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Oscar Wilde Research Paper

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“It is the stupid and the ugly who have the best of it in this world” were the words of Oscar Wilde. Stupid and Ugly being two words he would have never put in the same sentence with himself, in fact Wilde thought of himself as being extremely smart and at times declaring his genius. Known for his over the top characteristic and witty comments, most will recognize him for his most memorable piece “The Importance of Being Earnest”. An examination into the character of Wilde himself, as well as his many different uses of characters and characteristics present in his work will inevitably shed light onto the reasons why Wilde continuously rooted himself in the life and characters of his own writings and work. Who is Oscar Wilde? Wilde …show more content…

Most will remember his comedic works of literature and his philosophical commentary that will forever define him is as a person such as “I have nothing to declare except my genius”. Wilde’s ability to capture an audience’s attention and mind while getting them to retain his underlying messages sets him apart from other of his time. Wilde never shied away from sexual humor or challenging the societal norms are what ultimately defined him. Many believed it was his sexual orientation that gave him the ability to capture the characteristic in his work that define him until this day. To compare the character of Wilde himself to the characters of his writing we first have to have a complete understanding of each of the characters from “The Importance of being Earnest” both their overall character and who they are personally to each other and their importance.
Jack (John) Worthing, J.P (Also known as Ernest). The J.P. stands for Justice of the Peace meaning that he is a legal judge. Jack is a well off young man that owns a country estate in Hertfordshire. Jack is the guardian of Cecily Cardew and the best friend of Algernon Moncrieff. He doesn’t know where he is from because he was found in a handbag at Victoria railway station when he was a baby. Mr. Thomas Cardew, who found Jack and Cecily’s grandfather, adopted

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The words that Thornton Wilder say. Wilder inability to delight in the beauty of ordinary, “undramatic’’ existence. Rather his failure “to find a value above all price for the smallest events in our daily life. The very first has to do with the play implict argument. Thornton Wilder Success Before the successful play writer Wilder was a

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Another prominent broad subject of mockery throughout the play is women. Specifically, Wilde jokes on the supposed “morals” that women claim to have and their tendency to be easily deceived and manipulated. For example, women’s principles during this time states that they were supposed to have religious motivation for their courtships. However, both Gwendolyn and Cecily only wanted to marry their man if his name was Ernest. This comical situation demolishes the morals that women claimed to have in their relationships and expressed that as shallow, clueless, and untrue to their word.

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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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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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But his known as Jack in the country and guardian of Cecily who lives in the country estate with Miss Prism

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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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These plays were the plays that brought success to Wilde as a playwright. His use of wit and irony made him unique in his plays and other works of art. Apart from his plays, short stories and poems, he also published a book in which he tried to show his perspective on the idea of beauty. Wilde was the proponent of Aesthetic movement, meaning to put emphasis on beauty itself rather than moral or social themes. His only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray is the ultimate example of the representation of the aesthetic values.

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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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On the preface of the book, Wilde talks about the role of art in society. “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all” (Wilde). In this quote present in the preface, Wilde gave his opinion and he then explained why he believed that morality should not be involved with art.

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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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As a writer one is greatly influenced by their personal experiences with social, historical, and cultural context within their specific time period. Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray was shaped by the aspects of the world around him. The themes of the text are are influenced by morality in the Victorian Era. Throughout the Victorian Era a deeper movement was also prominent in London called Aestheticism. Aestheticism is the worship of beauty and self-fulfillment.

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Maria Pascual English 112: Reading Response #3 “The Importance of Being Earnest” is a comedic play by Oscar Wilde about a man named Jack Worthing and his best friend Algernon. In this play, both characters are leading a double life because they want to escape from the responsibilities and be true to their own impulses. Ernest is the name which Jack goes by in London where he is in love with Gwendolen Fairfax; Algernon cousin and she is love with him because his name is Earnest and she thinks, “it is a divine name.” Jack says in the country that “Ernest” is his brother and he has to go and visit him to make sure that he is doing good because he is troublesome. This way nobody in the country can suspect about his fake identity.

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The Picture of Dorian Gray, one of Oscar Wilde’s masterpieces, portrays one of the most important values and principles for him: aestheticism. As a criticism to the life lived during the Victorian era in England, Wilde exposed a world of beauty a freedom in contradiction to the lack of tolerance a limitation of that era; of course inspired due to Wilde’s personal life. All the restrictions of the Victorian England lead him to a sort of anarchism against what he found to be incoherent rules, and he expressed all this to his art. His literature is a strong, political and social criticism. He gave a different point of view to controversial topics such as life, morality, values, art, sexuality, marriage, and many others, and epigrams, for what he is very well known, where the main source to the exposure of his interpretations of this topic.

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