Impacting Lives, Impacting Literature Ireland is a beautiful country. The land produces amazing artists of all fashions and walks of life. The literature it produces is especially moving. However, the writers are unique characters who do not blend with social norms. The beauty corrupts the society. In turn, Ireland corrupts the writers who express that defining aspect within the pages of their timeless works. Two outstanding writers are Ireland’s best example of this point. Oscar Wilde and John Connolly cause quite the amount of chaos through their writing. What does this say about Ireland? Firstly, Oscar Wilde was a unique person. He lived from 1854 to 1900. During that time period in Ireland the population was in the midst of miniscule …show more content…
Before Oscar Wilde was born the country endured the potato famine. After Oscar Wilde died the country engaged in a civil war. The time that Oscar Wilde lived though was a strained time with hazardous opinions to his personality. Oscar Wilde is one of the few that were born in Dublin, Ireland but ended up leaving the country. Wilde did attend Trinity College in Dublin before he left the country. The history records do not suggest a direct reason as to why Oscar Wilde left. However, based upon the obvious derision brewing amongst the people, Oscar Wilde was forced to leave in order to begin his career. The writer left for London, the heart of the country that his fellow Irishmen wanted freedom from, to kick start his works. Even though, many of his first works went unnoticed by the majority of the population Similarly were Oscar Wilde’s works to his personality. The writer’s works held many ideals that did not conform to social convention. The popular novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” was an exceptional piece of literature. However, many analyzed and criticized Oscar Wilde for having such passionate …show more content…
Many viewed the piece as a reflection of the population and were upset that Oscar Wilde would think of the people to be so vain. Therefore, this novel became popular for its controversial portrayal of the population’s youth.
While his works stirred up discussions, Oscar Wilde himself was subject to mockery and judgement amongst his peers for his life choices. Oscar Wilde went to jail for two years with hard labor because he was found guilty of sodomy. Oscar Wilde’s opponent in the case merely brought this to court because of the rage he felt that the writer would dare lure his own son into a relationship. Therefore, the opposition made it possible that Oscar Wilde would indeed be punished one way or another.
In addition, the writer made these scandalous decisions about his own love life because he was a confident man. Oscar Wilde was even married with two young sons when he began his affairs with young men. Wilde’s wife moved to Switzerland and changed her surname to Holland, along with their sons, during the time that Oscar Wilde was in prison. The writer was a bit of a conundrum due to his ability to cross society’s lines of
The trial ended with the jury unable to reach a verdict. Three weeks later, Wilde was retried. This time, Wilde was convicted of gross indecency and received two years of hard labor, the maximum sentence allowed for the crime. 4. Some people have been affected my the media's hype on youth and beauty because they feel beautiful or ugly, and depending on what the media's hype on youth and beauty is, they could feel better or worse about themselves.
On all accounts, this passage foreshadows Oscar’s life as he grew up. Oscar struggled to find a girl a that loves and appreciates his
The relationships focused on in the novel are very unstable and based on almost no connection other than money. Although there are many different views about different romances. One type of romance that has long been under fire are LGBTQ romances. While many live happily being who they are, others face the scrutiny of others throwing what they believe to be true onto them. That is the case with Oscar Wilde himself.
Oscar Wilde’s views about the deficiency of imagination in modern literature and the overall lack of creative inspiration in art, wholly, make an appearance during a conversation between the two characters, in which Wilde expresses his views through Vivian, while Cyril makes dubious attempts to hold a different opinion that elicit Vivian to elucidate
He praises some aspects, but doesn’t like others. Looking more deeply, however, it’s easy to see how this sentence is more of a backhanded compliment than anything. Wilde doesn’t value comfort or efficiency in the slightest, and neither do his readers. So when it appears he is lauding Americans for some aspect of their culture, the emphasis is on the criticism and he and his audience are looking down upon the Americans. Since Wilde and his audience share the same values, he is trying to show he has the same disappointment as the reader would when reading the piece.
The novel is constructed to even deceive the reader. The first paragraph of the first chapter begins with a description of a beautiful summer day with “delicate perfume” (Wilde 1). It is a beautiful and pleasantly smelling environment but it is also
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. Wilde uses reversal to show how the characters actions were completely insane since they were trying to accommodate societal expectations.
arch 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.
Oscar 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.
Oscar 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.
“Art for arts sake” was the motto and aestheticism was exemplified in both The Importance of Being Earnest and Oscar Wilde's own life. The usage of a dandy in the play is used to exemplify the love toward fashion during the time period, as well as to add comedic release through speaking in sarcasm and epigrams (Walker, 1). Wilde himself could be identified as a dandy in that he had an infatuation with interesting fashion and dressing well, as was he was often recognized as witty and quick on his feet in his conversations and his writing. Wilde was also known by many to be greatly interested in decoration and interior design, as displayed through his North American speech tour “A House Beautiful.” This exemplifies the Victorian eras high standards in appearance and visual
Wilde is greatly influenced by the societal movements in the Victorian Era, therefore the theme of hedonism is prominent displaying the influence of Aestheticism in The Picture of Dorian Gray and further explaining the consequences of selfishness and self-pleasure. The Aestheticism movement shockingly challenged all past standards of love, pleasure, and sexuality. Specifically this Victorian movement “promotes sexual… experimentation. ”(Burdett)
Seamus Heaney is one of the pioneers of the 20th century English poetry. He belongs to the illustrious literary tradition of Ireland, which includes writers like W.B Yeats, James Joyce, Patrick Kavanagh and William Carleton. Seamus Heaney is grouped with the neo-Romantic tradition and the foundation of Heaney’s poetry is the “eco-consciousness of the aesthetic of space”. Heaney’s view of poetry has been ecologically informed and he defines poetry in terms of the natural as well as divine images. Key Words:Ethnic culture, Eco-space,Postcolonialism, Ego-centrism, Celtic tradition, Gaia.
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. Satire at the inter-scene level The use of fake identities is one of the motifs of the play. The use of motif is important to
Wilde’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.