Oscar Wilde Motifs

In both works, Oscar Wilde allows the reader to see the ridiculousness of the aristocracy; particular the English ones. His characters are typical Victorian snobs that are arrogant, overly proper, formal, and concerned with money. This reflects the real people he associated with during the Victorian Era, especially when marriages between others were denied due to ambiguous backgrounds. Both literary works also reflect the double life that Oscar Wilde had in his personal

Act III offers happy resolution to the problems of identity and marriage that drive much of the humor in the previous acts. Wilde continues to mock the social customs and attitudes of the aristocratic class. He relentlessly attacks their values, views on marriage and respectability, sexual attitudes, and concern for stability in the social structure.

The Influences of Oscar Wilde Throughout his life Oscar Wilde had many strong influences exerted upon him. During his early childhood his mother influenced him and into college some of his professors and certain philosophers left a substantial impression upon him. Into adulthood these influences leaked out in his writing. These influences gave him ample ideas for writing The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde's study of the Hellenistic ideals of Epicurus, his coddled lifestyle as a child and his devotion to the movement of Aesthetics and Moral Ambiguity have produced one of the most astounding works of horror fiction.

The play, The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde was written in the Victorian Age of England. During this time morality was connected with sexual restraint and strict codes of conduct in public. This play hilariously critiques Victorian moral and social values while the characters in the play try to figure out the meaning of “earnestness”. Wilde uses humor and irony to publicly ridicule the self-aggrandizing attitude of the Victorian upper classes, as well as to expose their duplicity and hypocrisy in regards to their social behaviors.

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

Final Draft Throughout mankind, there have been plenty of time where disobedience has lead to  greater changes for humanity. Author Oscar Wilde once stated “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history. Is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience and rebellion.” Wilde’s statement claims that disobedience is a

Ironically, people were willing to lie and hide truths in order to seem respectable. People of this time wished to appear dignified and proper, yet it is known that underneath the surface and behind closed doors, they were anything but that. Historians today look back on the era and often recall how prostitution and child labor were common. Beyond just that, as conformity was normal, people that were different were not accepted into society. Homosexuals, for example, were looked down upon and often arrested for “gross indecency.” Wilde was arrested and mistreated by his peers for being gay. Homosexuality, although frowned upon, was still found often in the “underworld of male prostitutes” (Stade). In order to appear principled, people didn’t act principled. They simply kept their unsuitable acts where they couldn’t be caught. As a result, Wilde receives his credibility as he witnessed first-hand the hypocrisy found in the supposed wholesomeness of this time. He has a right to be criticizing the society since he was aware of all the underlying faults; he isn’t simply mocking them for no reason. Everyone of this time had a struggle; they wished to be dignified and honorable, yet they had their own selfish or egocentric ideas

Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest; A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is best described as such, a trivial comedy for serious people. Wilde’s play is structured through the influences of social drama and farce. This play was written in 1895 during the Victorian era where an expected

Known for his unique writing style, prominence in the Decadence movement, art critiques, and imprisonment for homosexuality, Oscar Wilde is one of the most well known Irish authors of all time. Oscar Fingal O'flahertie Willis Wilde was born on October 16, 1854 in Dublin Ireland. His father, Sir William Wilde,

Oscar Wilde was born in the height victorian age. His dad was a doctor tell he died. His mother who wrote under an alias for an irish newspaper called The Nation until it was raided in 1848 and had to close. He had 5 siblings, Willie Wilde, Mary wilde, Emile Wilde, Isola Wilde, and Henry Wilde. He has been rich and poor all his life and today he has been remembered for all the good he did and all the bad.

Opinions and apprehension “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”~ Oscar Wilde. When you think about people, do you know how they act? How about their personality? Turns out most of the time people judge by culture, and

In Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest”, the characters each try to pass themselves off as something they’re not in order to gain social status. Wilde’s story bears many similarities to his own life, from the way he wrote his characters to the fact that he himself was passing as something he wasn’t. Wilde lived in the Victorian era, where people would dress in an exotic manner with many obscure fashion statements to appear as though they had money. Wilde was one of the more notable members of this subculture of people, and knew many others like him. His personal experiences led to his writing of “The Importance of Being Earnest”, made evident through his ability to give his characters their distinct personalities.

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

Living a life without guilt or shame can be astonishingly enticing. Many people, especially in Victorian England, agreed with this notion. Many distinguished authors, poets, and other influential members of society affirmed this belief. Among them was notorious author and playwright, Oscar Wilde. Wilde was a known supporter of Aestheticism, a movement in which there are no morals to be found in art and where life is meant to be lived in pursuit of passion with no room or regard for moral uprightness. Wilde lived a very flamboyant life, and most critics would agree that his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, highlights this lifestyle which focuses on surrendering to one’s temptations. A closer look at the work, however, instead brings the reader to a different conclusion. The harrowing tale of Dorian Gray’s rise and fall clearly criticizes the Aesthetic Movement, which gives way to the idea of surrendering to one’s whims as thoughtlessly as one would like, and instead draws attention to the direct relationship between art and morality.

The genre of comedy, throughout the history of dramatic art has always served to not only entertain audiences, but to make them aware of their own individual flaws, or flaws that exist in society. (Weitz, E.) Comedy has no precise definition, and its boundaries are broad. One function of comedy however has remained the same - to hold up a mirror to the society of the time but through pleasure, inviting audiences to reflect and also providing amusement. Set in the late nineteenth century, the play An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde (1895) epitomises comedy, as both a literary and dramatic genre. Wilde was masterful in his ability to combine aspects of evolved comedic traditions and dramatic conventions to critique Victorian society. Drawing on characteristics of Greek and Roman tragicomedy, the choices in the play’s plot involves elements of tragedy as well as scenes that serve as comic relief and give the audience a sense of finality through a happy resolution. (Bureman, L) Focussing on the upper class stratum, Wilde employs a comedy of manners Molière style, of the Restoration Period in the seventeenth century in the play by combining forms of comedy with aspects of realist drama. The portrayal of archetypal figures such as Lady Chiltern and Lord Goring satirize rigid moral value of the time and expose their hypocrisies, through dialogue involving irony, wit and humour. Elements of farce and disguises characterized by ‘commedia dell’arte’, a form of comedy first developed in