Oscar Wilde's The Young King' is the tale of a young man's metamorphosis, through a dream quest, that opens his eyes to the heart rendering struggle of the poor, who are exploited by the rich and the powerful to satisfy their own selfish needs. The change that takes place in the Young King reflects his attainment of the virtue asked for in Christ's message.
The story begins with "the night before the day fixed for his coronation" and the young king, "being but sixteen years of age" sits alone in his opulent chambers adorned with rich and beautiful things. The boy who had been bought up by a peasant in the forest had a great love and fascination for beauty. Similarly "All rare and costly material things had certainly a great fascination
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He continued to walk until he "saw an immense multitude of men toiling in the bed of a dried up river. They swarmed up the crag like ants . They hurried about calling to each other and no man was idle." From the darkness Death and Avarice, personified, arrive. Death asks Avarice for a third of the men. Avarice refuses saying they are her servants. When death asks her for a grain of corn she refuses again. Death then kills a third of Avarice's men with Ague. Avarice is angry and asks why death was here in this valley? To which death reminds Avarice that she still hasn't given death a grain of corn. Avarice refuses again. Death then calls forth Fever, which kills every man it touches. Avarice again pleads with Death to leave her valley, but Death says not until Avarice gives him a grain of corn. Avarice refuses once again. Death then calls Plague who kills every man remaining. The Young king weeps and later finds out that these men who now lay dead were seeking rubies for the king's crown. He wakes up with a loud cry as "bright sunlight was streaming into his room" The Chamberlain came in and his robe, crown and sceptre was brought to him for his coronation. But when he saw them, he was reminded of his dreams. Of the toil, the sweat of the workers of how they were exploited, how their "children fade away before their time" and the faces of those they love become hard and evil. He remembered the death of the young
The princesses father was the king who also had a semi barbaric nature much like his daughter’s he was known to have taken great aesthetic pleasure in watching the accused subjects choose their own fate, no matter the
The young man only thinking of himself, of fame and fortune and of being able to marry the king's daughter decides to go against his Godfathers wishes. He sees the possibility that one day he might become the future king himself so he blindly throws
One might believe that honesty is one of the building blocks of a society and is what initiates trust between people; furthermore, the Victorian era was a time period in British history where rules and morals appeared to be strict. The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde, a nineteenth century author who was one of the most acclaimed playwrights of his day, is a play set in the Victorian time period that demonstrates how trivial telling the truth was. Different characters throughout Wilde’s play establish their dishonestly through hiding who they really are and pretending to be someone whom they are not. In an essay titled “From ‘Oscar Wilde’s Game of Being Earnest,’” Tirthankar Bose describes the characters from The Importance of Being Earnest as playing games with one another, which is a result of the deceit that was present in the play. Although the Victorian time period is a time characterized by strong morals and values, The Importance of Being Earnest proves this notion to not apply to telling the truth and ultimately questions why truth is not valued in the Victorian time period amongst other strictly upheld values. Honesty is not valued throughout the play because some of the characters felt to need to appear as if they represented the strict morals that were common throughout the time period.
“The Importance of Being Earnest,” a satirical play written by Oscar Wilde, discusses a vast variety of criticisms regarding the late Victorian societal period. In this comedic drama, focusing on and analyzing certain minor characters leads to a more effective interpretation of the messages attempting to be 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.
The life of the Victorian people was a time in which people were prude because of their repression. Many of the people of that time had a lot of pent-up emotions, there was a time and a place for something and it solemn did any good for anyone, depending on your class you had to have a curtain way of carrying yourself, many of which was not the must enjoyable of ways and lacked some fun that many need in their life. This forced many to split their Public life from the Private one. Written in the Victorian Era, the works of The importance of being earnest by Oscar Wilde, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson ,and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley displays how
It was dark at the castle; Not a soul was awake. As the wind blew, the castle itself was snoring. Nothing moved but a dark form on the fortress wall. It was a boy. Climbing over the wall, the prince sneaked to the open attic window. With the guards sleeping at their posts, it was child’s play. Agile as a squirrel, he darted into the attic. Inside the room, beheld the Firebird, a majestic sun-eagle of gold. Withdrawing the Firebird, the boy stared at the pure golde cage, coveting it. A name was engraved on the handle, genommen*. Though the prince was warned against stealing it, his hand inched towards the cage, then darted to grab the handle. As soon as he touched it, trumpets blared and alarms roared
T.H. White’s novel, The Once and Future King, takes the reader on the journey of a growing boy named Wart, who later takes the throne as King Arthur. This young man grows into a powerful, ambitious monarch who is trying to start a revolution in England, but is faced with a plethora of challenges. Throughout the novel, White uses many different passages to foreshadow King Arthur’s magnificent reign to its tragic downfall. By using many different techniques, White leaves prevalent hints for the reader to connect together as the tale continues.
