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Language In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Ernest

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One of the main ways in which Wilde uses language and character in ‘The Importance of
Being Ernest’ is not only to entertain but also to criticise society. This is mainly reflected in the way that Algernon so frequently uses paradoxes to challenge and, in a way, poke fun at orthodox ideas and in the way that Lady Bracknell and Jack think so highly of society and indeed the way it must be ran. The character of Lady Bracknell is often used in a more comic fashion, but it is also true to say that she is used to criticise the way that society is ran. Lady Bracknell is one of the most traditional characters in the play. She herself criticises society, but not in the way that
Wilde does. She uses paradoxes to criticise the way that society is changing. …show more content…

However, he also uses the character Jack to express the opinion that many ‘typical’ Victorians were indeed very hypocritical. This is shown
Blake 3 by the way that Jack takes such a moral tone on serious issues. For example, he takes a high moral tone about Algernon’s ‘Bunburying’ when he is, in fact, doing exactly the same thing.
It is also shown by the way that he talks about women. Our first impression is that his attitude towards women is honourable-that he respects them and believes that they deserve to be told the truth (shown in the way that he disagrees with Algernon keeping a secret about Bunbury and the fact that he intends to tell Gwendolen about ‘Ernest’). Yet he is later shown to be somewhat contradictory when he talks about not telling Gwendolen the truth about his fictional identity of Ernest, o his life in the …show more content…

The way that Wilde uses the character of Algernon to criticise society is in a totally different way. The character’s language is full of paradoxes and puns, which challenge and criticise society in themselves.
His outlook on life is totally opposite to that of a ‘typical’ Victorian, allowing Wilde to reject the rules of normal society and create new Victorian concepts through Algernon. “I hate people who are not serious about meals. It is so shallow of them.” Not only is this comic and typical of Algernon’s ideas, it creates the idea that society is wrong in what is said to be important and pleasure is actually the most important thing in life. Algernon also hates the idea of “washing one’s clean linen in public.” This is also totally controversial of typical ideas as even Lady Bracknell suggests that everything one does will be public knowledge. Although on the surface it can appear that Wilde uses character and language solely to develop comedy in the play, it can also be said that a more important idea of society’s criticisms is developed through the characters and

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Their lives contradicted Jack’s greatly because his conservative father often talked about how suffering was the key to being a good person. “ One thing I do know,” the Queen went on. “ To ignore the joy while it lasts, in favor of lamenting one’s fate one’s fate, is a great crime.” (349) Here he learned that bringing joy into someone’s life and keeping it bright in his own is the greatest

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As a matter of fact most frequently critics have looked at how prejudicial her mother’s philosophies have been for our character, and attributed to Editha Mowbray the “fallness” of her daughter. In her essay “The return of the prodigal daughter” Joanne Tong contemplates how “Mrs. Mowbray pays too little rather than too much attention to her daughter” (2004: 475) the outcome of which is a misunderstanding of her position in society with regards to the strict laws of etiquette and feminine ideology in eighteenth century England. Cecily E. Hill also blames Editha for Adeline and Glenmurray’s extramarital affair and their inevitable moral condemnation, and instead of accusing the lovers she sees Editha as the soul villain of the novel. Contrary to the typical concept of a mother who provides a safe education to Adeline, she experiments with dubious theories that ultimately foreground her daughter’s tragic

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How and why is a social group represented in a particular way? In his play The Importance of Being Earnest (1895, London St. James’ theater), Oscar Wilde portrays the attitudes and society of Victorian upper class through character interactions within the ‘Bunburyist’ adventures of Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing. The play’s comedic elements, in addition to the portrayal of power structures, are used as an effective medium to challenge the viewer to reflect upon Wilde’s criticism on institutions and values of the aristocracy. In conjunction to this, deeper analysis can be conducteds about marriage in Victorian aristocracy and their attitudes to members of other social groups.

