Many authors have applied lampooning in their work to bring to light certain issues by criticizing different ideas in society such as politics, class division, wealth, and marriage by adding irony, sarcasm, and ridicule to emphasize the ludicrousy of the issue the author evaluated. One author that incorporated lampooning in his plays was Oscar Wilde. For example, in The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde publicly criticized the Victorian society so that audience was conscious of the foolishness that occurred in their society. In The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde used irony and satire to ridicule the views of the upper class, such as their obsession with wealth, their shallow, and materialistic personality.
One of the many issues Oscar
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His intention in lampooning was for his audience to enjoy the irony and sarcasm of his work while criticizing the foolish view of the upper class. During the time play’s release, many critics wrote about their opinions of the play. Some critics saw his work as a fantasy, others said it was burlesque, but there were also critics who understood Wilde’s purpose for writing this play (Kohl 272). For instance, Norbert Kohl said, “He is made to laugh at the hollow superficiality hidden behind the mask of earnestness, and to mock the rich facade…” (Kohl 272). Khol clearly understood that Wilde’s purpose of writing The Importance of Being Earnest was to publicly and comically criticize the rich. Even though some people did not understand Wilde’s purpose, others easily captured the message. Therefore, although Oscar Wilde’s main priority was to mock the views of the upper class, not everyone received his message of criticism clearly, but they did enjoy the ridiculousness of the play. By using lampooning in his work, Wilde could use his heavy criticism to improve the day of the lower class by mocking the upper class’ personalities and