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 day after Dorians death from Lord Henrys perspective
Joycelyn Asare The day after Dorian’s death from Lord Henry’s perspective As Morning rose the sky began to change revealing its bright colours that were hidden during the night. Streaks of florescent orange and red shone as the luminous sun slowly climbed its way to the sky. The joyous morning birds began to sing such cheerful melodies that woke up Mother Nature; the tunes seemed to give the trees life as their branches spread wider and the warm breeze swept through its leaves. Although it seemed like a lovely morning, news of last night’s events has spread; the news of Dorian Gray’s death was on everybody’s lips – some spiteful, some sympathetic. Lord Henry had awoken, from a nights peaceful sleep only to have an abrupt knock at his door; it was his butler coming to inform him that Lady Agatha, Lord Henry’s aunt, was at his door, Lord Henry changed to his morning attire consisting of a morning coat, a cream ironed waistcoat, and striped trousers. With that he walked along his velvet rug towards the door of his bedroom to go downstairs and great his aunt. “Aunt Agatha to what do I owe this pleasure?” he said as he looked at her slowly rolling his eyes, “come, come have a seat,” Lady Agatha walked over and sat down with such grace on the rich cream armchair, she placed her hands on her lap and stared at Henry up and down as he sat down leaning back into
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.
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
What is learnt about attitudes towards marriage in Act 1 of The Importance of Being Earnest.
What is learnt about attitudes towards marriage in Act 1 'The Importance of Being Earnest', having being written in the late Victorian period, shows examples of the contemporary society's attitudes to and customs of marriage. These attitudes serve a very important role throughout the play. The problems and trials of marriage provide the basis for this play. Although this theme of the problem of marriage has featured in a number of English authors' works, for example Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde adapted the theme in order for his contemporary audience to relate to it, and so the play is quite unique. Act 1 of the play opens with Algernon holding a brief conversation with his servant Lane regarding marriage. We immediately have an insight into Algernon's life as a single man; Algernon is more concerned with money and the high life than he is with responsibility and sensibility. He sees that not having a 'first rate brand' of wine, as it was mentioned was the case in marriage, as 'demoralising'. It is not surprising that Algy, later on in Act 1, expresses such cynical views of marriage. Lane touches on the lower class's attitudes towards marriage briefly in this scene. Lane says that he has had very little experience of marriage he explains that he was "...only married once and that was a misunderstanding between himself and a young person." The
In What ways does Wilde Attempt to amuse His Audience in Act Three of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’?
Beth Sharratt In What ways does Wilde Attempt to amuse His Audience in Act Three of 'The Importance of Being Earnest'? Prior to the third act, Wilde sets the scene and establishes the main character's idiosyncrasies and particularities. This knowledge the audience has already received contributes to the humour in the third act. The importance of being earnest is seen to be one of Wilde's most farcical comedies. Both the storyline and many of the characters are totally ridiculous, yet the play is written with a high degree of wit and intelligence. An example of this wit lies in the title of the play, which is a pun itself. With 'earnest' being both a male Christian name and a word describing honesty and sincerity. An important element, which adds to the humour of the third act, is the absurdity of some of the characters themselves. Characters such as Lady Bracknell, who is a very pedantic character, seem to be unrealistic characters as their manners are so extreme. She is an example of an exaggerated stereotype, a comical device use by Wilde. It seems that Wilde has attempted to make the main subjects of the play, Algernon and Jack, the most realistic also. Wilde also uses many linguistic techniques to add to the humour of the third act. One of these is the use of paradoxes. These are statements that seem to be self contradictory, but may be true. For example, 'All women