' The Importance of Being Earnest' is a comedy of manors written by Oscar Wilde. He makes use of epigrammatic talk in the play to create humour.
"Brilliant epigrammatic talk" ' The Importance of Being Earnest' is a comedy of manors written by Oscar Wilde. He makes use of epigrammatic talk in the play to create humour. Initially in the conversation between Algernon and Lane that opens the play. Lane is shown to be a witty character in this scene as he almost undermines a lot of Algernon's comments with disagreements. The wit is introduced in the fact that Lane undermines Algernon in such a way that Algernon himself does not realise. Algernon says, "Good heavens! Is marriage so demoralizing as that?" and Lane replies, "I believe it is a very pleasant state, sir." Lane's use of the noun 'sir' makes Algernon believe he is being polite, however we know that Lane is undermining Algernon's apparent views on marriage. Study the linguistic analysis of turn-taking in this scene we can see that Algernon seems to control the conversation but Lane's statements are very short and blunt. However, instead of being polite when Lane replies 'yes sir' it is meant sarcastically to undermine Algernon. Wilde uses Lane's wit at the very opening of the play to make a controversial statement on how he thinks the upper class are dim-witted. He shows Algernon to be slow on the uptake compared to Lane, the mere servant, to be quick witted and undermine Algernon without him even realising it. The next scene I would consider uses epigrammatic
Discuss the ways in which Act 1 presents Wilde's ideas about late nineteenth century England.
Discuss the ways in which Act 1 presents Wilde's ideas about late nineteenth century England. What is the importance of this section in the context of the whole play? The question guides me towards three aspects of context - class, moral attitudes and the relative status of men and women. In the 1880's the law in England seemed progressive. The Criminal Law Amendment Act was drafted under pressure from Social Purity feminists who were outraged by the double standard that had developed in England. Prostitution was tolerated by the middle class, but concerns about the spread of syphilis moved parliament to pass a law to contain the disease. The law allowed officials to pick up women and force them to submit to medical examinations just because they looked like prostitutes. An injustice that infuriated the Social Purity feminist's movement was that men escaped these humiliations and fallen women were blamed for prostitution and venereal disease. The feminists believed the real culprit was male lust which is shown through the character of Lord Illingworth. By the 1890's, social change was under minding the Victorian stereotype. New Women were middle-class who wanted changes in etiquette such as an end to chaperones, long hair and long skirts. They wanted more professional opportunities and independent accommodations and transportation. They insisted upon a code of absolute
How Does Wilde Introduce the characters in A Woman Of No Importance
How successful is Oscar Wilde in introducing the characters in 'A Woman of No Importance'? 'A Woman of No Importance' was written in 1892 by Oscar Wilde. In the play Wilde shows the hypocrisy that permeated through the 19th century and he expresses his views on a parochial society. The exposition of the play is pivotal in Wilde's craft as he establishes characters and lays the foundations of the play. The play shows how 19th century, upper-class societies functioned. With hindsight, we can reflect upon Wilde's use of suggestion as he radically expresses his views on the society in which he lived in. Wilde successfully introduces the characters within the exposition and the subtext allows the reader to gain a deeper understanding of the true nature of all the characters. Wilde immediately introduces us t the character of Lady Caroline, a woman who has been married four times herself, a trait that would be highly disapproved of in the 19th century. Her opinions seem to echo what many women of her status may have thought about the goings on in a 19th century society. She is persistent in patronising Miss Worsley and takes amusement in insulting her about her American heritage. 'I am not sure Miss Worsley, that foreigners like you should cultivate likes or dislikes'. This statement shows that Lady Caroline places herself above Miss Worsley in society, although she is a Lady, and
How Successful Is Wilde In Introducing The Characters In A Woman Of No Importance?
