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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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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An earnest person is someone who practices diligence‚ seriousness‚ and above all sincerity. That being said‚ it is difficult to find a male character in the play who possesses all three qualities of earnestness. Despite this‚ the lead characters of The Importance of Being Earnest entertained and endeared audiences for over one hundred years. Jack Worthing’s Childhood: During Act One‚ protagonist Jack Worthing reveals a most unusual and amusing backstory: As a baby‚ he was accidentally abandoned
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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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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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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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