Being earnest

Morality and Foolery In times where earnestness is priority, foolery ensues to escape societal pressure and morality takes a back seat. Oscars Wilde’s play ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ highlighted this fact with satire. In the Victorian Age of London, outward appearance of seriousness, respect, and societal conformity are of the utmost importance. Citizens of this age were expected to uphold those standards, even above their own happiness and health. With so much pressure to keep up with

representation of social class in The Importance of Being Earnest draws an interesting comparison with Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Oscar Wilde was born in 1854 into a middle-class household in Dublin, Ireland, and later attended Trinity College, Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford. At Oxford, he was influenced by his middle-class professors, John Ruskin and Walter Pater: Ruskin and Pater’s views on art were conflicting, as Ruskin believed, being a Pre-Raphaelite art critic, that art should reflect

In order to fully understand the meaning of “The Importance of Being Earnest” and its importance in its time, one must look at Oscar Wilde’s background in relation to the Victorian time period. Biography.com states that Wilde had a very social life, growing up among influential Victorians and intellectuals of the time. As he grew older and became a successful writer, he began engaging in homosexual affairs which was a crime during the 19th century. He eventually started a relationship with Alfred

The Importance of Being Earnest revolves around substantiality and insignificance. Oscar Wilde, the author, seems to take great delight in making things as un-simple as possible. Although it seems that the primary reason for Oscar Wilde to write this play is to entertain people, he constantly explores what is important and what is trivial, often inverting the two, in an effort to criticize and make people be aware of the social problems of his time. Set in Great Britain at the turn of the century

The huge issue that ‘The importance of being earnest’ raises is whether marriage was based on love or whether it was to just used to achieve a higher social status. Wilde portrays the different views on marriage through the characters of the play. Whilst Algernon is rather negative about marriage and doesn’t see it as anything more than a business deal, the character Gwendolyn seems to respect the values of marriage. Wilde keeps on ridiculing the social traditions and disposition of the noble class

The Hidden Symbols in The Importance of Being Earnest The Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde takes place in 1895 and exposes the hypocritical social expectations of the end of the Victorian era. During the Victorian period, marriage was about protecting your resources and keeping socially unacceptable impulses under control. The play undeniable reveals and focuses satire around differences between the behaviors of the upper class and that of the lower class. Oscar Wilde uses comedic

about getting married to the man they have always pictured in their minds. Which most often than not is a man in shining armor. Girls fall head over heels for a guy usually for the wrong reasons. Just because the guy fills every qualification for being her husband most girls claim to have fallen in love and are ready for marriage. Most qualifications like rich, handsome or popular are far from the qualifications girls should be looking for in order to marry. This also occurs in guys. Most guys are

Both The Importance of Being Earnest, a comedy play written before 1900, and The Middle, a contemporary comedy about a weird family which attempts to get together despite incredible differences and challenges, use comedic techniques to get the reader or viewer more interested. These strategies work in that one is more likely to continue viewing or reading while laughing and relating to the information as well. In The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde takes the reader on very wild ride through

The play Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde is an excellent representative of the comedy of manners. Typical, for Oscar’s style, there is always something hiding behind character than what the readers suppose. In the play women are very responsible for development of the action. I will provide the portrayal of Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen and Miss Prism. A way how Wilde mocks Victorian society and its values and also brings up diverting questions about gender roles, where women are dominant

Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is said to be a funny act play where the rich people in the Victorian society can read and laugh because of how much they can relate to it. The play is based on two males who live two different personal life’s with two different names. In which both males use the same male name which is name Earnest. However both males’ real names are Jack and Algernon and both have a secret from everyone else. Jack wants to marry Gwendolen, however Gwendolen mother