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How Did Oscar Wilde's Impact On Society

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During the Victorian era in England, it was very common for the wealthy to set the trends and styles of culture. This period was named after Queen Victoria and is known for its times of peace and prosperity. The affluent were typically esteemed to be like royalty. Their wealth caused them to be like kings and queens. Their self-confidence and overinflated ego would lead the wealthy to set standards so high that nobody could genuinely follow them. An outsider's view of the Victorian era would show many prosperous people living a seemingly perfect lifestyle. However, this was far from the truth. Prostitutes undermined fidelity in marriage. People consumed expensive liquor in staggering quantities. Gambling was a hobby and even a sign of wealth. The upper-class would pursue destructive vices that undermined their purported view of personal perfection. Oscar Wilde was an incredible man who lived during the Victorian era. Through his writings, Wilde was able to show the importance of appreciating beauty, instead of social and …show more content…

Around London, he was known for his captivating stories and personality. Instead of conforming to the Victorian idea of how a wealthy gentleman should behave, Oscar Wilde pursued something greater. Instead of trying to become more prosperous and achieve a better social standing, he sought to make himself a living work of art. Wilde grew out his hair, filled his workspaces with flowers and fine china, and openly mocked the self-importance of the upper-class. “The Importance of Being Earnest” was best received for several reasons. This play took many significantly esteemed aspects of the Victorian era and showed how ridiculous they were. By writing satirical plays, Wilde was able to capture the attention of many people which led to his ever increasing fame. Because of his infectious personality, multitudes of people began to support Wilde and his

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The Significance Of Being Earnest Satire Analysis

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Satire can be described as work intended to trigger or scorn a group of people in a humorous way. For instance, “The Significance of Being Earnest,” a play by Oscar Wilde satirizes gender as well as marriage. Moreover, this play scorns conventions, values as well as the hunt for love during the Victorian period. The central characters in the comedy include Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff. Jack accepts an adjust eagle on his way to town to evade intellectual and moral upright behaviors.

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Examples Of Hypocrisy In The 19th Century

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The author successfully conveys the double standards which pervaded the Victorian society. Through the character interactions and setting in the play, Wilde was able to convey the negative implications of hypocrisy in the society. Oscar Wilde highlights the hypocrisy in the

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Oscar mainly portrays this satire through Canon Chasuble, a high ranking churchman. This specific character is used to highlight how religion in the upper class is something to show off, not to act on. Through Chasuble’s actions and statements in the play, it is clear to see that the people of the upper class society do not care about withholding their religious values, but just the importance of showing off. Therefore, Wilde uses satire regarding religion to demonstrate this. When Canon Chasuble is called by Cecily to check on Miss. Prism’s headache, he makes a sarcastic remark about Mr. Worthing.

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The Controversy In Oscar Wilde's The American Man

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Oscar Wilde: A Literary Biography Among the canonized writers and poets from the Victorian age, perhaps none are more captivating nor controversial than the peculiar case of Oscar Wilde. Wilde was born October 16, 1854, in Dublin, Ireland, to William Wilde, a successful medical practitioner, and Jane Elgee, an Irish poet who related closely to the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848. His mother was also a successful English translator, and Wilde’s fondness for her work would influence his later writings, particularly her translation of author Wilhelm Meinhold’s Sidonia the Sorceress (Bio). Early in his youth, Wilde took up a fascination with classical literature that would flourish during his time at Portora Royal School at Enniskillen.

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The Importance Of Being Earnest Rhetorical Analysis

920 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the story of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Oscar pointed out many oblivious actions done by the characters. He constantly used the characters to exaggerate actions of our society today. Wilde uses exaggerations to show how the characters were unable to be a complete individual without the face of the strict social expectations influencing their actions. Everywhere in the society, they are all unable to make their own decisions, and it is very hard for them to be truthful towards who they are without societal norms interfering causing them to lose all individuality. Wilde uses reversal to show how the characters actions were completely insane since they were trying to accommodate societal expectations.

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3890 Words | 16 Pages

Oscar Wilde wrote his plays against the backdrop of the Victorian English society. It therefore helps to discuss the salient aspects of the Victorian society. Victorian England is known for many paradoxes -- glaring contrasts between the rich and the poor, insistence on morality on the one hand and the practice of cynicism on the other, blooming creativity pitted against blatant constriction, imperial grandeur since Britain was then ruling almost one fifth of the total surface of the earth and domestic squalor since the majority of people did not have decent means of livelihood, and finally collectivity dictated by tradition opposed to the rapidly developing individualism. The class system denied the talented members of the lower classes access to social and economic advancement. The upper classes alone had the privilege of working in the government, the armed forces, and the church, while trade was monopolized by the rising middle class.

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Through this satirical writing, Wilde uses comparison of beauty and industrialism and juxtaposition between compliments and criticism to paint American social values as backwards and unappealing in order to dispel the glamour of a romantic American culture.

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928 Words | 4 Pages

Oscar Wilde’s satirical play The Importance of Being Earnest, set in the late Victorian era, London, is a portrayal of British upper class society and its conventions surrounded by a strict code of conduct. In 1890’s class society, earnestness was desired; to follow the moral code and social obligations in order to keep up one’s appearance. Besides, there was a huge gender disparity between men and women. In the play, Wilde criticizes the social inequality and Victorian upper class standards. He characterizes Victorian personae making fun of their qualities; hypocrisy, arrogance and absurdism, ultimately the very vital state and lifeline of not being earnest at all in Victorian society.

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1059 Words | 5 Pages

arch 2018 The Importance of Being Earnest: Oscar Wilde’s Criticism on the Upper Class Using humor, cleverness, and style, Oscar Wilde illustrates the lives of the Victorian upper class in The Importance of Being Earnest. More specifically, the “Trivial Comedy for Serious People” reveals in a satirical manner the insignificant concerns of Great Britain’s aristocracy. In the introduction of The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Writings, editor Richard Ellmann creates an overview of Wilde’s best known work.

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Marriage In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest

1653 Words | 7 Pages

Oscar Wilde’s Victorian melodramatic play The Importance of Being Earnest opened on February 14, 1895. Wilde used this play to criticize Victorian society through clever phrasing and satire. Throughout the play The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde displayed the themes of the nature of marriage, the constraints of morality, and the importance of not being earnest. One of the themes that Oscar Wilde includes in the play is the nature of marriage.

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1044 Words | 5 Pages

“Art for arts sake” was the motto and aestheticism was exemplified in both The Importance of Being Earnest and Oscar Wilde's own life. The usage of a dandy in the play is used to exemplify the love toward fashion during the time period, as well as to add comedic release through speaking in sarcasm and epigrams (Walker, 1). Wilde himself could be identified as a dandy in that he had an infatuation with interesting fashion and dressing well, as was he was often recognized as witty and quick on his feet in his conversations and his writing. Wilde was also known by many to be greatly interested in decoration and interior design, as displayed through his North American speech tour “A House Beautiful.” This exemplifies the Victorian eras high standards in appearance and visual

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1876 Words | 8 Pages

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1283 Words | 6 Pages

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