Importance of being Earnest: Lady Bracknell

While defining the term “Bunburyist,” Algernon comments to Jack that, “If it wasn’t for Bunbury’s extraordinary bad health [. . .] I wouldn’t be able to dine with you at Willis’s to-night” (Wilde 9). Bunbury, Algernon’s fake sick friend, allows him to be himself and enjoy time with his friends instead of entertaining his aunt. Algernon tells Jack that he created Bunbury to “be able to go down into the country whenever [he] choose[s]” (Wilde 9). Being of his high standing, Algernon was expected to stay in the city with his aunt as well as go to balls, dinner parties and other events on the social calendar; however, having a sick friend with a perpetual sickness allows him to go to the country, pretend to be Earnest, and eventually meet his future wife Cecily. When Jack tries to get Algy to leave Hertfordshire by asserting that his “duty as a gentleman” was calling him back to town, Algy responds with, “My duty as a gentleman has never interfered with my pleasures” (Wilde 33) Because of his fake friend Bunbury, Algernon is able to evade the obligations of being a gentleman. He can enjoy life and have fun without offending his aunt or

Later, when Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen enter, two more ideas of marriage are brought to the forefront. Lady Bracknell portrays the aristocratic Victorian view of marriage but to a more extreme extent. According to Ziegenfuss, marriage in the Victorian era was not romanticized or fairytale-like. Love actually played a very minor role in the majority of matrimonies that took place. Engagement was entered into as one would approach a business deal, with rules and guidelines (Ziegenfuss). This is blatantly obvious when Lady Bracknell interviews Jack to see if he’s fit to marry Gwendolen. She attacks Jack with questions about family, fortune, and even place of residency and his answers need be appropriate for a union between the two families. (Kupske, Souza, 122). Even when Algernon wants to marry Cecily, Lady Bracknell voices, “I think some preliminary inquiry on my part would not be out place.” (Wilde, 46). Gwendolen, however, has the same view of marriage as Jack but, still has strong ideals about social protocol. This is seen when Jack tries to propose, she replies, “Of course I will darling…I am afraid you have had very little experience in how to propose!” (Wilde, 11)

Algernon is demonstrated as a comical character. He is also shown to be a liar and this is seen when he tells Lady Bracknell that there were “no cucumbers in the market” to make the cucumber sandwiches; when he ate them all. He is also very open with women and engages is physical contact before permission from Cecily’s guardian, Jack. Algernon also meets Cecily in a wrong manner as he runs off to Jack’s country house uninvited; which isn’t reflective of an Ideal Victorian man at all.

In an age of social registers, Lady Bracknell laments that even the Court Guides have errors. In the next breath, she discusses bribing Gwendolen's maid to find out what is happening in her daughter's life. In Act III she also reveals that her aristocratic brother's family entrusted their most precious possession — Jack — to a woman who is more interested in her handbag and manuscript than in what happens to the baby in her charge. Wilde seems to be

This play criticizes marriages in Victorian society and the aristocratic norm that marriage is more of a business than for love or happiness. Through these characters Wilde is not only commenting on the nature of love and marriage, but the place marriage holds in society. During this time in Victorian society and throughout history, many women married for financial security and social standing. It was only through their husbands that woman could hope continue living in the lifestyle to which they were privileged to gain political power. Lady Bracknell’s marriage was one of the marriages that was clearly for business and not for love. Wilde shows how Lady Bracknell has no emotions for Lord Bracknell; she doesn’t even really care about him but only uses him to increase her own social standing. Similarly, Lady Bracknell also does the same when she tries to “arrange” for an eligible suitor for her daughter Gwendolyn, not considering whether Gwendolyn loves the man or not. He must be in the same social standing as they are and must also belong to an aristocratic family. Lady Bracknell tells Jack, “You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter – a girl brought up with the utmost care – to marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance with a parcel?” Although Jack is rich, he doesn’t have that name and social standing that Lady Bracknell wants rather she is dissatisfied when she finds out that he was found at a train station inside “a handbag!’’ Jack being found inside a handbag suggests that he was an abandoned baby out of illegitimacy which carried a huge social stigma in the Victorian era. Such babies were often delivered in secret and abandoned in a public place, like train stations as Jack’s situation perfectly

I am going to explore the many different attitudes towards marriage that are found in Pride and Prejudice. One of the most obvious attitudes that is shown throughout the book is Mrs Bennet's expectations. Her main aim is to get her daughters married to men with fortune. I think her

It is a well known phenomenon that many authors' lives are reflected through a character in their work. In Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, the double life, or double identity, can be seen as the central metaphor in the play, epitomized in Algernon's creation of "Bunbury" or "Bunburying". As this term is the only fictitious word employed throughout the text, it is crucial to critically analyze not only its use and implications, but more importantly, the character who coins the term; Algernon Moncrieff. In addition, it is also significant to note the marked differences between Algernon and Jack's perceptions of the notion of bunburying, as it further develops Algernon's character within the text. But perhaps the single most

