Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The Importance Of Being Earnest By Wilde - 1427 Words

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, is utilised by Wilde to draw attention to the superficiality of the social facades predominantly maintained by the upper classes, through the physical depiction of Jack and Algernon’s aliases. Wilde further exemplifies his discontent with widespread social conventions at the time by satirising the arrogance of the aristocracy with a constant underlying representation of the lower classes as a more humble and less pretentious social division. Moreover, the playwright embeds heavy hypocrisy and explores the general understanding of what it means to be ‘earnest’ in order to mimic and highlight the flaws of Victorian society at the time. In Act 1, Jack is discovered to have been using the false identity of â€Å"Ernest Worthing† while in â€Å"town† in order to escape his responsibilities in the country, while Algernon is revealed to be using a fictional character of his own to escape arduous social obligations. The two protagonists must use these aliases to enable them to defy the typical social expectations of the late nineteenth-century. Wilde employs this substantial element of the play to epitomise his view that the breadth of social requirements can become overbearing; the simple fact that Jack and Algernon feel the need lie extensively to gain a sense of social satisfaction indicates the great depth of societal constrictions placed upon the upper class. This becomes apparent when Algernon attempts to make use of his fabricated relative in orderShow MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde773 Words   |  4 PagesIn the play by Oscar Wilde â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnestâ € , Wilde takes a comedic stance on a melodrama, portraying the duplicity of Victorian traditions and social values as the modernism of the twentieth century begins to emerge. The idea of the play revolves around its title of the characters discovering the importance of being earnest to their individual preferences. The author uses the traditional efforts of finding a marriage partner to illustrate the conflicting pressure of Victorian valuesRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde1318 Words   |  6 PagesSocial Status in Persuasion and The Importance of Being Earnest Social status refers to a person s position or importance within a society. I have done some research and have acquired information over the way social status is addressed in both the writings of Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde. In the novel Persuasion we can see how the characters go beyond their means to uphold their title and social value. In the play The Importance of Being Earnest we can see how the social rank and wealth of a personRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde1750 Words   |  7 PagesHidden Symbols in The Importance of Being Earnest The Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde takes place in 1895 and exposes the hypocritical social expectations of the end of the Victorian era. During the Victorian period, marriage was about protecting your resources and keeping socially unacceptable impulses under control. The play undeniable reveals and focuses satire around differences between the behaviors of the upper class and that of the lower class. Oscar Wilde uses comedic symbolismRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde707 Words   |  3 PagesWebsters dictionary defines earnest as â€Å"characterized by or proceeding from an intense and serious state of mind. Which can be considered a pun since thought this play we see the characters being more apathetic. The Importance of Being Earnest is the story of Jack Worthing is the main character and the protagonist of this play. He is a well of business man who lives in the country and is very well respected there. But Jack has a secret he lives an other in the city of London where he claims to goRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde913 Words   |  4 Pagesmake them known. This concept has come to be the brick and mortar of the wry play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde The significance of the notion of being earnest is contradicted in the play, through Wilde’s clever use of words, characters digression of societal normalcy, and triviality of Victorian concepts. Cynical character Algernon asserts that women of Victorian society reinforce the importance of orderly money as a type of social contract. On page 3, it is quickly established theRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde1382 Words   |  6 Pagesappeared to be strict. The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde, a nineteenth century author who was one of the most acclaimed playwrights of his day, is a play set in the Victorian time period that demonstrates how trivial telling the truth was. Different characters throughout Wilde’s play establish their dishonestly through hiding who they really are and pretending to be someone whom they are not. In an essay titled â€Å"From ‘Oscar Wilde’s Game of Being Earnest,’† Tirthankar Bose d escribesRead MoreThe Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde1300 Words   |  5 PagesThe play, The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde was written in the Victorian Age of England. During this time morality was connected with sexual restraint and strict codes of conduct in public. This play hilariously critiques Victorian moral and social values while the characters in the play try to figure out the meaning of â€Å"earnestness†. Wilde uses humor and irony to publicly ridicule the self-aggrandizing attitude of the Victorian upper classes, as well as to expose their duplicity andRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde1364 Words   |  6 PagesIn order to fully understand the meaning of â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest† and its importance in its time, one must look at Oscar Wilde’s background in relation to the Victorian time period. Biography.com states that Wilde had a very social life, growing up among influential Victorians a nd intellectuals of the time. As he grew older and became a successful writer, he began engaging in homosexual affairs which was a crime during the 19th century. He eventually started a relationship with AlfredRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde980 Words   |  4 Pagestrust and is the opposite of intimacy. The novel, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, is a hypocrisy comedy. Jack, the main character, chose to live in a lie, and created a fake identity. The theme largely revolves around the name â€Å"Earnest† meaning sincere, honest, and serious. The book shows the importance of being earnest but has characters that do quite the opposite, mainly Jack. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde was mainly about a guy named Jack, who was discoveredRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde975 Words   |  4 PagesThe Importance of Being Earnest is a play written by Oscar Wilde about a man named Jack who lies about his identity and ends up creating huge confusion about who he really is. The biggest notion that appears throughout the play is about character. There are many instances where the characters of the play lie about their identities and pretend to be people they are not. Oscar Wilde does this throughout the play in order to explain how one’s identity can be made up. One is not born with an identity;

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