creating comedy in the ‘Importance of Being Earnest’? Dramatic comedy originated in Ancient Greece in 5th century BC‚ centred around loose plot lines and exploiting certain situations through parody‚ farce and mockery. Comedy started developing in 4th Century BC where intricate plot lines were introduced‚ commonly based around love and romance and usually culminating in a satisfactory and happy resolution. This is much like the structure of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ as the play revolves
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Gwendolen’s father‚ Lord Bracknell‚ never appears in the play‚ yet Lady Bracknell mentions him often. What picture of his life and marriage do we get from the things she and Gwendolen say about him? In ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’‚ Lady Bracknell’s offstage marriage is one of the play’s running gags‚ and Lord Bracknell is an instrument for Oscar Wilde to joke about marriage and the roles of the sexes. In the following essay‚ we shall examine Lord Bracknell’s personal life and marriage based
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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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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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What comedic conventions does Wilde use in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’? ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ is considered to be Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece written in 1895. His work here involves mistaken identity‚ satire (social/class rankings)‚ incredible wit and much more. It is theorised that this script was written in slight reflection of Wilde’s own life; he himself led a double life due to his sexuality. The incongruity theory is applied in this script throughout. At the beginning an
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Importance of Being Earnest Act 1 Characters immediately establish the tone and social context of the play. References to “Lady Bracknell”‚ “Mr Moncrieff’s manservant” and the “governess” indicate that play involves wealthy upper class. The characters are of course constructs – Wilde uses them merely as mouth pieces to express/parody value judgements about morality and Victorian ideals of duty and virtue. Premise of the play is creation of a paradox – explores inability/impossibility of being
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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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Literary Analysis Essay PICKERING: [rising and standing over him gravely] Come‚ Higgins! You know what I mean. If I’m to be in this business I shall feel responsible for that girl. I hope it’s understood that no advantage is to be taken of her position. HIGGINS. What! That thing! Sacred‚ I assure you. [Rising to explain] You see‚ she’ll be a pupil; and teaching would be impossible unless pupils were sacred. I’ve taught scores of American millionairesses how to speak English: the best looking
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The Importance of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde In The Importance of Being Earnest‚ Oscar Wilde uses word play in reference to the word “earnest.” Throughout his play‚ Wilde focuses on the matter of who is the most sincere or “earnest” and who is actually the person whose name is Ernest. The two main characters‚ Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing‚ both claim to be Ernest for deceptive reasons. Wilde develops his characters Algernon and Jack in order to portray them as hypocritical to the definition
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