Attaining wealth brings with it many benefits. Certainly, wealth allows a person to buy more items and live a certain lifestyle. However, sometimes wealth comes at a cost—wealth can also blind a person to what is truly important in life and can lead a person to make choices

Women had to change their lifestyles to be able to marry into wealth. To help the family, the daughters had to change their lifestyles (Sheehan). “A truth universally acknowledged, that a single main possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife,” said Mrs. Bennett (Hall). When the daughter gets married, her father wants to make sure that the husband can take care of her and protect her financially (Ray 140). Some women started marrying for money instead of love. A woman searching for love that cannot find a husband will then begin searching for men with wealth instead. A marriageable woman should not have to choose between marrying for wealth or for true love (Hall). Charlotte Lucas marries Mr. Collins, so when Mr. Bennett passes away, they will get his land. Charlotte Lucas also married Mr. Collins for the money and not for love. Mrs.Bennet wants one of her daughters to marry a wealthy man, so when Mr.Bennet passes away, they will still have a place to live (Pride and Prejudice). Marrying for

Food is the world’s safe house. Primarily, food is what keeps the body in working order. Behind the scenes, food creates an industry that is incomparable to any other. From diners to fishermen, and from bakeries to slaughterhouses, food is known by all. Oscar Wilde takes

Due to the upper-class value on wealth, there is parental concern (mainly by the mother) about who their daughter/s will marry, and has devoted their life to it. In both literary works, Mrs. Bennet and Lady Bracknell keep in mind eligible bachelors for their daughters. Mrs. Bennet does this by speaking to Mrs. Long about which eligible men are good enough for their daughters, while Lady Bracknell literally keeps a “list of eligible young men” (p# p#). However, in all this worry due to this class value, the mothers have little regard as how their daughters feel about their future husbands, and only focus on the far future. As Mrs. Bennet says it, "If I can but see one of my daughters happily settled at Netherfield…and all the others equally

This characterization adds to the blow of the upper class when we easily characterize Jack and Lady Bracknell. Towards the end of the play when Lady Bracknell is questioning the marriage between Cecily and Algernon, she is being very snobbish and shallow. At first, she is saying no to the marriage, but after Jack tells her how much money Cecily has, she exclaims “A hundred and thirty pounds! And in the funds! Miss Cardew seems to me a most attractive young lady, now that I look at her” (The Importance of Being Earnest 3.1). As you can see, all Lady Bracknell cares about is if she is wealthy enough to be a good wife. She believes wealth is the more important than if Algernon and Cecily loved each other because with their wealth they would be on top socially already. Another example is when Jack finds out that his name has been Earnest all along at the end of the play. He acts very snobby as well and believes he can just do whatever he wants without consequences. “... it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth” (The Importance of Being Earnest 3.1). This is very egotistical of Jack as he has been lying almost the whole play. The wealthy characters here seem like they can get away from anything and Wilde does a great job

Jack and Algernon start their friendship with deception and lies. In the beginning of the play, they are alone in the morning-room and the lies, between the two friends, is are brought to the table. They have both been great friends for some time now. Jack visits with Algernon in the city where he goes by the name “Ernest”. He feels that going by a different name will let him live and experience a different lifestyle. When visiting with Algernon, Jack has become very interested in Gwendolen. Jack is expressing his love for Algernon’s cousin, Gwendolen, and tells how he wishes to marry her. Before Algernon gives his consent, he wants to know who Cecily is. Cecily is the name engraved on the cigarette

Lady Augusta Bracknell In The Importance of Being Ernest The most memorable character and one who has a tremendous impact on the audience is Lady Augusta Bracknell. Wilde’s audience would have identified most with her titled position and bearing. Wilde humorously makes her the tool of the conflict, and much

If she married a man with enough money and respectability, then she could look forward to a comfortable life. If she did not marry, then she was doomed to be homeless and indigent, as there were little to no job options for women at the time. In this time when women were fully dependent on men for survival, Elizabeth still manages to stay true to her beliefs by not being eager to marry. If she is to be married, Elizabeth would want it to be out of “true affection”, which could then grant her much “felicity” (Austen, 75). She would never want to marry a man solely for financial security, as society expects many women to. Elizabeth doesn’t let societal pressures hinder her beliefs on what constitutes a successful, worthwhile marriage. When Mr. Collins proposed to Elizabeth, she confidently turned him down by saying it was “impossible for [her] to do otherwise than to decline” his offer (Austen, 81). She had long decided that Collins was a ridiculous man who she had little respect for. She would not give up her independence to spend the rest of her life with him, even if it would have kept the Bennet property within the family. Declining this opportunity of marriage is rather courageous of Elizabeth because she is risking never being proposed to again, putting her chance for a stable life at risk. The Bennets could only afford a small dowry, which would not attract many suitors. With that in mind, Elizabeth shows her