Gender Roles In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest

Victorian gender roles were defined as women living very submissive and quiet lives as they were the caretakers and support of their husbands. Men were the leaders of their households and worked and talked about politics with other men. Going along with the Victorian times views, Pride and Prejudice and the documents show women in the way that agreed with the people of this time, and also agreed with Victorian times views of women working.

Throughout 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.

Essentially, marriage in the 1700’s was seen merely as a means of birthing heirs and finding a way to financially support yourself, so it resulted in both men and women being devalued. It is universally known that women were often treated as inept and helpless rather than sophisticated people with autonomy and capabilities. In fact, during this time, “married women were consistently compared with minor children and the insane-- both categories of people considered incapable of caring for themselves. To marry a woman was, in one sense, to ‘adopt’ her-- or at least to adopt responsibility for all the circumstances of life with which she entered the marriage” (Teachman 39). Furthermore, when women got married, they would legally cease to exist.

Throughout history, men have always dominated. They never let a woman rise to power or have the same rights. This sexism has been ingrained in society for thousands of years, so much so that it has defined some of the most famous works of literature, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This play was written during the Elizabethan Era, an era in which a woman had all the power imaginable (Queen Elizabeth), and yet, women were still severely discriminated against. Women had no say whatsoever in their society; they were not allowed to vote and they had very few legal rights (Papp, Joseph, Kirkland). They were could not enter the professions (lawyer, priest, doctor, etc.) and they by law, needed the permission of a husband, father, or any male-head

In his play The Importance of Being Earnest (1895, London St. James’ theater), Oscar Wilde portrays the attitudes and society of Victorian upper class through character interactions within the ‘Bunburyist’ adventures of Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing. The play’s comedic elements, in addition to the portrayal of power structures, are used as an effective medium to challenge the viewer to reflect upon Wilde’s criticism on institutions and values of the aristocracy. In conjunction to this, deeper analysis can be conducteds about marriage in Victorian aristocracy and their attitudes to members of other social groups.

While many have been familiar with the title of the play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, one should also pay attention to its subtitle, ‘trivial comedy for serious people’. The play is a satire that ridicules the upper class to point out its fault (Kreuz and Roberts 100).The aim is to ridicule the ‘serious people’, members of the upper class in Victorian society. The characters were too attentive to social propriety and etiquette, which were as trivial as the comedy suggests in the eyes of Wilde. As they were too stubborn to alter the behaviour, the propriety and etiquette became superficial and meaningless. Their idleness and hypocrisy are other points at which Wilde recurrently mock in the play. This essay illustrates how Wilde reinforce his criticism of the upper class at a satirical tone with his writing style at three levels: inter-scene, intra-scene, and within a word.

The 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.

It is time to discuss the meaning of gender, its significance, its importance, and how this could play a major part in one’s life. What is gender you might ask? Could it determine the role you play if you may play a role at all? Gender is socially learned and reinforced characteristics that include one’s biological sex and psychological characteristics. It is said that gender has nothing to do with male or female. However, we can say that Shakespeare has a way of being sexist in his playwrights, or having a sexist attitude. Let us say just because you are female you could not get a job, nowadays this is considered discrimination, but during the Elizabethan times this was a way a life. Could we say that Shakespeare wrote his plays this way because he himself was truly sexist, or was it solely based upon the way of life during this time. We really do not know much about

At the start of both A Thousand Splendid Suns and Pride and Prejudice, the novels’ protagonists hold a great deal of respect for their fathers. Mariam, born out of wedlock, lives with her mother and only sees her father Jalil once every week. Despite this, Jalil is Mariam’s hero for most of her adolescence, his visits being “all smiles and gifts and endearments…and, for this, Mariam loved Jalil.” (Hosseini, Khaled. "Chapter 1." A Thousand Splendid Suns. New York: Riverhead, 2007. 4-6. Print.) This depiction of Jalil as a type of savior in the beginning of the novel juxtaposed with his real disposition as a selfish man showcases the change in Mariam’s perception of the world. In a similar fashion, Mr. Bennet of Pride and Prejudice is held in high esteem though his shortcomings,

give us a first-hand insight into what life may have being like during the Victorian

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a novel set during the Victorian Era, made up of a series of documents such as journal entries and letters between several characters. The Victorian society didn’t allow a woman to choose her destiny. By law, a woman was the property of her father, husband or even her brother. (YILDIRIM,46) This society originated based on the belief that women were destined to be mothers and wives and no more. During this era, women struggled to attain gender equality as the ideology during this period rested on the belief that women were both physically and intellectually the inferior sex. (YILDIRIM,46) The topic of gender equality is a very controversial topic to discuss even today in the modern world. Female oppression has been

women don’t base a marriage proposal off of wealth, instead for love. More women in

In society of the Regency period, every aspect of one’s life was greatly analyzed and examined. Any deviation from the set norm was considered uncivilized. In a time period where reputation was the most memorable part of a family's life, being considered uncivilized would entirely ruin their standing. Some may say that all of the characters were simply fighting to be a normal part of society; Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s desires ended up with disagreeable results, each of the daughters deviated from society’s expectations, and Elizabeth did not allow any social norms to stand in her way of marriage for love. These examples exhibit the characters’ struggle to not be average and compliant members of society.

A pertinent issue which has gained a lot of attention recently in the social media is the way people should behave depending on different factors, for example: culture or gender. Moreover, nowadays there are people who think that taking up other gender roles is overrated because these are usually determined by past generations. Therefore, they argue that in the current world people should behave the way they want without taking into account other people’s opinions. However, this issue was really relevant in England during the nineteenth century where codes of behaviour were strictly followed and taken into account by the society. This essay will examine the representation of gender in one Victorian work, Oscar Wilde’s 1899 melodrama The Importance of Being

Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedy produced and released in 1895. It is regarded as his most famous and successful work. Wilde showed his marvelous skills in using humorous and satirical words in the play. However, in the early and mid-twentieth century, many people criticized that it was barely a play to amuse the audience, but without any meaningful inspiration. In order to overturn this comment, it is necessary to have an analysis of the play.