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
To what extent is Wilde satirising Victorian society in The Importance of Being Earnest and how does this add to its comedy?
To what extent is Wilde satirising Victorian society in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ and how does this add to its comedy? The Importance of Being Earnest, subtitled, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a comedy of manners whereby Oscar Wilde rebukes the Victorian aristocracy for their social issues that seemingly prioritise the most trivial of things such as style and appearance above those of true significance such as. Wilde further achieves this by incorporating elements such as farce and melodrama in order to highlight their senseless main concerns. Wilde portrays the act of “Being Earnest” as being in opposing to its definition as having features of dishonesty and false morality, with one of the main characters Algernon stating that “The truth is rarely pure and never simple”. Wilde’s first satirical attack in the play is marriage. Algernon is shown to perceive marriage to be a business deal as opposed to the projected illusion of it as described in the play as being based on mutual feelings of love (evidence – Ceclily or Gwendolen). This is evidenced by Algernon’s sharply comical and paradoxical epigrams in response to his best friend Jack Worthing’s admittance of wanting to propose to Algernon’s own ward Gwendolen he states: “I thought you had come up for pleasure? ... I call that business.” Wilde is seemingly satirising concept of
Act 3 : A woman of no importance
REMIND YOURSELF OF THE SECTION OF ACT 3 FROM LINE 358 TO THE END OF THE ACT. WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS SECTION IN THE CONTEXT OF THE WHOLE PLAY? In A Woman of No Importance, Wilde explores the moral attitudes of the aristocratic Victorian society towards social status and class, moral values, roles of men and women, and the relationships between them. The section in Act 3 is important as involves all of these issues, shown through characters such as Gerald, Lord Illingworth, Mrs Allonby and Hester. As well as the use of these characters, language and stage craft is also used to reveal Wilde's views and criticisms of the upper class society. These criticisms include the use of masks, immoral behaviour and hypocrisy. We are aware of the Victorian obsession with status and class through the presentation of Gerald's ambitions. Gerald is a character who aspires to become a person of high social status, in order to propose to Hester. His desires are based on the conventional Victorian ideas of class and social status, one of his main influences being Lord Illingworth: "As Lord Illingworth says, it is impossible to live in such a place as Wrockley." He is "ambitious" and wants more than what he currently has living with his mother. One of the main reasons for this ambition is so that he can propose to Hester: "And if I had a position, if I had prospects, I could - I could
Everything which ought to be of importance becomes merely trivial. Discuss "The Importance of Being Earnest" as a comedy of importance and triviality.
Everything which ought to be of importance becomes merely trivial”. Discuss the importance of being earnest as a comedy of importance and triviality. Oscar Wilde subverts Victorian values to mock and imply triviality of Victorian society in his play ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. Wilde forces the audience to confront their priorities and rethink the importance of life while also scrutinising the ignorance of materialistic fascination of the characters in upper class society through trivialisation of the importance of life. Lady Bracknell’s character is arguably the main source of triviality in the play despite that fact she herself is not a trivial person. Wilde satirizes the ideas of marriage and personal fortune together contemplating how society views marriage as financial business hence Algernon’s remarks “business or pleasure” to introduce the argument of marriage in the play. “An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise pleasant or unpleasant; it’s hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself”. This displays the inversion Wilde uses to illustrate the idea marriage isn’t primarily about happiness or love but rather the “pleasant state” as Lane utters to Algernon and Jack in Victorian society also attempting to say the experience of marriage is judged on how many times you’ve been married rather than the
To what extent is Wilde satirising Victorian society in The Importance of Being Earnest and how does this add to its comedy?- ALTERED
To What Extent is Wilde Satirising Victorian Society in The Importance of Being Earnest and how does this add to its comedy? Viewed as both the paradigm of upper-class Victorian dandyism and a non-conformist maverick of the regulatory restrictions of its prudish attitude, Oscar Wilde uses his polarised social standing to satirise Victorian society with relatively little backlash from the bourgeoisie of the time due to his personal self-deprecating sense of humour. The play’s subtitle, ‘A Trivial Comedy for Serious People,’ however, juxtaposes the defining distinction between Wilde and the peers of his class. Due to the social mobility brought by the Industrial Revolution, the upper classes of Victorian society implicated ludicrously strict regulations in an attempt to preserve the ‘purity’ of the English peerage- the manners in and aspects through which being perhaps the principle subject of Wilde’s satire in the play. Victorian attitudes to marriage are the first subject of satire in the play- with Algernon’s “I thought you had come up for pleasure? ... I call that business,” ridiculing the transactional arrangement of marriage between upper-class families to secure or strengthen their social standing. Wilde himself, however, saw the value of marriage in the early years of his life as he married Constance Lloyd- writing in love letters that he “feel[s]
This essay is comparing the 1952 film and the 2002 film, 'The Importance of being Earnest'
The Importance of being Earnest This essay is comparing the 1952 film and the 2002 film, 'The Importance of being Earnest'. This was first a play written in 1895, by Oscar Wilde. This essay is going to express and show the differences and similarities between the two films, using the play script as a reference. 'The Importance of being Earnest' is about two handsome men, who go bunburying. Bunburying is when people make things up, for their convenience, and to get out and not be questioned. Jack and Algy do this to be with the girls they love, the even lie about their names. Earnest means to be truthful, to show your true feelings, and think about the future actions, to be serious, this is why it is important to be Earnest. But this is reverse psychology, as no one is serious in the films. The film 'The Importance of being Earnest' is a comedy or romance. The film catches yours interest, with a good first scene. Also when Jack and Algy pretend to be different people 'Bunburying', and it is hard to keep up, this is very funny and you want to find out what will happen. The second film starts with Algy being chased, making him seem mysterious, and so you want to watch and find out why. The films vary from the play, although some bits have been added in, and taken out, to make the film shorter. In the 2002 film a lot more new scenes have been added in. In the latest film, in
Are The Contrasting Themes in Lady Windermeres Fan Important?