How Successful Is Wilde In Introducing The Characters In A Woman Of No Importance? Hester is introduced in the first few lines of the play as clearly being an outsider. This becomes obvious by the fact that Lady Caroline comments that "this is the first English country house that [she has] stayed at." Therefore, right at the very beginning Wilde has already stated effectively what she is in comparison to the other characters and because of this she is not so accustomed to how things operate in the setting of the play, which is at an English country house. This can also be seen when Lady Caroline has to point out to Hester that "it is not customary in England...to speak with such enthusiasm of any person of the opposite sex." It is important that the audience of the play knows this information about Hester for the rest of the play to make sense and so therefore Wilde has been successful in introducing Hester in the play because the audience gets a clear understanding of what she is like and how she is seen by the other characters. Wilde is particularly successful in introducing Lady Caroline into the play and allowing the audience to see exactly what she is like almost straight away. For instance her sense of humour comes across in line 10 when she says in response that America is "the largest country in the world," that Hester "should find it very draughty." Therefore this
What do you find funny in 'The Importance of Being Earnest'?Consider what dramatic devices Wilde uses to create the comedy.(You should analyse in detail at least 3 comic moments).
What do you find funny in 'The Importance of Being Earnest'? Consider what dramatic devices Wilde uses to create the comedy. (You should analyse in detail at least 3 comic moments). Aims of "Modern" Drama > To write cogent critical argument in response to question > To show perceptive personal response > To write clearly and precisely > To use quotation effectively to support points > To analyse structure, characterisation and presentation within dramatic genre > To show awareness of stagecraft, theatrical devices > To demonstrate understanding of effects of these on audience and possible changes over time and context > To consider play's moral, philosophical and social significance (thematic importance) > To refer in detail to features of language and imagery > To explore and evaluate alternative responses The comedy in 'Importance of Being Earnest' focuses on the aristocratic classes at the turn of the 19th century, the time when the play was written and set. Whilst creating humour by mocking their absurdities i.e. moral and social values and ideas, he also provides the audience the witty banter of the idle rich and their somewhat ridiculous lifestyles and attitudes to enjoy. These idle rich seem to revel in making trivial matters important and important matters trivial. Wilde uses a range of techniques to simultaneously mock aristocratic Victorian
Oscar Wilde (1845-1903) - An Ideal Husband
Question 3 Oscar Wilde (1845-1903) lived an outrageous and controversial life which was well publicised and condemned, as his life defied the strict social mores of the time.. He was put into this public position due to the success of his plays which challenged Victorian earnestness while being hilariously funny. His plays, in particular An Ideal Husband, 1895 portray Victorian society as viciously hypocritical at it's worst and laughably pretensious at it's best. Wilde expressed this point of view in An Ideal Husband through the rich use of plot development, construction of characters, dramatic irony, hyperbole, witty and epigrammatic repartee and satire. The central plot of An Ideal Husband begins with the antagonist, Mrs Chevely, tries to blackmail Sir Robert Chiltern (one of the protagonists) with a secret from his past. She has with her an incriminating letter which proves Robert's involvement in insider trading in the Suez Canal Scheme, in order to benefit from an investment. The Suez Canal Scheme was a very important scheme in the recent history of the time. Wilde's plot of a a man going unpunished for such a serious crime challenged the earnestness of the Victorian people. This challenge and insult to earnestness is strongly emphasised by the characterisation of robert chiltern. Wilde adds insult to injury by constructing robert as being a very lucky man in life.
How far and in what ways does Oscar Wilde challenge these views on gender in 'The Importance of Being Earnest'?
The traditional view of gender relations in the Victorian era was that men were active, manly, assertive and economically independent whilst women were assumed to be passive, pliant and dependant. How far and in what ways does Oscar Wilde challenge these views in 'The Importance of Being Earnest'? Oscar Wilde does challenge these traditional roles in the Importance of Being Earnest deliberately to make humour out of these characteristics. In fact most of the intelligent wit that is in the play stems from the fact that the characters are doing or saying something that one wouldn't expect them to say, the opposite of what they are saying is what would be predicted e.g. "Divorces are made in Heaven". Oscar Wilde works in the same way with the characters, none of them are generally what a stereotypical Victorian man or woman would be. The two main male characters, Jack and Algernon, cannot really be regarded as masculine, or at any rate both of them do not fit the criteria for what characteristics a stereotypical Victorian man would be. Algernon is active up to a certain point; he does go away to the country when he becomes bored of the city and so is in charge of his own life. However, without his ability to be deceitful be would complied to go to Lady Bracknell's dinner parties, so really he is not completely free and wouldn't dare be assertive with Lady Bracknell as she
What is Wilde's dramatic purpose in Lady Caroline in Act 1?
