“Analyze Earnest’s subtitle‚ “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People”. What do you think Wilde meant by this?” Oscar Wilde’s play “The Importance of Being Earnest” follows the story of Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff‚ two Victorian era gentlemen who practice the habit of “bunburying” – the act of inventing a friend whose needs are so compelling that nobody will question the need to visit that friend for an extended period of time on short notice. In addition to this double-life motif‚ the themes
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According to the Bible‚ “The love of money is the root of all evil.” There is fine line between loving the money or character of a person. The root of all evil starts when one doesn’t notice the difference. Lady Bracknell‚ an antagonist in The Importance of being Earnest‚ is a powerful‚ pompous and pontifical person who values money more than love and comprehends marriage like business deals in terms of allusions‚ connections and irony. Lady Bracknell’s character is revealed by allusions throughout the
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Algernon Moncrief in Oscar Wilde’s "The Importance of Being Earnest" is quite simply a child at play. Algy‚ as he’s known to his friends‚ is a young bachelor not yet in his thirties living the aristocratic life of a Victorian gentleman. He has an underdeveloped sense of morality and of the world beyond him. Algy has an excellent skill for wit and as an "Oxonian"‚ his education is also rather noticeable. You might also surmise him to be unhappy if he were eating muffins as if there was no tomorrow
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more about Miss Prism’s previous situation involving Jack. In the beginning of the act readers know how Cecily and Gwendolen just found out that Algernon and Jack lied to them‚ but readers don’t how betrayed they really feel. With The Importance of Being Earnest being only a play‚ readers only see the characters as they are now without seeing much depth in them. As a play there would be much more suspense‚ and audience members would feel the dramatic and comedic nature of the play more if they watched
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Chausable claims he “spoke metaphorically‚” which appears to be a continued theme in the play as Chasuble attempts to get himself out of trouble having just embarrassed himself. Usually even though it is normal for men to have attractions towards women‚ being a man of the church‚ he should restrain his thoughts but Wilde mocks him by making him seem like an insult
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Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedy that used the figure of the upper class dandy to critique the narrow-mindedness of the middle class in the 1890s. What makes this play so funny is that the upper class is illustrated as silly when they try to mock the earnest middle class. Proud characters who were bred in high society‚ such as Lady Bracknell and her daughter Gwendolen‚ may think that they are making particularly nasty snubs‚ but they do not seem to realize that Wilde cleverly
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What are one’s values? In the Importance of Being Earnest‚ the aristocrats have similar values as do the people today have. The aristocracy value things such as: one’s social status‚ wealth‚ and where an individual comes from. Although‚ not everyone that was part of the aristocracy shared the same values. Algernon and Cecily’s relationship were not ideal for the values of the aristocracy. In Algernon and Cecily’s relationship‚ wealth was not a topic of conversation‚ one’s background was never
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What is satirised by Wilde in ‘The Importance of being Earnest’? The Victorian way of life. The customs of the middle and upper class and the strict social conventions concerning social events‚ the church‚ marriage and love. 2. Why ‘The Importance of being Earnest’ is considered a comedy of manners? Because it makes fun of the mannerisms of the upper class people and their strict code of conduct. 3. What aspects of ‘The Importance of being Earnest’ are farcical? “A farce is a light
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period (late-Victorian). Wilde was being satirical and paradoxical in his play to show the hypocrisy and entertain the viewers in a play that is still being repeated till today. It is a witty and amusing comedy which conveys real life everyday themes such as real love as opposed to selfish love‚ religion‚ marriage‚ being truthful and country life as opposed to city life. Richard Foster‚ author of “Wilde as Parodist: A Second Look at The Importance of Being Earnest”‚ published in October 1956‚ writes
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the male sex. In the text so far Oscar Wilde shows Earnest/Jacks eagerness as a sign he could trying to assert his masculinity because that is what Victorian society is so judgemental. Prescribing the notion that women were born to dream of marriage‚ Cecily and Gwendolyn‚ from The Importance of Being Earnest‚ are caught up in the fantasies of the perfect marriage to the perfect earnest husband. Cecily and Gwendolyn are fixated on the name Earnest‚ almost as if it were an obsession; it is the ideal
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