In her thesis‚ Meijers says‚ “Throughout the Victorian period‚ there was a strict separation between the public and the private sphere. Men were to handle public affairs and women were to take charge of domestic life” (Meijers 7). In The Importance of Being Earnest‚ Oscar Wilde employs a reversal of gender roles‚ including a shift in power that predates this movement‚ effectively challenging traditional Victorian views. He does so by giving his female cast‚ notably Lady Bracknell‚ Cecily Cardew and
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result they are rarely given the attention they deserve. In Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest‚” we see cleverly hidden details within the drama that‚ while serving significant roles‚ people may view as inhibitors to understanding the play. Cigarette cases and tea parties are two of the many details within the drama that contain background meanings; their most prominent purpose being to emphasize the importance of propriety within their era. However‚ they also play substitute roles in accentuating
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The Importance of Being Earnest‚ by Oscar Wilde‚ has many characters that play important roles throughout different parts of the play. Each character sets up as an obstacle for another character. The character that played a major part in the play‚ even though it was not known until later in the play‚ was Miss Prism. She knew something that would change the attitude and lives of the main characters. She did not reveal this secret nor would she have if she had not been called out on it by a person
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It is very interesting how food and eating play a surprisingly large part in Oscar Wilde’s play‚ The Importance of Being Earnest. Both appear to express many different things such as‚ demands and emotions within the play’s characters. Moreover‚ food and eating also seem to be the sources of a great deal of conflict because every time food is mentioned some type of dispute between the character arises. Also‚ these expressions seem to not be very appropriate‚ respectable‚ or polite enough to communicate
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on purpose or was that just a coincidence?” The question is following some discussion of circumstance‚ character‚ or wording. My response is always some version of‚ “There are no coincidences in [good] literature.” Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is a fast-paced comedy of errors and chance that shows the transitioning gender roles of the Victorian era. The play provides numerous laughs thanks to Wilde’s wit and wordsmithing. Contemporary audiences probably saw the play as an instrument
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“The Importance of Being Earnest”: Text and Film Comparison The most memorable and telling line of Oscar Wilde’s play "The Importance of Being Earnest" is perhaps its last‚ as Jack Worthing gleefully announces‚ "I’ve now realized for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest" (Wilde 313). The "vital importance" of this line‚ and its significance‚ constitutes the core difference between the play and Oliver Parker’s film adaptation. As with any film adaptation‚ there are various
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The Importance of being earnest Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. The Nature of Marriage Marriage is of paramount importance in The Importance of Being Earnest‚ both as a primary force motivating the plot and as a subject for philosophical speculation and debate. The question of the nature of marriage appears for the first time in the opening dialogue between Algernon and his butler‚ Lane‚ and from this point on the subject never disappears
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Hypocrisy of Being Earnest The Victorian era was a time of smugness and pomposity for the newly rich generation who quickly rose in class during and after the industrial revolution. Nothing was as it seemed in this day when earnestness was allegedly the most prized attribute a man could possess. In Oscar Wilde’s classical satire‚ “The Importance of Being Earnest‚” every character embodies the ideas and values of this “earnest” age. Oscar Wilde’s primary character in “The Importance of Being Earnest
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Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ is a satire of the stifling conventions of Victorian England‚ a time when a serpentine code of behaviour governed everything from communication to sexuality‚ and when class was the sole dictator of relationships. With a witty‚ humorous delivery‚ the play explores the central themes of materialism‚ gender roles‚ marriage and the ignorance of the upper class. Passage one opens with a series of hyperbolic questions posed with Jack‚ building in rhythm
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The Importance of Being Ernest – Act 1 Task 1 How are the characters of Algernon and Jack/Ernest created for the audience? They are presented to within a high class of society‚ with a lack of consideration or care for the lower classes. Both are bored by their high society lives and “stiff” lunches/meetings that they must attend‚ so have created alter egos which they use to have fun in a different place. Algernon has invented a sick friend called Bunbury‚ who he sometimes must spend long lengths
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