The author Oscar Wilde wrote the satire comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, to provoke laughter and entertain the audience by using gender and role reversal. Hemade fun of the expectations that society puts on males and females. He mocks romance and marriage, giving a sense that he doesn 't think of either very highly.The main characters Algernon Moncieff, Gwendolen Fairfax, John Worthing and Cecily Cardew seem to fall in and out of love so fast, it 's hard to tell where their love is at all. Wilde paints a perfect portrait of the characters he is criticizing.The Importance of Being Earnestderives its comedic pleasurefrom mixing togethercontradictory yet likable characterswith a surprising twist at the endleaving the reader happily entertained.Algernon and Jack fulfill thegender stereotype for the time frame the play was written. They are uppity confident socialites.
In the play the Montagues and the Capulets have an “ancient grudge… where civil blood makes civil hands unclean”, due to the vendetta the two lovers were driven to death because of their forbidden love (Shakespeare). Unlike Shakespeare, Wilde uses names to further the satirical nature of The Importance of Being Earnest. Throughout the play Wilde is perpetually using situational irony, exaggeration, deflation and epigrammatic phrases in order to ridicule societies social norms. Although the play is satirical it also gives a lot of insight on the importance of names. The play states that names are enough to judge character and even status in society.
Oscar Wilde’s mocking the Victorian way of life in “The Importance of Being Earnest” The Victorian age, which occurs, as its name says, during the time Queen Victoria ruled, is known for prudish, sanctimonious, and hypocritical behaviour of the people who lived at that specific period of time. Victorian people were often living double lives in order to maintain their appearance as moral and ideal in the eyes of the society but also to have fun and joy in “wrongdoings” without being marked as immoral, irresponsible and less than their society impose. This way of life Victorian people lived Oscar Wilde successfully mocks in his play The Importance of Being Earnest. The way Wilde mocks this lifestyle of the society he lived is by creating double
It is a moralist critique: the people were vain and hypocritical more often than not, which is why Murfin described the Victorian Era as he did. Though that does not make Thackeray a judge, at least not one per say. His style mirrors that of a moralist, but he just describes in a Realist way the world surrounding him. That is why at times the narrator sympathizes even with the most awful of characters and forgives them their folly. Thackeray’s depiction of the British society claims to be regarded as realistic, but not without mentioning, here and there, that maybe some actions can be excused, forgiven.
Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” was a classical satire that explored the ridiculousness of victorian society and manners. Wilde’s purpose in creating this satire was to awaken the people. By exaggerating about ridiculous details, it also allowed people to see more clearly about the reality of this society. One example is when Lady Bracknell wanted Jack to find his parents: “I would strongly advise…… to produce at any rate one parent, of either sex.” (Wilde, 995). This shows the the reader that the society is very unreasonable and ridiculous.
The main example of this is when he thinks Hero cheats on him and afterwards he shows that he is rather vindictive and impulsive given that his anger leads to the humiliation of Hero. This also shows that Claudio is quite immature. Count Claudio develops a little at the end of the play when he discovers that Hero actually was faithful whereupon he acts responsible and noble when he offers to help Leonato. Moreover, his love for Hero appears more genuine since he prays for her and seems sincerely grieving. On the other hand, he agrees to marry Antonio’s daughter who looks “exactly” like Hero, which indicates that he actually does not change throughout the story and remain immature and superficial.
While Martin highlights the story’s self-consciousness by its technical perfection, Burroughs, leaning towards Leavis, Hough, Gordon and Tate, insisted RHW’s inefficiency for its lack of imagination and failure to present life in a naturalistic objective standard, and indicated that its didactic purpose relying on the boy’s death is an outdated Victorian pathos (Burroughs 323). However, Junkins nosed out Lawrence’s deliberate use of fancy and myth
Even more implausible is the fact that Jack can so easily forgive the woman who consistently questioned and belittled him. How easily the conflict resolved in the end portrays a society that is so involved in self-preservation that their values of responsibility and honesty remain obscurely muddled. In The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde showcases a society muddled by the focus of social formalities to the point it is comedic. The satirization of these formalities is often highlighted in the implausible behavior of Wilde’s characters in the way they establish and resolve social and moral
It was a society that pretended to be always calm, gentle and balance. Yet, considering that Victorians were just as any human being, it can be seen as quite impossible to be able to hide all emotions and manage to control every thought. This strict moral code might have (unconsciously) caused the double morality in this society, making them pretend and obliging them to hide what they really wanted. For instance, The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde shows how people from the high class does what it is considered incorrect and immoral in hours and places prohibited for the honorable members of Victorian society. After Dorian realizes he would be forever beautiful and perfect, he sets free all his impulses and strives for constant pleasure and satisfaction without caring neither about the physical consequences of consuming alcohol, drugs, staying awake for hours, going to parties almost every night and visiting places where he is exposed to violent and perverse situations nor his friends’ respect towards him; he has the possibility of expressing himself and living without worries, something his acquaintances cannot do or if they allowed themselves those
I choose to do a dramatic interpretation of one the satirical characters in Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Collins. I did a dramatic interpretation of Mr. Collins in today’s society as a teenager. In the novel, Mr. Collins is a pompous clergyman who receives financial support from Lady Catherine De Bourgh. He proposes to Elizabeth, but she refuses his offer, so he proposes to Charlotte Lucas. Mr. Collins is a satirical character because he only cares about how society perceives him and he is used to ridicule men who only care about wealth, power, inheriting land, and inheriting more wealth through marriage.