepts that have very little meaning at all by describing each character to be judgmental and cruel towards one another. Lady Bracknell, for example, believes wealth is by far more important than breeding, and tends to bully everyone in her path including her own daughter Gwendolen. In the play, the society focuses more on how each person presents themselves, rather than their brutal actions. The Aristocrats, who are known as the upper class, tend to treat their close family and relatives poorly. Whereas the lower class, such as Jack and Cecily, have more trustworthy and compassionate relationships with their families. Even though Jack is made up to be trustworthy, he somehow turns out be a manipulated liar. Jack Worthing is a character in the play who repeatedly tells people his name is Ernest in the city, and Jack in the country. The only time Jack has ever showed his honesty was when he confessed the love he has for Gwendolen Fairfax.

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

A person’s name and position in society are significantly important for the upper class, due to the fact that if one were to marry into the family, a key member of the family would judge the person by their social class and the family name they carry to see if they are worthy to being a part of their lineage. In the play, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” a person's social class is highly admired. The main characters are high in society and are falsely appearing to live up to great expectations. In Oscar Wilde’s play, the theme of the social class is extensively explored through the characters, although they are living double-lives.

Her haughty aunt, Lady Bracknell, deems Jack unworthy of marrying of Gwendolen because he is an orphan with no knowledge of his parents. Algernon Moncrieff Jack's friend, and nephew of Lady Bracknell, also assumes the Ernest identity in an attempt to woo Cecily, Jack's ward who is a woman who also dreams of marrying a man