What Is The Importance Of Being Earnest A Satire

Lady Bracknell’s personality makes a bold appearance from the beginning, “I think it is high time for Mr. Bunbury to decide whether he was going to live or die”. Also, Wilde’s choice of harsh-sounding consonants in the name “Bracknell” and

From the surface, Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen seem to have a typical mother-daughter relationship. But as the play progresses we see that this is not at all the case. Lady Bracknell is a narrow-minded and authoritarian type mother. Because of this she is very protective when it comes to her daughter. She believes that since she married well, her daughter deserves the same. Her idea of marriage includes the attainment of social security and property. In her mind it has nothing to do with love or passion. Gwendolen, however, wants to make her own decisions and live her life as she pleases, not having to worry about whether or not her mother will approve. She is intellectual sophisticated, and cosmopolitan. The overprotectiveness from her mother is first seen when list of eligible men are mentioned. This list is composed by Lady Bracknell herself and includes the names of all the men who she believes are good and worthy enough to be with her daughter. With this list is a set of interview questions about a variety of topics ranging from his smoking habits to his family origins. This is her way of manipulating the situation and getting it to turn out the way that she wants it to. Lady Bracknell was born into the lower class but was a social climber who was determined on marrying into the aristocracy, which is exactly what she did. She wants her daughter to be able to do the same. She even goes as far as to tell Gwendolen that she is not engaged until her mother or father informs her that she is. Even after all this pressure and control coming from her mother Gwendolen decides to rebel. Gwendolen is sure she wants to marry the man

Lady Bracknell’s character represents the “New Woman” and clearly Algernon has to overcome any obstacle to please her. Lane, as the servant, a lower class citizen, acknowledges the hierarchy and aids Algernon in response. Wilde also wrote the scene where Algernon eats the entire plate of cucumber sandwiches as a sign of rebellion against the supreme woman figure. Algernon feared the consequences, and as a result concealed the truth. The cucumber sandwiches symbolize the need to be accepted within society and its commodities. Wilde devises the cucumber sandwich discussion to provide insight regarding the power shift from men to women at this time.

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

However, in both contexts, Wilde almost uses Lady Bracknell as an example of what one shouldn’t be like.

Wilde used many characters to represent various different aspects of society. Lady Bracknell’s character is a representation of society itself. She does everything in her power to try to keep society the way it is, and retain both Gwendolen and Algernon on the right track in order to guarantee their safe future. She is also extremely defensive of her family. For example, when John tries to accuse Algernon of not being a suitable husband, Lady Bracknell objects saying, “Algernon is an extremely, I may almost say an ostentatiously, eligible young man. He has nothing but looks everything. What more can one desire” (Wilde 1634). In this quote, The reader is able to see that she will do anything to get her family to the top, even if it means acting

Lady Bracknell who beliefs in the social reproduction, forbids Jack to marry her daughter for she wants her bloodline to have a stable social class and thinks that because Jack was found in a bag as a baby he is unworthy to marry her daughter. This also demonstrates social inequality. Due to Jacks background Lady Bracknell does not see him as an equal and there fourth deprives him what she feels he does not

“That is satisfactory.  What between the duties expected of one during one’s lifetime, and the duties exacted from one after one’s death, land has ceased to be either a profit or a pleasure.” (I) She sees marriage as an alliance for property and social security but love or passion is not part of it. Since she had prodigious marriage, her primary goal in life seems to be to see her daughter doing the same. She wants her daughter, Gwendolyn to marry an upper class noble in order live a pleasant life. She tells her daughter quite explicitly, "Pardon me, you are not engaged to anyone. When you do become engaged to someone, I or your father, should his health permit him, will inform you of the fact." (I) She sees marriage as a business deal because she insisted about Jack’s parent as the most vital thing. Knowing the parents are crucial for Lady Bracknell because they are the ones who are going to share the money and do the business with her. Another example of Lady Bracknell favoring money could be seen from Algernon and Cecily’s marriage. In the beginning, she opposed Cecily and Algernon’s marriage but Jack mentions that she has hundred and thirty thousand pounds in the funds. In a matter of second, she changes her mind and approves their marriage. Lady Bracknell surprisingly and excitingly responds “A moment, Mr. Worthing.  A hundred and thirty thousand pounds!  And in the Funds!  Miss Cardew

Picture this: You are a woman living in late 1700s. You are expected to be presentable at all times, petticoats and all. Though you are still quite young, your search for a husband is not a task to be taken lightly. Swirling in your mind are the opinions of annoying sisters, overbearing mothers, and rude old women. Although you are by no means poor, your family’s connections are not the best, making you a somewhat unsuitable bride. Just when you are about to write off the idea of love altogether, you meet a man who is rude to you yet gentlemanly toward his family and close friends. Neither one of you admit that you find the other interesting because you can hardly admit it to yourselves. His affections grow more rapidly than yours, but you reject him because This is what the life of Elizabeth Bennet was like. Though her culture and geographical surroundings played a big part in Lizzy’s character, she is very unlike the ordinary woman of her time.

While those of the Victorian upper class were usually the most refined and intelligent, Wilde portrays them as ignorant and dense. One of the most well described ladies, Miss Prism, is shown to be the least aware. “The most cultivated of ladies, and the very picture of respectability”(63). She is ultimately the most absent minded and leaves baby Jack in a handbag in a cloak room of a major railway station. Through Miss Prism, Wilde is able to propagandize the intelligence the aristocrats usually embody. In addition to this, Wilde refutes the morality of the Victorian elite. The main two characters, Jack and Algernon, are deceptive and are rarely seen to have any morals. Reviewing this play with a sociological/Marxist perspective provides insight on how Wilde wants others to perceive the elite of

Although the two wanted to marry, Lady Bracknell refuses to allow it given Jack’s social status. Wilde treats the subject of marriage with plenty of humor and hypocrisy, especially among the male characters.

Lady Bracknell is the typical example of people in the society who judges others only by their background and property. She believes that social position is the most importance when two people are having a engagement. She also thinks that marrying someone without money is worthless. When she finds out that Algernon intends to marry Cecily, she is shocked, thinking that Cecily is not good enough for Algernon socially. She refuses to let them marry because of Cecily’s social status, even though Algernon and Cecily love each other.

In the satirical play “The Importance of Being Earnest,” the playwright, Oscar Wilde mocks the ideas that Victorian society had about marriage. The scene in which Jack, one of the main characters, attempts to persuade Lady Bracknell to allow him to marry Gwendolen, her daughter, is over dramatic and humorous in order to show how the Victorian society treated marriages. Oscar Wilde subtlety argues, through comedy, that most marriages are for financial and social gain instead of love, emotions, and personality. Wilde creates the outrageous character, Lady Bracknell, to represent the traditional Victorian ideals. He hyperbolizes her ideals and manners, that she is incredibly stubborn about, so much so that they are no longer polite or

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

Correspondingly, Wilde utilises Aestheticism to characterise Lady Gertrude Chiltern dissimilar to Lord Goring and Mrs Cheveley and as “a touchstone of moral stability” (Bose, 1999) to indicate her restraints towards the model upper-class standards. Hence, Wilde undermines the Victorian English notions, particularly of marriage, as exaggeratingly hypocritical and non-naturalistic (Hornychová, 2010) as it led to Lady Chiltern’s disillusion and disappointment from her morally rigid admiration towards her husband’s façade. Consequently, Wildes creates dramatic irony into Lady Chiltern’s dialogue and develops her distaste towards Mrs Cheveley.