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The Importance Of Being Earnest Analysis

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One of Oscar Wilde’s vital goals in The Importance of Being Earnest was to expose the many facades of The Victorian Era. The play set in the 19th century and it is the exact replica of the West End of London. This consequential era began in 1837, year in which Queen Victoria ascended to the throne of the United Kingdom, and lasted until the first few years of the twentieth century. Often, in Victorian England its residents would be perpetrators of the ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ a crime that simply means the residents will be heavily acquainted with all the social graces and no one will truly know anyone’s intentions. His play satirizes the society’s “shallow mask of manner” in its moral customs, hence conceived a society estranged from its …show more content…

Ms Prism, who happens to be Cecily’s educator, teaches her many exceptional qualities. It’s in Cecily’s improving lessons one can see her passion and seriousness towards everything. “Child I don’t know where you get such ideas. They are certainly not in any of the improvement books that I have procured for you.” (Wilde 56) Also, from these positive and angelic attitudes it’s safe to say she’s the pinnacle of true Victorian morals. “Cecily let me entreat you of not to be led away by whatever superficial qualities this man possess.” The name “Ernest” vividly represents a pun on the word “earnest” which mean honest, truthful not deceitful and conniving and it was seldom shown in the “front running” characters. Nevertheless, the most sincere and candid love was depicted between Ms Prism and Dr Chasuble because they don’t observe marriage as a social tool of advancement but more of intellectual company. “Were I fortunate to be Ms Prism pupil I would hang upon her lips” (Wilde 35) Wilde also uses Lady Bracknell to “burst everyone’s bubble” and “to illuminate the cloak that shrouds” Jack’s problematic origin “You are the son of my poor sister, Algernon’s elder brother and your father was General Moncrieff. The eldest son should always be christened by the father.” (Wilde 91) In spite all of Jack’s lies he was earnest and ‘Ernest ‘at the

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That insistence upon her own happiness at the cost of the disapproval of her friends is not seen as simply wanting to have a nice time in her life. It is seen as Wharton wanting to flirt and waste her time with parties. Lucy Freeman, Wharton’s best friend, describes her in The Coquette; or, the History of Eliza Wharton as “[meaning] to exhibit a few more girlish airs” before she gets married (Foster 595). Freemen very strongly disapproves of this inclination, particularly when she has her own opinions about who and when Wharton should marry. Wharton only pleases Freeman when she gives in and gets engaged to the man her friend

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The Importance Of Being Earnest Rhetorical Analysis

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Wilde exaggerated the thoughts of Algernon to emphasize that they are unable to decide on their own without thinking of what the society would do. Algernon said how girls are “never” attracted to who they marrying, inferencing that even if someone said they were attracted to their spouse, they would be lying since it goes against the societal norms. While Miss Prism and Chasuble were talking, they both agreed marriage isn't really about love because in marriage,“ No married man is ever attractive except to his wife.” Chasuble- “And often, I’ve been told, not even to her” (63).

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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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Wilde’s representation of the British upper class, its values and opinions, is presented most notably through Lady Augusta Bracknell. She is a dignified aristocratic residing fashionable London society circles. On the surface, she is very typical Victorian woman. As a mother to Gwendolen Fairfax, she has a great authority over her controlling her life. She has even a list of ”eligible young man” whom she is ready to interview in order to select a suitable partner for her daughter.

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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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