Explore how Wilde brings to life the two different characters in this passage and what does the passage reveal about their relationship with each other? This is an extract taken from the First Act of the play The Importance of Being Earnest which is written by the English writer‚ Oscar Wilde in the 19th century. This play is a comedy of manners‚ which satirizes the values during the Victorian Era. In this extract‚ the setting is only in the city - specifically in Algernon’s flat in Half-Moon
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The Importance of Being Earnest is a serious comedy about trivial matters The Importance of being Earnest is a play that satirizes the Victorian upper classes. In the play‚ Oscar Wide makes fun of the upper class in many ways. Most commonly‚ Wilde does this by using comic irony‚ humor‚ and witty statements. However‚ if we look deeper into the text‚ a lot of the trivial matters characters discuss have a serious side to them. Wilde uses these matters to satirize the Victorian upper even more. The
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In The Importance of Being Earnest‚ to be “Earnest” is to be “honest‚ and “truthful”. Which was what the protagonist and main character Jack Worthing used to slip away from responsibilities he had to face. Oscar Wilde used the name earnest but the characters act completely different from it. It’s a pun on the word earnest‚ when the title is the importance of being earnest
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All the Wrong Reason to Marry The work that will be discussed in this essay is the "The Importance of Being Ernest" and it was written by Oscar Wilde. The topic of marriage in this play involves the manipulative desires and dishonest values of marriage. The female characters in this story including Cecily‚ Gwendolen‚ and Lady Bracknell are all guilty of scheming and controlling marriage. The desires and mentalities of these women are identical to the women of the Victorian Period. The men
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Anna Hidrogo The Importance of Being Earnest: Social Satire The definition of a satire is a humor that ridicules the faults and bad habits of a society. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is definitely a social satire. Wilde uses figures of speech such as paradoxes and humorous irony to breakdown the faults of the Victorian Era during the time period of the reform. The characters in this play each held a certain quality that added to the satire Wilde wanted describe. He acknowledges
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Subtitled "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People‚" The Importance of Being Earnest jokingly criticized Victorian manners and morals and attacking the society of the rich and luxurious. Oscar Wilde incorporated his own beliefs and ideology into the play by alluding to Victorian society "lets duplicity led to happiness." It is this "happiness" Wilde’s play focuses on by concentrating the theme of the play on marriage. Alluding to marriage‚ The Importance of Being Earnest begins with the witty and selfish
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In his play‚ The Importance of Being Earnest‚ Oscar Wilde portrays his beliefs by satirizing the beliefs and values of his society. Within Act I‚ Algernon states that “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” Wilde’s witty epigram projects a major theme within the play. It attacks the perception of fixed truth. The major target of Wilde’s scathing social criticism is the hypocrisy that society creates. Often in Victorian society‚ its participants acted in overly sincere‚ polite ways while
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Lauren Skarupsky English III Honors Summer Work The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Reading Questions 1. Explain how Wilde uses satire to critique Victorian society. Throughout the entire play Oscar Wilde critiques the Victorian society through each of the characters. The characters represent the Victorian era but have twisted views on the major emotions love and marry that are mentioned in the play continuously. Wilde depicts the society in which the characters live in as superficial
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Samantha Soto Gilchrist AP English IV 28 October 2012 The Importance of Being Earnest The Importance of Being Earnest is a play by Oscar Wilde that can be viewed as a satire on the moral compass of people living in the Victorian era. The moral standards of the time held the ideas of sincerity and honesty on a high pedestal. To be Earnest would most likely fall between the two ideals; the first definition of the word earnest is “Serious in intention‚ purpose‚ or effort” and this can be a trait
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Importancehe Importance of Being Earnest‚ A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James’s Theatre in London‚ it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personæ in order to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London‚ the play’s major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage‚ and the resulting satire of Victorian
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