ipl-logo

Theme Of Comedy In The Importance Of Being Earnest

1017 Words5 Pages

The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) by Oscar Wilde, conforms to a traditional comedy of manners including its use of verbal wit spoken by stock characters that hardly have any depth to them. This allows Wilde to poke fun at the Victorian upper classes by exposing their ridiculous and hypocritical views on society.

A typical trait in a comedy of manners is exploring the theme of love and marriage which inevitably leads to conflict between the characters2. In The Importance of Being Earnest, the otherwise slow moving plot is accelerated by various scenes of conflict, for example Lady Bracknell’s consistent disapproval of Jack. During her interview with Jack held in the first act, Lady Bracknell is quick to ridicule herself as a result of her obvious hypocrisy in not …show more content…

Accordingly, in Wilde’s play, the characters hardly have erratic physical movements, not even in scenes of conflict where tension is highest, for example during the interview and catfight scenes respectively, these heated conversations are held sitting down often whilst eating. In the play, the dialogue is dominated by light hearted witty remarks. For example, Algernon and Lane’s conversation in the opening scene of act 1.

Algernon: Why is I that at a bachelor’s establishment the servants invariably drink the champagne? I ask merely for information.

Lane: I attribute it to the superior quality of the wine, sir. I have often observed that in married households the champagne is rarely of a first-rate brand.

Algernon: Good heavens! Is marriage so demoralizing as that? (Wilde. 1)

In this exchange Algernon and Lane both link the quality of the wine as being related life after marriage, which Algernon sees as restraining his freedom. In addition to this Cecily and Gwendolen engage in repartee3 during their quarrel over the imaginary

Show More
Related

Use Of Thoughtful Laughter In Jane Austen's 'Pride And Prejudice'

1157 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel “Pride and Prejudice,” by Jane Austen emphasizes the idea of “thoughtful laugher,” through the relationship of Elizabeth and Darcy. “Thoughtful laughter” is notable in Austen 's use of the misunderstandings between characters. It is something that immediately provokes laughter and or amusement for the reader but also gives an understanding of a larger concept when analyzed further. “Thoughtful Laughter” is seen between Elizabeth and Darcy in which the two further apart from themselves until the two realize their mistakes were based on their pride and prejudice. Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” visualizes and captures the conflicted and tormented relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy in where it all begins at the Netherfield ball.

Read More

Theme Of Conflict In A Raisin In The Sun And Fences

1956 Words | 8 Pages

Major Conflicts in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and August Wilson’s Fences: a Comparative Study “An effective way to begin to discuss the play 's significance is to ask about the major conflicts in the play” (Lund, 84) Introduction As the title of this paper suggests, there are major conflicts which somehow frame the thematic scope of both plays. These conflicts revolve around money and race. After reading the two texts and many other paper and electronic references, it becomes clear enough, for me, that Hansberry was aware that if conflicts like these are well managed on both paper and stage, they can serve to reflect the tensions in relations between, either family members with each other, or with the society outside. Talking about this, Darwin T. Turner in Past and Present in Negro American Drama writes that “ in A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry dramatized sympathetically but amusingly the tensions of Negro family, who must fight themselves as well as the white world outside” (26) .

Read More

Marxism In The Importance Of Being Earnest

919 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Animals In Streetcar Named Desire

903 Words | 4 Pages

Playwright Tennessee Williams once said “a symbol in a play has only one legitimate purpose which is to say a thing more directly and simply and beautifully than it could be said in words”. He seems to take his own advice to heart when writing such a thought provoking play as A Streetcar Named Desire. While Williams makes extensive use of symbols in Streetcar, the use of animals and animal-like characteristics as a symbol are constantly used to define Stanley Kowalski’s character and convey his desires as primal and ferine. Stanley has the first line in the play and is immediately characterized by Williams with the use of his stage direction “bellowing” (Williams 244; sc. 1). Like a wild animal, Stanley has a desire for unrefinement and

Read More

Hills Like White Elephant Symbolism Analysis

1012 Words | 5 Pages

The symbolic part of the alcohol is that it is the only functioning part of their relationship. It gives the couple a short-term relief from their real life problems and realities. A quote that really stands out to me is when the women

Read More

The Importance Of Being Earnest Rhetorical Analysis

920 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Religion In Oscar Wilde's The Picture Of Dorian Gray

756 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Classism In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest

3890 Words | 16 Pages

The lower classes were obliged to work hard in the factories and farms and make do with very low wages. It often resulted in friction between the classes bordering on social strife although it never erupted in a revolution the way it did in France. The injustice of the English society encouraged novelists such as Oscar Wilde to describe in moving terms the many hardships suffered by the common people and the many failures and follies of English life. Oscar Wilde’s great plays, The Importance of Being Earnest, incorporates some classical

Read More

Gender Roles In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest

928 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Identity In The Importance Of Being Earnest

1172 Words | 5 Pages

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

Read More

Being Earnest: Oscar Wilde's Criticism On The Upper Class

1059 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

Marriage In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest

1653 Words | 7 Pages

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.

Read More

Aestheticism In The Importance Of Being Earnest

1044 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

The Importance Of Being Earnest Satire Analysis

1876 Words | 8 Pages

While many have been familiar with the title of the play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, one should also pay attention to its subtitle, ‘trivial comedy for serious people’. The play is a satire that ridicules the upper class to point out its fault (Kreuz and Roberts 100).The aim is to ridicule the ‘serious people’, members of the upper class in Victorian society. The characters were too attentive to social propriety and etiquette, which were as trivial as the comedy suggests in the eyes of Wilde. As they were too stubborn to alter the behaviour, the propriety and etiquette became superficial and meaningless. Their idleness and hypocrisy are other points at which Wilde recurrently mock in the play.

Read More

Love And Love In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest

1137 Words | 5 Pages

Love is a complicated affair, it involves the two lives of the couples and the lives of everyone around them. There are many factors that could break or make a relationship, for one to be successful they must be able to succeed in all of those factors. Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest delves into these factors regarding love and marriage. Wilde stresses the importance of social status and gender expectations as a key guideline for a successful marriage. For Wilde, social status is defined as birth, wealth, and power.

Read More

More about Theme Of Comedy In The Importance Of Being Earnest

Related Topics

Open Document