The Importance Of Being Earnest Ending Analysis
when the ending is taken in light of Miss Prism’s commentary, one should start to wonder what Wilde is trying to say in ending his play in such a clichéd manner. Though the main characters’ actions portray them to be scatterbrained and foolish, taking trivial matters seriously and serious matters trivially, they haven’t necessarily done anything terrible, as their actions do little to harm others inside or outside of their social circles, and they haven’t done much good, either. Not only does Wilde’s ending follow the “rules of fiction”, he follows these rules so judiciously that Earnest takes on the air of parody. Earnest’s plot follows an outline of a cheesy romance story—two or more individuals fall in love at first sight, some conflict …show more content…
Though Wilde tells us that Cecily is “not a romantic girl”, the flakiness of Jack and Algernon lend us to expect her to be the opposite—and Wilde knows this. Instead of make Cecily out to be the typical damsel in love so common in romance novels, he makes her a damsel who has gone a bit loony with love. So when Wilde ends his play by both invoking its title and giving it a double meaning, he’s able to end on the same key that the play has had all along: maintaining a saccharine tone while presenting an unpredictably predictable revelation. In a way, The Importance of Being Earnest sets its audience up to understand its title. Most people would assume that Earnest is, well, about some person realizing the importance of being earnest. In reality, Earnest ends up being about characters who think they’ve realized the importance of being earnest (or Ernest) in their own eccentric way. By ending the play on its title, Wilde is able to close the curtains on his three-part fiction, and open the curtains on the audience’s next act about the importance of being earnest. In other words, act IV of Earnest exists in what the audience take away from
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Animals In Streetcar Named Desire
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Marxism In The Importance Of Being Earnest
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Classism In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest
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Literary Analysis Of Oscar Wilde's Impressions Of America
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The Importance Of Being Earnest Rhetorical Analysis
920 Words | 4 PagesThroughout the story of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Oscar pointed out many oblivious actions done by the characters. He constantly used the characters to exaggerate actions of our society today. Wilde uses exaggerations to show how the characters were unable to be a complete individual without the face of the strict social expectations influencing their actions. Everywhere in the society, they are all unable to make their own decisions, and it is very hard for them to be truthful towards who they are without societal norms interfering causing them to lose all individuality. Wilde uses reversal to show how the characters actions were completely insane since they were trying to accommodate societal expectations.
Being Earnest: Oscar Wilde's Criticism On The Upper Class
1059 Words | 5 Pagesarch 2018 The Importance of Being Earnest: Oscar Wilde’s Criticism on the Upper Class Using humor, cleverness, and style, Oscar Wilde illustrates the lives of the Victorian upper class in The Importance of Being Earnest. More specifically, the “Trivial Comedy for Serious People” reveals in a satirical manner the insignificant concerns of Great Britain’s aristocracy. In the introduction of The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Writings, editor Richard Ellmann creates an overview of Wilde’s best known work.
Gender Roles In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest
928 Words | 4 PagesOscar Wilde’s satirical play The Importance of Being Earnest, set in the late Victorian era, London, is a portrayal of British upper class society and its conventions surrounded by a strict code of conduct. In 1890’s class society, earnestness was desired; to follow the moral code and social obligations in order to keep up one’s appearance. Besides, there was a huge gender disparity between men and women. In the play, Wilde criticizes the social inequality and Victorian upper class standards. He characterizes Victorian personae making fun of their qualities; hypocrisy, arrogance and absurdism, ultimately the very vital state and lifeline of not being earnest at all in Victorian society.
Identity In The Importance Of Being Earnest
1172 Words | 5 PagesThe purpose of The Importance of Being Earnest was to satirise the Victorian traditions, false courtesy, and the superficiality of status and the quest for love and marriage. These manifests itself in Jack through his superiority toward his foil, Algy, who doesn't adhere to social protocol, and his deluded hope for a life with Gwendolyn, whom Jack views as a solution to his problems and a way to heighten his status, not as a life partner. Furthermore, putting emphasis on his delusion and hypocrisy. The hyperbolic "we will be the picture of perfection", "That satisfaction will come when, and only when, I have Gwendolyn as my wife" and derisive "the irony of which was evidently, though not shockingly, lost on him" are reflections of this and create cohesion between the character in the play and the
Marriage In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest
1653 Words | 7 PagesOscar Wilde’s Victorian melodramatic play The Importance of Being Earnest opened on February 14, 1895. Wilde used this play to criticize Victorian society through clever phrasing and satire. Throughout the play The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde displayed the themes of the nature of marriage, the constraints of morality, and the importance of not being earnest. One of the themes that Oscar Wilde includes in the play is the nature of marriage.
Aestheticism In The Importance Of Being Earnest
1044 Words | 5 PagesThe Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde is an excellent play which has many underlying themes and suggestions especially with regards to the Victorian era, during which this was written. Many themes within the play are reflective of Wilde and his life, including his secrecy and supposed “double life,” his interest in aestheticism, his life pertaining the mannerisms and social etiquette during his lifetime. Today, Oscar Wilde is often remembered in part due to his well known homosexuality trial of 1895 (Linderd, 1), but his “second life” per se had been speculated on for years prior to it, in fact many of his plays contain subtle yet effective implications towards a possible piece of his life kept hidden from the public eye. The Importance of Being Earnest mirrored this double life through the utilization of Jack and Algernon's “Bunburying,” and their motives for lying to the ones whom they love.
Marriage And Love In Oscar Wilde's Play
877 Words | 4 PagesWilde’s comedic influence takes place in the characters placing emphasis on trivial things and treating serious matters with inconsequence. Though this play could be viewed as a simple comedy, what makes it a satirical work is the underlying social commentary. Wilde highlights his views on institutions such as love, marriage, and gender relations by satirizing their nature via reductio ad absurdum and thereby reveals their essential frivolity. Though marriage is traditionally viewed by society as the final step in a lover’s journey, Wilde intentionally separates marriage and love to the point where they seem mutually exclusive.
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