Are The Contrasting Themes in “Lady Windermere’s Fan” Important? Throughout “Lady Windermere’s Fan” we are introduced to many contrasting themes. Such as conflict and harmony, trust and betrayal and deception and truth. These are the main contrasting themes that Wilde has used throughout this play. The balance of these contrasting themes certainly improve the overall effect of the play, adding viewing value in the form of intrigue and enjoyment. However, are these contrasting themes important to the play and if so, how and why? Although this is a comedy, Wilde derives much comedic value from the conflicts within the play. Let’s take into consideration the conflict between Lord and Lady Windermere. This conflict arises purely due to a misunderstanding (when Duchess of Berwick tells Lady Windermere of her husband being with another woman e.g. “He goes to see her continually, and stops for hours at a time…”) and through deception on the part of Lord Windermere (although he promises to his wife that he has not cheated he will not tell her of why he and Mrs Erlynne were meeting), albeit for altruistic reason. The conflict is never really heated or serious and the audience can appreciate the humorous situation as we know that all will end well and any misunderstandings will be clarified by the end of the play, as is an example in “Much Ado About Nothing”
How does Wilde use marriage and courtship to create comedic and dramatic effects in "The Importance of being Earnest"?
The Importance of Being Earnest Coursework How does Wilde use marriage and courtship to create comedic and dramatic effects? At the time when the Importance of being Earnest was written, in 1895, society’s stance on marriage was very different to that of today. In our present society, when some say the idea of marriage is dated and becoming less common, it may be difficult to comprehend how pivotal marriage was to the Victorians. Marrying for love is, surprisingly, a rather new idea. This was rarely the case with Victorian marriages, which were often business proposals. The aim of marriage was to draw profit and higher social status, and to collect the wealth of the other family involved. Failure to adhere to these expectations would be considered out of the norm. Even more rigid than this social rule was the class structure all Victorians abided by, which decreed that no one could marry out of their station, in order to preserve the wealth of the rich. As stated by K Danielová in her thesis on Victorian marriage, “The social class the future partners came from also played an indispensable role… Couples were expected to come from the same social class.” This is seen in the play for instance when Lady Bracknell tells Jack that he should, “acquire some relations as soon as possible,” in order for her to consider his engagement to Gwendolen. Clearly, she means
A woman of no importance- the ideal man discussion
The ideal Husband essay In this section the women are served with after dinner coffee in the drawing room, whilst the men are having their port. They speak here with much more frankness than when in the presence of men, they feel able to relax, and the conversation turns on to the topic of how to keep men under control. They conclude that the middle classes have happier marriages than the gentry but are not certain why. The opening of Act II provides an amusing contrast to Act I and the tone is totally different. This scene establishes the women's viewpoint of the struggle between the sexes, interestingly they all assume without question that there is in fact a struggle, this would highlight the issue to the audience and ensure they took in what Wilde subtly revealed through his character and reveals the main theme of the play. Mrs Allonby sees marriages and relationships in terms of ownership, with men 'always trying to escape from us'; Lady Caroline sees marriage as a tool to control men and to keep them 'in their proper place' and Lady Stutfield uses dependency in order to flirt 'Men are so very, very heartless', and Hester keeps out of this part of the conversation- perhaps emphasising her naivety in the world of men and women whilst Lady Hunstanton just seems to back up Mrs Allonby and Lady Caroline's ideas. The after-dinner separation of the sexes would be familiar
How Far Do You Agree With The View That Lady Bracknell Does Create Comedy in The Importance of Being Earnest?
How Far Do You Agree With The View That Lady Bracknell Does Create Comedy in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’? When deciding if a character creates comedy or not it is important to weigh up the pros and cons of their main attributes. For me, overall Lady Bracknell does create comedy so I agree with the view but as with anything else it is arguable. It is clear the her triviality, character inversion and Wilde’s use of stock character create comedy although it can be argued that she is nonsensical, used as a tool and only serves purpose as a parallel. When dealing with Lady Bracknell it is important to realise that her intellectually farcical dialogue makes her character the quintessence of the book’s title; she creates ‘trivial comedy’ yet is one of the ‘serious people’. From this simple observation we can infer that Wilde wants us to watch Lady Bracknell as she represent the book as a while in character form. An example of her character’s nature is when she makes a remark about the ‘unfashionable’ side of the street upon which Mr Worthing lives. She then says that they can change ‘both’ the fashion and the side. Upon the surface Lady Bracknell takes something as trivial as which side of the street he lives on and talks about it in such a serious tone that it creates humour. This also displays her use of witty dialogue as her quick yet humours