BY WHAT MEANS AND WITH WHAT SUCCESS DOES OSCAR WILDE MAKE ''THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST'' SUCH A MEMORABLE PLAY?
BY WHAT MEANS AND WITH WHAT SUCCESS DOES OSCAR WILDE MAKE ''THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST'' SUCH A MEMORABLE PLAY? Oscar Wilde's play makes fun of the English upper classes with satire and humour. The play focuses on two young men in love with women both determined to marry someone named Earnest. It tells the tale of Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, two young men who have taken to bending the truth and in my opinion, only to add a dash of excitement to their lives. Jack has invented an imaginary brother, Ernest, whom he uses as an excuse to escape from his dull home in the country and frolic in the town. Algernon uses a similar technique, only to escape his town life and retreat to the country. However, their dishonesty eventually crosses each other, and causes a lot of problems with their romantic lives. Oscar Wilde makes this play, 'The Importance Of Being Earnest', such a memorable play, by including a large amount of humour in the play. Humour always plays an important part in a production as this one is, because if an audience laughs during the course of a play, it causes each and every member of the audience to feel uplifted and to feel a sense of happiness. Humour is brought into the play in several different ways. A main element of humour is portrayed through certain characters. The characters' eccentricity seems so out of the ordinary, and is stepping out of
The characters in the play are paired. Compare and contrast Jack and Algernon,
English Coursework Question The characters in the play are paired. Compare and contrast Jack and Algernon, . Introduction In this Essay I will compare and contrast the characters of Jack and Algernon. I will do this by looking at their behaviour and attitudes towards f food, marriage, women, social class, education and money. I will endeavour to show that these characters are not dissimilar as we might first be led to believe. I will use both the text as well as the modern film version to prove my ideas. Algernon Moncrief lives in an expensive flat located in Half-Moon Street. He is a very emotive character just like Wilde himself. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. We think he is rich, which, however, soon, especially in the modern film version, is proven to be wrong. Right at the start people who he owes money chase him. Also his butler Lane complains about him not paying his lone. Algernon comes from a rich family. His aunt, Augusta Bracknell, is very rich. In order to keep up his live style and his place in society he has to dine with his aunt a fair few times. Too often in his opinion. "...I dined there on Monday, and once a week is quite enough" It shows us that Algernon expects a lot, a high standard of living but is not prepared to do anything to achieve and to deserve it. He wants it presented to him on a salver. Dining with his
What sort of Society and Values does Wilde present inThe Importance Of Being Earnest?
What sort of Society and Values does Wilde present in The Importance Of Being Earnest? Oscar Wilde presents a very candid impression of Victorian society and its values in The Importance Of Being Earnest. The title itself represents the irony of the play. The word earnest works on two levels- first the name Ernest, which is the main focus of the play, and also it sounds like honest which is exactly what Jack and Algernon- the two main characters of the play-are not. There are four main themes which can be recognised in the play: social snobbery, money matters, appearance matters and false values and lastly, not being sincere. In this essay I intend to focus on each category to highlight the society Wilde describes and the values he portrays. These will be backed up by quotations from the play. The first theme I shall look at is social snobbery. Social snobbery is where one class looks down on a lower class for example upper class people regarding the lower class as one to provide services for them. In the play Wilde often describes the social snobbery of the characters, Lady Bracknell being a prime example. She considers the lower class as inferior to her, as can be demonstrated in her interrogation with Jack in act one. She asks him if he knows everything or nothing. She goes on to say 'The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in
Published in 1899, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is a satirical interpretation of Victorian society
Published in 1899, "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde is a satirical interpretation of Victorian society. Brilliant, inventive and extremely hilarious "The Importance of Being Earnest" is Oscar Wilde's most well known and the writer's greatest achievements. Oscar Wilde expresses the features of Victorian people through each character in his play; therefore, the two leading female characters; Gwendolen and Cecily definitely play a vital role in the action of the play. The main conflict of the play revolves around the play's protagonist, Jack Worthing, a young man who leads a double life (Jack in the country and Ernest in town) and Algernon Moncrieff, who has a fictional friend named 'Bunbury' whom he uses to escape dull social obligations. Jack Worthing wants to marry Gwendolen Fairfax, who believes his real name is Ernest, but is refused to do so by lady Bracknell due to Jack's family background. In Act 2, Jack's friend, Algernon Moncrieff complicates the conflict by visiting Jack's country house under the disguise of Jack's fake brother "Ernest" who often gets into trouble and require Jack's assistance to escape them. When Algernon/Ernest falls in love with Jack's pretty eighteen year old ward, Cecily, who believes his real name is Ernest, there are bound to be problems in store for them. However, all ends well at the end of the play. It is clear that both
To be earnest or not to be?
To be earnest or not to be? It is a truth universally acknowledged that earnestness is a treasurable and trustworthy feature of a human because it gives us absolute confidence. In The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) by Oscar Wilde, Jack Worthing, the protagonist of the play, is also portrayed as an earnest, serious and responsible young man. However, none can be that perfect-he is actually very deceptive in the meantime. Through Jack Worthing's verbal mannerisms and behaviours, readers can discover the satires of Wilde with respect to the hypocrisy of the aristocrats, conventional morality and trivialized views of marriage during the Victorian Era. It is doubtless that Jack Worthing is a hypocritical and deceptive character in the play, because he has always tried to pretend to be serious. For instances, as Jack threatens Algernon, "It is a very ungentlemanly thing to read a private cigarette case (p. 16)" and "Well, that is no reason why you should eat them [muffins] all in that greedy way (p. 56)", he apparently shows us the social rules of a gentleman. Cecily even thinks that "Dear Uncle Jack is so very serious (p. 33)". It seems that he is a very respectable gentleman; nevertheless, these dialogues show readers the hypocrisy of Jack entirely. Firstly, if he really gets by in that gentlemanly way, he would not have invented his brother Ernest to help him escape from
The Importance of Being Earnest-" A trivial comedy for serious people".