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For an utopian society to exist, there needs to be a merging of conformity and individualism in the society. Pure individualism or pure conformity in a society leads to a lopsided and corrupted society; they need to exist in synchrony. In Merry Mount, the people follow an ideology of complete freedom of thought and of individualism. The Puritan’s society shows what happens when everyone conforms and no one expresses their individual beliefs. When the ideologies of conformity and individualism merge it combines into a greater society as a whole, better than either of the individual half’s.

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He shows that people want to impress others so they lie regarding who they are, causing them to lose individuality. Since they couldn’t make their own decisions, they had to lie to exceed others expectations. Jack had to change his whole identity to fit in with two different types of society, “Jack in country and Ernest in the city” (33). Since the expectations in the city were so particular, people felt the need to change their whole identity to fit in with everyone. Jack didn’t have to change himself but he made the decision because no one who have liked him if they knew who he really was.

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The relationships focused on in the novel are very unstable and based on almost no connection other than money. Although there are many different views about different romances. One type of romance that has long been under fire are LGBTQ romances. While many live happily being who they are, others face the scrutiny of others throwing what they believe to be true onto them. That is the case with Oscar Wilde himself.

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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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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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The purpose of The Importance of Being Earnest was to satirise the Victorian traditions, false courtesy, and the superficiality of status and the quest for love and marriage. These manifests itself in Jack through his superiority toward his foil, Algy, who doesn't adhere to social protocol, and his deluded hope for a life with Gwendolyn, whom Jack views as a solution to his problems and a way to heighten his status, not as a life partner. Furthermore, putting emphasis on his delusion and hypocrisy. The hyperbolic "we will be the picture of perfection", "That satisfaction will come when, and only when, I have Gwendolyn as my wife" and derisive "the irony of which was evidently, though not shockingly, lost on him" are reflections of this and create cohesion between the character in the play and the

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Societal expectations In the Regency era, the society had high demands and expectations for the way people should act. Jane Austen viewed the expectations that were placed upon her as restricting, however one would not be able to break these restrictions without creating a disturbance. This is shown throughout Pride and Prejudice and the path that each individual character takes. Austen makes her opinion of the influence of the societal expectations clear through her characterization in Pride and Prejudice.

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The Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde is an excellent play which has many underlying themes and suggestions especially with regards to the Victorian era, during which this was written. Many themes within the play are reflective of Wilde and his life, including his secrecy and supposed “double life,” his interest in aestheticism, his life pertaining the mannerisms and social etiquette during his lifetime. Today, Oscar Wilde is often remembered in part due to his well known homosexuality trial of 1895 (Linderd, 1), but his “second life” per se had been speculated on for years prior to it, in fact many of his plays contain subtle yet effective implications towards a possible piece of his life kept hidden from the public eye. The Importance of Being Earnest mirrored this double life through the utilization of Jack and Algernon's “Bunburying,” and their motives for lying to the ones whom they love.

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Wilde is greatly influenced by the societal movements in the Victorian Era, therefore the theme of hedonism is prominent displaying the influence of Aestheticism in The Picture of Dorian Gray and further explaining the consequences of selfishness and self-pleasure. The Aestheticism movement shockingly challenged all past standards of love, pleasure, and sexuality. Specifically this Victorian movement “promotes sexual… experimentation. ”(Burdett)

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Nora 's courage in going against the pillars of the Victorian era is something the modern reader finds commendable and aspiring. If the play had been performed today, the modern reader would be the one to stand up and whistle during the scene of the slamming of the door, while the Victorian reader 's face would turn pale with shock at Nora

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Relatively all authors are very fond of creating an underlying message to criticize society. Authors do this through social commentary. The book “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is no exception. The author, Oscar Wilde, criticizes the upper class through the consistent underlying idea that people are often deceived by one's beauty and are unable to understand the poison that fills the world is corrupting it. From the beginning of this book, the social commentary towards the upper class begins with the structure of the novel.

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