The Importance of being Earnest Characters John “Jack” Worthing (Earnest): A responsible‚ respectable man leading a double life. In Hertfordshire he is jack and pretends to have a younger brother Earnest but in London he is earnest. He doesn’t feel at home in an aristocratic society. As a baby he was found in a handbag in a cloakroom of Victoria station by an old man who adopted him and made jack the guardian to his granddaughter Cecily cardew. He is in love with his friend Algernon’s Cousin Gwendolyn
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College of Florida The Importance of Being Earnest: A tale of Victorian mockery "Every word and every part of an individual was expected to be in accordance with the rigid moral and behavior rules‚ and each‚ even the slightest deviation from the rule was considered an offence which made the delinquent publicly disgraced. Even literature and art had its cannons which were to be respected" (Mathews‚ 2009). In Oscar Wilde ’s satirical comedy‚ The Importance of Being Earnest‚ Victorian hypocrisy is
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The Importance of Being Earnest is a play that trivializes many things: the Victorian society‚ the nature of marriage and especially the concept of human identity. While identity is typically considered to be something concrete‚ the characters within the play are constantly in flux. This is especially evident in Jack‚ whose forms his identities as he goes through life. He transforms from a nameless baby in a handbag‚ to Jack the thriving member of the countryside bourgeois‚ then further on to become
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life in the sense that one does not live without experiencing love. On the other hand though‚ love is just as often made a mockery of; it’s depicted as a useless feeling that only distracts people from logic and rational thinking. In The Importance of Being Earnest‚ a play by Oscar Wilde set in Victorian England‚ love is mocked which is evident in Cecily’s lust for Ernest‚ Gwendolen’s love for the name Ernest and Algernon’s ideas of marriage. Wilde’s parodying of love is obvious when Cecily falls
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Oscar Wilde’s play “The Importance of Being Earnest” is a play that epitomizes the Victorian age. “The Importance of Being Earnest” a man named Jack who goes by the alias Earnest‚ and Algernon who goes by Bunbury. These men are living double lives‚ and by them doing so‚ they would not be considered an ideal Victorian man. Earnest and Algernon come up with these names so that they can get away from their daily lives to be along in the country. During the Victorian age‚ it was common for women to
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The Importance Of Being Earnest “Women’s roles are often tokenistic in dramatic comedy” To what extent do you believe this to be the case in relation to the play you have been studying? In dramatic comedy it can often be said that women’s roles are ‘tokenistic’ which essentially means: that women are there to serve a little more than the minimum‚ or may not serve much of a purpose at all‚ they may also follow social stereotypes during the era of this literary piece. In this essay I will be
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ESSAY – THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST Writers are often influenced by the ideologies upheld by society during the historical context in which they were writing in and texts can often challenge these ideologies‚ or uphold them‚ or even do both. Oscar Wilde’s‚ The Importance of Being Earnest‚ is a dramatic comedy of manners that takes place in polite wealthy Victorian society. Wilde successfully funnels the snobbery and superficiality of London’s elite during the 1890’s and has both challenged
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Oscar Wilde’s satirical depiction of Victorian Society in The Important of Being Earnest comments on the absurdity of their inability to recognize the difference between the important and unimportant. Characters in the play often make trivial matters into serious matters and vice versa‚ although there are times where issues are treated appropriately. However‚ the whole idea of what is important is subjective‚ and in a Victorian Era context‚ matters such as social status and proper etiquette were
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What good does always being earnest do you if you are not "Ernest"? Oscar Wilde’s play‚ "The Importance of Being Earnest"‚ explores exactly this notion‚ following two men who readily abandon their namesakes in order to win the affections of their respective fair ladies. The play opens in London with a conversation held between these two men‚ Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff. However‚ at the play’s origin‚ Algernon only knows his friend as "Ernest". This rapidly changes with the aid of a cigarette
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Views on Marriage The Importance of Being Earnest is a comical drama using multiple types of irony to ridicule marriage‚ death‚ and birth. In the Victorian age‚ family was a major influence in choosing one’s offspring’s mate. Lady Bracknell accepted all Jack’s characteristics except the fact‚ he had inconsiderate parents. “To lose one parent‚ Mr.Worthing‚ may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness (1.1.1421). Gwendolen was willing to marry Jack regardless of his social
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