In this case, Oscar Wilde stated the importance of being true and being honest. You cannot be what you aren’t and live that way your entire life. Wilde thinks people shouldn’t lie even though Victorian society had strict rules and manners. If someone lies, their relationship will be unsustainable. Oscar Wilde wanted to use this play to reflect Victorian society and wake everyone up.
She proved to be a major obstruction to Gwendolen and Jack 's marriage due to her disapproval of Jack 's birth despite his love for Gwendolen and commitment to being married. Through Algernon and Lady Bracknell, Oscar Wilde was effectively able to criticize Victorian ideologies such as marriage as well as upper class
Oscar Wilde is a satirical writer, and while he did not disapprove of marriage and other social customs, he does makes fun of its traditional sacredness—because its happiness eluded him also in his personal life. Some people would say that Oscar Wilde did not agree with marriage because that’s the obvious take-away from the book (and also because of the decisions he made in his own life). Good writers are able to poke fun of certain social mores, by relaying their opposite points of view. When Jack mentions he has come to propose, Algernon says, “I thought you had come up for pleasure?...I call that business” (page 15). To Algernon, marriage is nothing but a business contract, saying “[t]he Divorce Court was specially invented for people whose memories are so curiously constituted” (page 15).
It is an enthralling book that explores the life of a man that begins as a young, beautiful boy and ends up as a miserable, lonely, evil man. It is a book that teaches us lessons, a book that warns us about our own human nature. Oscar Wilde has included characters with major strengths and flaws, characters that can be related to, whether the reader wants to relate or not. It is a beautifully written book full of rich descriptions and tense action, one that is a great match for any open mind and strong
{Follows Algernon round the room. }” (A.I, P.5). Wilde didn’t use verbal communication, he used Earnest’s body language, as stated next to the character’s line. He wrote the action instead of the line to tell his readers that Earnest has a secret that he would like to keep to himself rather than discussing it with Algernon. Situational Irony: In The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde uses situational irony to confuse yet interest his readers by producing a
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. 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. It is a simplistic connection to make that these characters feel as though
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
Wilde was tagged as an immoral author. On the preface of the book, Wilde talks about the role of art in society. “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all” (Wilde).
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. The idea that marriage is treated as a business is expressly shown by multiple characters.
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.