The Importance of Being Earnest-" A trivial comedy for serious people" What aspects of late Victorian Society does Oscar Wilde seek to mock and trivialise? Oscar Wilde accepts Victorian values however he seeks to mock and trivialise the late Victorian society in his play- The Importance of Being Earnest. He described the play as exquisitely trivial, and therefore gave it the subtitle- "A trivial comedy for serious people". His intentions were to make people think more deeply and make them more aware of the serious things in life, which should be treated with sincerity, and the trivial things with seriousness. He succeeds in mocking Victorian life by trivialising certain parodies such as marriage, society, and aristocracy, and much more, by the use of witty paradoxes and epigrams. Wilde achieves to produce a pun out of the title, due to the mistaken identity of a character in the play Jack Worthing, and the 'earnest' behaviour of Victorian characters. The play pivots around the word 'earnest', because both women want to marry someone of the name 'Ernest', because it inspires 'absolute confidence', 'honesty' and 'responsibility'. Gwendolen: '...there is very little music in the name Jack. The only safe name is Ernest'. Pg 330. However Jack and Algernon lie about their names and so are not being 'earnest', although the result is that they are both telling the truth,
oscar wilde
In an essay of 4-5 pages discuss how Oscar Wilde's uses his stereotypes and concepts from traditional fairy tales and inverts them in his short stories. Oscar Wilde's fairy tales were written in Victorian times and reflects the era of Victorian regime in his stories. The appearance is shown the most important thing and conflict between rich and poor with people having no civil responsibilities at all are often seen in Wilde's stories. A fairy tale is more like a wonder tale, involving many artificial things and elements, although it is not necessarily about fairies. Traditional fairy tales often have the same beginning and ending including good and evil or positive and negative. Heroes are often described as brave, courageous and handsome where as heroines are likely to be described as beautiful. The evil characters are wicked animals, giants or characters that are supposed to act foolish, rather stupid in the story. Whoever the characters were, they were supposed to be known by their outfit or descriptions. The common features included were fighting evil, rescuing, selfish and proud characters. Most of the fairy tales opened with a happy start, a twist later on and ended with meeting of two peoples or indicated with 'happy life ever after'. Oscar Wilde's tales contain many of traditional elements of popular fairy tales. His tales have characters representing both good and
Oscar Wilde
Adam Wright 18th November 2002 Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde himself would probably admit that his life had many incredible events that themselves would make an exceedingly gripping play, his unequalled rise to become the chief celebratory of his day and his dramatic fall from grace due to his arch rival, lord Queensbury. Oscar Wilde was born among the highest social circles of Dublin Ireland to two very unique and individual parents. His father was widely regarded as the best eye and ear surgeon in the whole of Great Britain and is still today looked upon as the founder of that specific medical branch. His mother, a self-proclaimed genius, was a committed feminist and a key member and open supporter of The Irish independence movement. This unusual couple formed a cornerstone of Irish society who mixed with royalty somewhat. Straight away from even my limited reading we can tell that Wilde wrote within parameters that he felt comfortable and knowledgeable within. Wilde was placed within the most stimulating enviroment from the earliest age. His mother held weekly gatherings of some of Dublin's finest artists and intellectuals within her house. Wilde was critically lucky enough to be thrust into this environment by his keen parents who would make sure that he was present for such occasions. At
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest Compare and contrast the pairs of the characters: * Jack and Algernon * Cecily and Gwendolen * Lady Bracknell and Miss Prism The Importance of Being Earnest was written and published in 1895 by Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde. Oscar Wilde wrote the book to express his opinion of the Victorian society. He thought the Victorians were too status conscious and too proper in their ways. Therefore, he wrote a play of characters opposing and over exaggerating Victorian ways. The Importance of Being Earnest was his most epigrammatic, and wittiest work and became his masterpiece. Algernon and Jack Algernon Moncrief is one of the plays major characters. Oscar Wilde has given him the most exaggerated character in the play and he portrayed as a typical Victorian but rather holds views contrary to the normally accepted Victorian values. Algernon's personality is outrageous yet he acts well in public, as he knows that this is what people are judged on. He lives in a comic world where nothing is taken seriously, he is light-hearted, witty and he disregards conventional morality; as we see in the opening scene where Algy and Lane joke about Lanes unsuccessful marriage and the dishonest drinking, on Lanes part, of champagne. Lane says: 'I have often observed that in married households the champagne is rarely at first rate brand' towards the end
The Importance of Being Earnest.
The Importance of Being Earnest. Katrina Stalker By Oscar Wilde "Although primarily a comedy, 'The Importance of Being Earnest' also makes a number of serious points about Victorian society. Do agree with this comment? I agree with the comment that The Importance of Being Earnest is definitely a comedy; There are many amusing quotes throughout the play but also the plot of the play is comical. The plot is a coincidental farcical which builds up to a preposterous climax. It uses irony to poke fun at everyday customs in Victorian England. The language used is also light hearted which adds to the novel's wittiness, for example "Bunburying." This word is used to describe Jack's 'double personality,' as he is in fact Jack in the country and Ernest in the town. This idea is perplexing which adds to the play's drollness. "I don't play accurately [the piano]-anyone can play accurately- but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte." Many examples through out the play show Wild's humour. Another example of the humour in The Importance of Being Earnest is when Jack tells Lady Bracknell about his orphaned childhood. To which she replies, "To lose one parent, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." I find this humorous as I doubt that the fact he had no parents was his lack of responsibility as he was