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Satire In The Importance Of Being Ernest

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Recommended: Discuss satire in importance of being earnest by wilde

Karolyn M. Nieves

Professor Jeffrey Kosse

English 200

October 25, 2015

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Satire is defined, as a way of using humor to show that someone or something is foolish, weak, bad, etc. or humor that shows the weaknesses or bad qualities of a person, government, society, etc. ("Satire | Definition of Satire by Merriam-Webster"). The Importance of Being Earnest is a play that is full of Satire and it’s that precise social satire that helps convey the overall message of the play. Oscar Wilde is known for his satire and in this play he uses satire towards the Upper class in the Victorian System of the time and ironically he expects them to be the audience of this play and that is a movement that was very bold in his time but I’m sure he probably felt it necessary in order to show to them their true self. The Importance of Being Earnest is a popular play that is still widely performed in English-language theaters and also in many other languages (Bastiat). As it turns out Oscar Wilde was gay in a society stifled by social conventions and governed by very tough laws on …show more content…

He first employed a pattern of ironic inversion in “An Ideal Husband”, the play immediately preceding “Earnest” (Reinert p14). However in the play “The Importance of Being Earnest” Wilde presents his characters as being constantly flippant. The Importance of Being Earnest is one sustained metaphor, and esthetic detachment is the only mood in which it can be intelligently enjoyed ((Reinert p15). Wilde begins his satire in this play with the title itself. In Vitctorian times earnestness was considered to be the over-riding societal value, originating in religious attempts to reform the lower classes, it spread to the upper ones too throughout the century ("Importance of Being Earnest"). The title sets the tone and theme of the play and gives the audience insight as to what is

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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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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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Satire is the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. A literary work in which human foolishness or vice is attacked through irony, derision, or wit. Mockery is teasing and contemptuous language or behavior directed at a particular person or thing. Also the behavior or speech that makes fun of someone or something in a hurtful way. “The Rape of the Lock” by Alexander Pope and “My Satirical Self” by Wyatt Mason from The New York times are both about satire and mockery.

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Oscar transcends history with a strange, shadowy presence that stains the being of humankind indefinitely. This piece of writing addresses Wilde’s aesthetics in relation to his ethics. One should think that he favours the first and that he either neglects or devalues the second. Gilbert, using Wilde’s voice, reasons towards the end of a dialogue with

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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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