What is Wilde's dramatic purpose in Lady Caroline in Act 1? In Oscar Wilde's play 'A woman of no importance' Wilde creates a dramatic feeling of purpose using the character of Lady Caroline several times throughout the first act. She starts the first act by immediately showing her self importance and high opinion of herself by delivering the opening line in first person 'I believe this is the first English country house you have stayed at, Miss Worsley?' she repeats this throughout her conversation with Hester to reinforce her authority as her disapproval of Hester is evident from the beginning. She continues to reassert her authority in her home as she disagrees her husband and talks over him as if he is her lesser in order to show Hester that she has a superior influence as she questions lady Hunstantons wisdom in inviting Hester over to England which immediately makes the audience feel a sense of tension and rivalry adding to the dramatic purpose of Lady Caroline, 'I think not John' 'And dear Lady Hunstanton is sometimes a little lax about the people she asks down here' this comment sets the tone for the rest of Lady Caroline's behaviour in the rest of the first act. However she then goes on too show her naivety and stupidity by coming up with an unintentional piece of farcical comedy by mistaking the name of the respected Mr Kelvil, 'And that Member of
The Importance Of Being Earnest. Oscar Wilde mocks Victorian attitudes towards death within Act 2. How far do you agree with this view?
Sehrish Javed – English Literature (Miss Sunner) Rather than respecting the society of the situation, Oscar Wilde mocks Victorian attitudes towards death within Act 2. How far do you agree with this view? In this coursework I will be focusing on act 2 of the play an importance of being earnest. The play consists of a mixture of several themes, one of them being death. During act 2 there are many different situations were Oscar Wide mocks Victorian attitudes towards death. This is shown in several of ways which I will discus thought this coursework. From the start of Act 2 we are able to judge the traits of the characters in much more detail and see what their character is like. During the very first conversation in the play (between Algernon and Jack) we are able to realise that the characters in the play are careless in their actions and views. This theme continues throughout the entire play, evident in the ridiculously comical and odd comments made by the characters, their odd and reserved mannerisms and their general air. The Importance of Being Earnest may seem to the audience to be a play that’s pretty much meaningless and trivialities. To follow this, the author himself described the play to be ‘a trivial comedy for several people’. More the less the comedy does contain satire which is delicate enough that most of the audience fail to recognise them. This
Is it possible to feel any sympathy for the character Jack Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest?
Whilst Jack seems to have encountered many difficulties throughout life, owing to the awkward nature of his background, is it possible to feel any sympathy for the character? Whilst Jack does seem to have encountered many difficulties in his life I believe that it is quite hard to feel sympathy for the character for the majority of the play. The appearance of sympathy for the character of Jack is most apparent during Lady Bracknell’s interrogation of him in Act 1. We sympathise with him because Jack genuinely seems to want to marry Gwendolen because he loves her and Lady Bracknell is completely ignoring that fact by pressing into personal details of himself and of his history and background. This is ignited by the fact that Jack seemed to start off quite well by Lady Bracknell’s standards, being lulled into a false sense of security by Wilde, answering questions such as ‘do you smoke?’ and ‘what is your income…in land or investments?’ with answers that Lady Bracknell find satisfactory. Yet disaster seems to strike with the issue of housing being discussed, ultimately ending with the handbag scenario which I believe is the pinpointed time where the audience of the play will at all feel any sympathy for Jack. Lady Bracknell has just interrogated him about his personal life and has given him a reprimand because of his loss of the both of his parents and also