Lady Bracknell Hypocrisy

Oscar Wilde uses a comedy of manners to present a critical view of late 19th century society in The Importance of Being Earnest through hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is the practice of demanding to have sophisticated standards or more honourable beliefs than one actually does. An example of hypocrisy can be seen in Act 1 when Algernon states that “Lane's views on marriage seem somewhat lax. Really, if the lower orders don't set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to

Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde ridicules the hypocrisy of the people living during the Victorian Era, who profess to withhold moral and honest values while truly finding a greater importance in social classes. During the Victorian Era, society was expected to have good morals and values, but it is undeniable that that is difficult to withhold when social class plays such an important role in the personal lives of everyone. Wilde alludes to this idea of hypocrisy with his main character in the play, John

portrayed to the audience. For example, through the persona of Lady Bracknell, Wilde effectively mocks the concept of marriage for social status rather than love. Additionally, interpreting the roles of the lower class servants allows the readers to internalize the desperate need for social reform that the author felt at the time period. Finally, the entire concept of Bunburyism, or masquerading as an alternate persona, satirizes the hypocrisy of the Victorian Era. During the mid 1800’s, commonly

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

classes, as well as, to expose their hypocrisy, lack of intelligence, and ridiculous social behaviors. Wilde mocks the Victorian structure of society in Britain and the procedures it followed by satirizing issues such as marriage, money, and death throughout the play with each character. In the Victorian society, marriage was regarded as a union between families and money, in order to increase or maintain social standing. This is shown when Lady Bracknell questions Jack to decide if he is an

Victorian upper class society. A prime example of this is Lady Bracknell, a character who wholeheartedly believes that people of London who are “upper class” should have power, while those “below” should not. Lady Bracknell quickly becomes the driving force of the plot exhibiting the behavior of common Victorian Age citizens. The play’s blatant use of satire is intensified by the actions of Lady Bracknell to expose the outrageous principles

analyzing the social class differences, this essay will discuss on the theme of perpetuating the upper class in regard to Lady Augusta Bracknell. The scenes take place in two identical locales, the lavish London and a countryside estate. As the heart of England, the urban center of London is a global political and financial capital as well as a city of poverty. Lady Bracknell is portrayed

and his butler, Lane, and from this point on the subject never disappears for very long. Algernon and Jack discuss the nature of marriage when they dispute briefly about whether a marriage proposal is a matter of “business” or “pleasure,” and Lady Bracknell touches on the issue when she states, “An engagement should

are presented through the play ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ as extremely negative. In the play ‘The Importance of being Earnest’ marriage in Victorian England comes under fire throughout the first act. Wilde viewed marriage to be filled with hypocrisy and often used to achieve status. Wilde also saw marriage as an institution that encouraged cheating as the majority of people in the Victorian era did not marry for love instead they married people who would help achieve a more important social

class. In a following scene, Lady Bracknell interrogates Jake about his prospects for his daughter. She asks “What is you income” and further into

the term “earnest” in order to expose this hypocrisy and the certain falsities that are paradoxically encouraged and despised by Victorians. Algernon and Jack see through to this hypocrisy; which is why they invent fictional selves in order to escape the silly and stifling weight of gentile society. Ultimately, what Wilde is trying to say is that an individual’s definition of decency is not necessarily decency. This exchange occurs in the play: Lady Bracknell says to Jack, “My nephew, you seem to be

love of the name, and that is one of the causes why everything in the plot gets complicated. For all of this it is justified to distinguish Gwendolen as a relevant character. Of course, there would not be a conflict in the plot If there was no Lady Bracknell on the play. What makes this character so special is that she is an example of her social class in Victorian society: she is so controversial and cares about Victorian roles: money and income, social position and old concepts of family, women

Being Earnest. In this play, Wilde portrays two young men, Jack and Algernon, who are trying to marry their sweethearts, Gwendolyn and Cecily. However, they are unable to do so, because of a conflict between Jack and Lady Bracknell, Algernon’s aunt. As the play progresses, Lady Bracknell begins to favor Cecily only for her large amount of wealth and is willing to get Algernon and Cecily married, but sadly she is still opposed to the marriage of Jack and Gwendolyn, solely due to the uncertainty of Jack’s

I call that business,”(Wilde, 15). As for Lady Bracknell, she becomes a contradiction claiming, “...when I was married to Lord Bracknell I had no fortune of any kind,” (Wilde, 64), yet she proposes an immense inquisition towards Jack regarding her wanting Gwendolen to marry rich. Wilde’s diverse usage of character's moralities in the play

fine line between loving the money or character of a person. The root of all evil starts when one doesn’t notice the difference. Lady Bracknell, an antagonist in The Importance of being Earnest, is a powerful, pompous and pontifical person who values money more than love and comprehends marriage like business deals in terms of allusions, connections and irony. Lady Bracknell’s character is revealed by allusions throughout the play. One can tell that she is very powerful and pompous from few examples