A comedic work of literature is often just one that was meant as pure enjoyment for the reader. Other times, comedy is meant to shed light on a serious situation or instance the public refuses or is uncomfortable talking about in a non-comedic setting. However, the greatest type of comedy is one that makes the reader think, one that provokes “thoughtful laughter” from them. “The Importance of Being Earnest”, a satirical play written during Victorian Era Britain by Oscar Wilde, is such a piece literature. By poking fun at the time period in which his characters live in during one particular scene, as well as illustrating the unsubdued hilarity of a character during that scene, Wilde is able to elicit thoughtful laughter from his audience, ultimately showing them that life is far too serious and needs to be taken more lightly.
The two men made their way back the way they came until they came across a pair of maids who took the king away to his room. Kragen watched with cold yet amused eyes. The king grew weaker and weaker every day but not a shred of remorse was given to him by his so-called friend. After all, it was all part of his
This is the story about a prince who had got every thing , and He had not seen any sorrow in his life. He helped his people whatever he could.
Webster's dictionary defines earnest as “characterized by or proceeding from an intense and serious state of mind". Which can be considered a pun since thought this play we see the characters being more apathetic. The Importance of Being Earnest is the story of Jack Worthing is the main character and the protagonist of this play. He is a well of business man who lives in the country and is very well respected there. But Jack has a secret he lives another in the city of London where he claims to go to take care of an irresponsible little brother named Earnest. There he meets a friend Algernon Moncrieff a person who also has created a person named Mr. Bunbury who he goes to the city to see because of him being on his deathbed. Through these
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
It was hard to find a seat in the hall, most of them were already taken. After wandering around looking for a place to rest my feet for what felt like hours, I found one single chair in the center of the room. That was when the bell rang, and each guest was presented with the largest plate of food anyone had ever seen. As I sat there eating I watched the soon to be King and Queen. They both seemed nervous, and were bitter toward one another. They did not share a look of love, but rather a look of brokenness. The brokenness faded and was replaced with excitement once the crown was brought out on the white satin pillow. That is when weird things began to happen.
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, premiered in London in 1895 when Wilde was in the peak of his career. During this time of the Victorian Era, society was very moral and chaste, at least on the surface. There was a very specific code of behavior that governed almost everything, but focused mainly on the topic of marriage. This affected Wilde first-hand as he was married to a woman but also involved with men which was forbidden at the time. Using the themes of dualism and marriage, Wilde is trying to show the audience the ridiculous nature of Victorian society. Through the reoccurring theme of dualism, Oscar Wilde uses sizable amounts of satire to not only mock the trivial Victorian society, but more specifically to ridicule
A satire is a genre of literature that uses humour, irony, and/or exaggeration to criticize or show a character’s stupidity or vices. In this case, the literature is a play by Oscar Wilde. The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedic, satirical play that shows ridicule and mockery of the characters through the use of repetitions and parallels to ultimately show the real meaning of being earnest. Wilde’s play is a satirical play because two important characters named Algernon and Jack are living double lives under the same identity. The two characters live double lives in order to escape from reality and live life with no responsibilities. Although, in the end the two characters are caught and live more fulfilling lives under their christian names. This act of living a double life is a repetition presented throughout the play. Another action that is in the play which is linked to parallels, is Gwendolen and Cecily. Gwendolen and Cecily are parallels in that they say similar lines throughout the play and they both will only fall in love with a man named Ernest. The last idea that is linked with repetition is the marriage between Algernon and Cecily and the marriage between Jack and Gwendolen. Wilde’s play is a satisfactory example of a satire because of the irony, repetitions, and foils of each character.