Wilde uses puns throughout this play‚ but the major pun is found within the title. In The Importance of Being Earnest‚ the pun‚ widely considered to be the lowest form of verbal wit‚ is rarely just a play on words. The title‚ - The Importance of Being Earnest‚- insinuates the importance of being honest and truthful‚ while playing on the male name‚ Ernest. The pun in the title is a case in point. The earnest/Ernest joke strikes at the very heart of Victorian notions of respectability and duty. Gwendolen
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Joanna Martinez Ms. Tobenkin AP Literature‚ Period 4 7 December 2015 The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde is definitely an odd character and this is present in his play‚ The Importance of Being Earnest. Throughout the play‚ Wilde uses puns and unusual situations so that it could make the play humorous and enjoyable for audience. Each character finds themselves in peculiar situations which becomes unusually strange. Wilde uses comical dialogue to mock society and the higher class. Although
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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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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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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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impacted the writing styles of many playwrights. His use of humor in his plays especially‚ The Importance of Being Earnest has been widely recognized all around the world. In the play by Oscar Wilde‚ The Importance of Being Earnest‚ irony is used to create humor as well as highlight the satire used by Wilde. This play can be classified in
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conventions and is nothing but an absolutely wilful expression of an irrepressibly witty personality?’ Does the dramatic comedy in ‘Earnest’ seek only to amuse an audience or has the play more of a moral message than might‚ at first‚ be clear? The importance of being Earnest is a satirical comedy‚ which ridicules the social values of the Victorian Era. Despite the farce used within the play‚ the comedy is shown to have deeper meaning. As Freud said‚ “Every joke contains an element of seriousness; a joke
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How far is it appropriate to consider The Importance of Being Earnest as a Satire on the hypocrisy of ‘polite’ British society? It can be argued that Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays (2000) explores in depth the idea of satire on the hypocrisy of ‘polite’ British society. Wilde uses dramatic language to amplify the satirical nature of the play; by using irony and satire he is able to mock the polite Victorian etiquette. The play is set in middle class Victorian London
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Oscar Wilde‚ author of the play The Importance of Being Earnest‚ once said “man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask‚ and he will tell you the truth.” Wilde understands that everyone has their own way of hiding the truth about who they truly are and everyone has their own way of how they portray that side of themselves. In The Importance of Being Earnest‚ many characters use the technique of bunburying to hide their true selves and escape from reality. Proper etiquette
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Title of Work: The Importance of Being Earnest Author: Oscar Wilde Date of Publication: 1895 Genre: Social satire/Drama/comedy in mannerisms Writing Style: Epigrams‚ puns‚ repetition Point of View: third person omniscient Setting/Atmosphere: London‚ England‚ ends in country side‚ Hertfordshire Plot Development: Act I: Jack visits Algy in city‚ he’s in love with Gwendolen (Algy’s cousin)‚ Algy brings up cigarette case‚ jack reveals his true identity ‚ tells who Cecily is‚ Algy like cesily just from
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