Essay On The Importance Of Being Ernest Film Vs Movie

Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is truly a satire. In The Importance of Being Ernest, Wilde mocks the society in Britain, and the rules it followed in the 1800s. He uses satire in the description of every character and other themes like marriage, intelligence, morality, and lifestyle primarily aimed at the upper class of the time. At the turn of every page the use of satire proves again and again to be ideal when questioning the morals and values of people.

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

In the play, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, there is a lot of humor that can be found. Specifically, developed behind the characters in this play that display many instances of irony and how important it was to fit into the “status quo” of this time period. There are specific behaviors from the characters of Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen, and Algernon that portray Wilde’s opinion of society during the Victorian Age. The attitude of these characters is snobbish and their manners display double standards and superiority. The play’s use of mockery and irony of these satirical situations is meant to publicly ridicule the self- loving attitude of the upper class while exposing their true absence of intelligence which causes their absurd social behaviors

Oliver Parker’s (2002) film adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s play ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ is sadly completely consumed by the romantic comedy style, masking Wilde’s key concerns and detracting from important comic elements of the play. This can be observed through the varying representations of characters, the film’s lack of contextual jokes, the more prominent sub-plot between Dr Chasuble and Miss Prism, the addition of music and the way in which dialogue, while remaining true to the play, has lost meaning in the film.

Elinor Fuchs sees the play as a world that passes in front of the critic in ‘time and space’; one that has elements that must be understood (Fuchs, 2004, p 6). These elements closely resembles Aristotle’s six elements of a play- plot, character, thought, diction, music and spectacle- elements that are clearly identifiable in Oscar Wilde’s 1895 play ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’.

It can be hard to tell which is more funny: the flaws of a Victorian society or the stale jokes in a fairytale book. One accomplishes this, and the other is just a movie full of cringe. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is a play that describes the flaws of the Victorian Era in Europe. The play centers around the character Jack Worthing as he faces the consequences of making a false identity all the while finding out his roots in the process. The play is told through ironic lines and in a satirical light; Satire is using humor and irony to ridicule a situation or a flaw in something.

Viewing the play of The Importance of Being Earnest from a feminist perspective portrays the men in the Victorian Era to be misogynistic. A perpetuated stereotype in this play is that women should be protected from the truth. “Jack:[In a very patronizing manner] My dear fellow, the truth isn't quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl. What extraordinary ideas you have about the way to behave to a woman”(29)! The belief that women are fragile and unable to handle anything serious is present. Furthermore, when Algernon discovers that Cecily is convinced that they had met before and had had many romantic encounters, she is presented as mentally insane. This perpetuates the belief that women depend on men and could not be satisfied without one in their life. In addition to this, Gwendolen and Cecily are the ones being deceived by Jack and Algernon. This shows that women are stereotypically submissive to men and can be taken advantage of. Through evaluating The Importance

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.

Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest (.1993.) is an enlightening epitome of social class in the Victorian era. The satire is driven by the frivolous behaviour, superficial lives and artificial norms within the Victorian aristocracy. Incorporating his own opinion into the play, Wilde continually attacked and mocked their hypocrisy, views on marriage, and their mannerisms. Throughout the play, Wilde used an abundant range of literary techniques to reinforce his opinion. Irony, paradox and hyperboles, as well as witty epigrams and aphorisms were used astutely and were ubiquitous throughout the play. This contributed to the satirical style and tone of the text, and enabled Wilde to effectively communicate his critical perspective on social class in Victorian England.

“The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde, political play, satirizes the beliefs in the Victorian Era such as; women not thinking, people only conversing from within their social class. A fine example of the strict conventionalism would be the character Lady Bracknell, lady of the house, the mother of Gwendolyn Bracknell and wife of Lord Bracknell. Lady Bracknell was like every upper class mother in the Victorian Era. She was looking for a man with a wealthy title and family, however, the man Gwendolyn loved was not very wealthy and had no title or family. Because of Lady Bracknell’s lack of knowledge of the man, she conducts an interrogation. During the examination of the man’s life, Lady Bracknell’s values come into focus. She believes

The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedy whose playwright was Oscar Wilde and this play was first performed and years later were published in written format. Its first performance was at the St James Theatre, the 14th of February, in 1895 and was released with this subtitle: a trivial comedy for serious people. He released this play when he was in the highest point of his popularity before he fell in disgrace and was imprisoned. The first publication of the written play was in 1898.

Satire at its Finest Satire is using humor, irony, and exaggeration to expose the truth. Throughout the play, The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde uses satire to reveal the truth about the society he lived in. Satire is used to reveal the nature of marriage, a double life otherwise known as bunburying, and social class. The Importance of Being Earnest revolves around the satire of marriage and acts as a primary force moving the plot along.

The theme contrasting the setting of town and country in “The Importance of Being Earnest” is of vital importance to the storyline, and is prevalent and reoccurring throughout. The comparison of town and country gives characters the opportunity to live double lives, acting as another dominant reoccurring theme. The theme is expressed through characterization and dialogue that reflects on the juxtaposing perspectives of the opposing groups. Parallels and reversals also contribute to the prevalence of the theme of town and country. Wilde uses these themes to satirize Victorian society, and prove the absurdity through humorous irony.

Oscar Wilde’s short play “The Importance of Being Earnest” was written during the Victorian Era. This was a time when strict moral values were emphasized. On the cover of “The Importance of Being Earnest” there is a subtitle “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People.” Despite using the word “trivial,” the play is important because it reflects the Victorian Era’s significance of social hierarchy. When Wilde refers to “serious” people, he means the ones that followed the Victorian morals in order to be presented in the highest fashion. “Serious” people during the Victorian Era were able to read this work without feeling as though their beliefs are threatened. The title of the play is to the true meaning,

The Importance of Being Earnest is a play by Oscar Wilde, first performed in 1895. The title works on a pun between the adjective "earnest", meaning honest or sincere, and the name Ernest, which the two female protagonists of the play, Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax are fond of. Indeed, they have this deep desire of marrying a man named Ernest. The funny thing is, their two suitors, Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing, pretend both to be named Ernest. This lie, which contradicts totally the real meaning of being "earnest", leads to a misunderstanding between Cecily and Gwendolen during the scene 2 of act II of the play. While talking of their respective suitors, both supposedly named Ernest, they tend to think Ernest is just one person,