The Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde

By stating that he did not know anyone by the name of Cecily, Jack initiates his own debacle. He has to clarify that Cecily is actual his ward. Nonetheless, Jack bears no anguish to dissembling to his closest companion. Jack’s morality has been impaired by his lies and it implies that his animalistic qualities control him. Yet, he falls in love and he must tell Gwendolen, his sweetheart, of his morally wrong character. In order to do so Jack has to disclose that Ernest was not in fact his real name but a mere alias created to cover up his dastardly ways. He can think of no other way than to “kill” his brother. Wilde shows how Jack’s urbane nature begins to be marred by his animalism since he was willing to kill a man, fictional or not. Ensuing in the play Jack is speaking with Algernon and he begins to ponder on how to commit the murder. He states “My poor brother Ernest is carried off suddenly in Paris, by a severe chill. That gets rid of him” (Wilde 16). Though fictional, Jack’s murder of Ernest still seems to carry the same implications further into the book. This murder eventually skews his reputation once his lies become known. Wilde proves how Jack’s lies soon catch up to him and flaw his esteemed moral persona. Later in the play Algernon sets off on a trip to Jack’s country estate and claims he is Ernest Worthing. Later when Jack arrives Cecily informs her caretaker that his brother Ernest is in his room. Jack replies

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.

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.

Oscar Wilde is judging society as pertaining to them living two different lives where they can be who they actually, want to be. Jack and Algernon run to the city where they can go to do the things they judge people for while in the country. Jack feels "When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring". The characters have also created a thing such as Bunbury which gives them a way of life which offers away for the characters to escape from the social norms. Oscar Wilde has created two completely different society's one where the characters can go. We also can begin to see the story of Oscar Wilde into this book and how he is considered a higher member of society but he is also living another life as being a homosexual man we could question maybe if he was questioning the way that he lived and how he felt he

A person’s name and position in society are significantly important for the upper class, due to the fact that if one were to marry into the family, a key member of the family would judge the person by their social class and the family name they carry to see if they are worthy to being a part of their lineage. In the play, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” a person's social class is highly admired. The main characters are high in society and are falsely appearing to live up to great expectations. In Oscar Wilde’s play, the theme of the social class is extensively explored through the characters, although they are living double-lives.

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

The Importance of Being Earnest is one of Oscar Wilde’s crowning masterpieces. The acclaimed comedic play tells the tale of Jack Worthing and the mischief he causes when he and his best friend, Algernon Moncrieff, assume double identities. When analyzing the play from various critical perspectives, the reader can divulge into the various historical roots and gender roles that the author uses to promote his message and criticize the Victorian upper class.

One of Oliver Wilde’s famous plays “The Importance of Being Earnest” follows two wealthy bachelors in love and webs of lies. Jack Worthing falls in love with a rich socialite Gwendolyn, but to leave a life of responsibility he made up a brother to visit the city, where he meet Gwen. So when Gwendolyn falls in love with the non existent brother, Jack is stuck in a double life predicament. When his poster boy bachelor finds out about Jack's real name and his young ward, Algernon decides to take on a second fake identity, to meet the young Cecily. Throughout the play Wilde uses humor to show the hypocrisy ways of the upper class; by uses satire through standards, appearances, and marriages.

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

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.

Wilde’s ‘The Importance Of Being Earnest’ explores various themes of love and marriage, especially in Act 1, where marriage in Victorian society is widely contradicted as a ‘very pleasant state,’ instead using various comedic devises, such as puns, double entendres and inversions to mock its virtue and morality.

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, 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.

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ by Oscar Wilde is a play which contain the lies of Jack and Algernon and how that affects the attitudes of their beloved Gwendolen and Cecily and ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde is about the lives of three men Basil, Lord Henry, and Dorian Gray and it also includes how people were hypocritical towards Victorian ethics. In the book ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, Lord Henry said, “We are punished for our refusals. Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind, and poisons us. The body sins once, and has done with its sin, for action is a mode of purification. . . . Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful. It has been said that the great events of the world take place in the brain. It is in the brain, and the brain only, that the great sins of the world take place also.” By saying this Lord Henry meant that when people do not conduct what they are tempted to do, they get sick and keep wanting to do it. This quote also meant that when there are rules, people were always tempted to break those rules. During the time when Queen Victoria ruled, the society required strict morality and therefore had strict ethics. However, most people were not serious and hypocritical towards their ethics. Therefore, people in the Victorian period were soon tempted to break those strict ethics and broke them in many