Lady Bracknell 'And The Importance Of Being Ernest'
The hypocrisy of Bracknells
Lady Bracknell is a well-known and classic character from The Importance of Being Earnest, one the most prestigious plays of Oscar Wilde. In the play, she symbolises the British aristocracy during the Victorian Era, who is ridiculed and satirized by Wilde. However, another portrait of Lady Bracknell was created by Oliver Parker, a famous director who directed the remakes of the original play by Wilde, and played by Dame Judi Dench. The two versions of Lady Bracknell are basically the same, but there are some distinct differences between them. One of the most significant differences between Wilde’s Lady Bracknell and Parker’s Lady Bracknell is their background. In the play, she is a wealthy lady of noble birth and high social rank; in the film, she is described as a woman of humble birth who becomes a dancer in order to earn a living, and marries a rich …show more content…
Worthing knows everything or nothing. She comments, ‘I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound.’ (P21, Act 1) (The Importance of Being Earnest, 2002) Her choices of words such as ‘Ignorance is like’ and ‘The whole theory of’ make her sound like an authority, but certainly she isn’t because the analogy she made between ignorance and exotic fruit doesn’t make any sense at all. There are many specifics of Dame Judi Dench which make her hypocrisy more evident, like the expressions on her face and her hand gestures when she articulates ‘exotic fruit’; she looks likes she was appreciating a fruit with absolute admiration. Dame Judi Dench expresses the hypocrisy very well by using high pitch, arrogant tones, grandiloquent gestures and harsh facial expressions. Therefore, it is apparent that the hypocrisy of Lady Bracknell in the film is further distinct than Lady Bracknell in the
Lady Bracknell is a well-known and classic character from The Importance of Being Earnest, one the most prestigious plays of Oscar Wilde. In the play, she symbolises the British aristocracy during the Victorian Era, who is ridiculed and satirized by Wilde. However, another portrait of Lady Bracknell was created by Oliver Parker, a famous director who directed the remakes of the original play by Wilde, and played by Dame Judi Dench. The two versions of Lady Bracknell are basically the same, but there are some distinct differences between them. One of the most significant differences between Wilde’s Lady Bracknell and Parker’s Lady Bracknell is their background. In the play, she is a wealthy lady of noble birth and high social rank; in the film, she is described as a woman of humble birth who becomes a dancer in order to earn a living, and marries a rich …show more content…
Worthing knows everything or nothing. She comments, ‘I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound.’ (P21, Act 1) (The Importance of Being Earnest, 2002) Her choices of words such as ‘Ignorance is like’ and ‘The whole theory of’ make her sound like an authority, but certainly she isn’t because the analogy she made between ignorance and exotic fruit doesn’t make any sense at all. There are many specifics of Dame Judi Dench which make her hypocrisy more evident, like the expressions on her face and her hand gestures when she articulates ‘exotic fruit’; she looks likes she was appreciating a fruit with absolute admiration. Dame Judi Dench expresses the hypocrisy very well by using high pitch, arrogant tones, grandiloquent gestures and harsh facial expressions. Therefore, it is apparent that the hypocrisy of Lady Bracknell in the film is further distinct than Lady Bracknell in the