Literary Devices In The Importance Of Being Earnest

Satire is especially used to criticize people’s morals and outlooks on life. Algernon is very fashionable man, and is always overly dressed. This can be humorous but it also ridicules that type of picky lifestyle because young Englishmen of the time also worried too much about their clothes. As Lady Bracknell points out, Algernon “is nothing but he looks every thing”. According to Jack, Algernon is very prideful which is made clear from Algernon’s claim to being “immensely over-educated”. His view that relatives are “a tedious pack of

The author Bert Coules has adapted the ‘Flowers for Algernon’ short story to a play. The play has

Lady Bracknell’s character represents the “New Woman” and clearly Algernon has to overcome any obstacle to please her. Lane, as the servant, a lower class citizen, acknowledges the hierarchy and aids Algernon in response. Wilde also wrote the scene where Algernon eats the entire plate of cucumber sandwiches as a sign of rebellion against the supreme woman figure. Algernon feared the consequences, and as a result concealed the truth. The cucumber sandwiches symbolize the need to be accepted within society and its commodities. Wilde devises the cucumber sandwich discussion to provide insight regarding the power shift from men to women at this time.

Throughout much of the play and especially the beginning, Wilde satirizes the setting in which both the characters as well as his audience live in. This satirization specifically requires that the audience be thoughtful whenever Wilde makes a joke, resulting in the thoughtful laughter which makes a true comedy. “The Importance of Being Earnest” is set during the late 20th century in Britain, a time period known as the Victorian Era, in which the British Empire was at its absolute peak. The dominance of Britain in world affairs resulted in a sense of

One way the theme of superficiality is displayed in the play is through how names are viewed and valued by the characters. In the play, both bachelors partake in what Algernon calls ‘Bunburying’ which features them taking on a different name or creating a fictional person in their lives.

Every line, every character, and every stage direction in The Importance of Being Earnest is set on supporting Oscar Wilde’s want for social change. The Importance of Being Earnest was written during the late period of the Victorian era. During this period social classification was taken very seriously. It could affect working and living conditions, education, religion, and marriage. Wilde explores the issues of social class and turns it into a comedic play. He humorously criticizes Victorian manners and attacking the society of the luxurious life. The audience becomes self-aware as the characters reflect on themselves. Plays such as this become successful because of the backgrounds the writers come from and the experiences they have had.

To begin with, he finds absolutely no romance in proposing, as he claims “it is very romantic to be in love”, but once the engagement is defined, then the excitement is over (Wilde 1939). Algernon also claims that if he ever were to marry, he would hope to forget that he did (1939). By saying, “A man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it,” and “in married life, three is company and two is none” (1942), he is implying that every marriage needs some sort of escape, like an affair, in order to survive. This can be the result of the shallow expectations men and women held for each other in the Victorian era, which locked them into incompatible, loveless marriages (Schmidt).

In particular, both stories would not exist without the element of class conflict, strict rules of etiquette, and even laws that regulated the behavior of the different classes. Algernon, for instance, is an upper class gentleman who was expected to be “both serious and moral,” also it was customary “to cultivate their talents and assets for the benefit of others, not themselves” (Girouard 50). However, when Algernon’s introduction he exclaims,

“Pardon me, you are not engaged to anyone. When you do become engaged to someone, I, or your father, should his health permit him, will inform you of the fact. An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. It is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself” (Wilde, 622). Lady Bracknell’s harsh criticism and stubborn ways are customary of upper-class mothers in the era. Ironically enough, Algernon later develops a kind of forbidden love. The object of his affection is young and being taught to be unimaginative and serious.

In Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, two gentlemen exemplify the result of dishonesty and hypocrisy. Set in Victorian England, the two bachelors, Algernon and Jack, fight over which one of them will take the name Ernest in order to win their own girl. Wilde circumvents conventionalism and employs superior satirical strategy to not only teach the importance of being earnest, a characteristic held dear by Victorian society, but he also chastises his world for the hypocrisy between man and woman and between upper and lower classes.

The author ridicules various values that were influential in the Victorian age. For example, Algernon asks Lane in the First Act, “And, speaking of the science of Life, have you got the cucumber sandwiches cut for Lady Bracknell?” (p. 1734) These characters

Plays often use literary devices to create humor. Oscar Wilde uses dramatic irony in his play, The Importance of Being Earnest, to satirize the upper class of the Victorian era. This play tells the story of Jack and Algernon, two men who each create alter egos named Ernest, to help them escape the responsibilities in their regular lives. Each man falls in love, Jack with Gwendolyn and Algernon with Cecily, but both women believe they have fallen in love with a man named Ernest. They do not know about the men’s double lives.

The Importance of Being Earnest is a play written by Oscar Wilde in 1985. The play is greatly influenced by the Victorian society of the time. The entire play is focused around gender, class and status in society. In this play Oscar Wilde reverses the role men and women played in a Victorian society. Lady Bracknell seems to play the role of a father or a man in the story.

Many people have not experienced the unique work of art known as a farce. After witnessing The Importance of Being Earnest, I have determined that a farce and a comedy can be described as opposite to a certain extent. A farce is ordinary people in a strange situation, while a comedy is unique people in an ordinary situation. Although not all people may see it this way, this is how I perceived Oscar Wilde’s classic which was clearly very ahead of its time. Richard Robichaux directed this work of art at the Pavillion Theatre from April 12-23 and focused on several particular elements/themes which build on each other in order to celebrate the comedic and historical genius of Wilde’s original work. More specifically, the play focuses on the notion of marriage and its greater role in society, the role of visual objects such as food and how they hold a much larger importance than they originally seem, and finally the use of puns in order to describe and envision Victorian society and delve into what the characters are actually

In act three the beginning is a denouement as the two couples are making up after Jack and Algernon's true identities are revealed. It then goes back up to a climax, as the tension in the play is increases by the entrance of Lady Bracknell. Lady Bracknell taking a liking to Cecily and the idea of her and Algernon being engaged then resolves this tension.