‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ by Oscar Wilde presents a window into the minds and manners of the upper class Victorian society of London. He satirizes the hypocrisy‚ which underlies the day-to-day behavior of the so-called aristocrats‚ and mocks at their shallow morals and beliefs‚ especially those pertaining to marriage. In Victorian society‚ women were treated as the ‘weaker vessel’ that had to be cared and provided for by men‚ first her father and then her husband. However‚ Wilde shows us how different
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Having been written when Oscar Wilde’s literary career was blossoming‚ The Nightingale and the Rose is one of his most well-known works. This tale reflects the author’s glorification of natural beauty‚ artificial beauty and also the beauty of devoted love. Beauty and art were the measure of all things. He admired unselfishness‚ kindness and generosity. In this tale‚ the true love is the main theme and the appearance of other characters is to show their attitudes towards the true love‚ which are very
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An Ideal Husband Oscar Wilde Themes The Rococo Tapestry Act I takes place against the backdrop of a Rococo tapestry‚ a representation of François Boucher’s "Triumph of Love" (1754). The "Triumph" allegorizes the victory of love over power: Venus points to Vulcan’s conquered heart‚ and the god gazes up at her like a love-sick boy. Though the most obvious reading might consider the tapestry as prefiguring the defeat of Mrs. Cheveley and reconciliation of the play’s
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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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3 October 2012 Oscar Wilde‚ Victorian or Anti-Victorian? Oscar Wilde was a writer during the end of the Victorian era. This is one of the reasons that it is difficult‚ and still debated‚ whether he was a Victorian writer or not. His private life was far from the puritanical image of the Victorian era. The Victorian age was full of rigid sensibilities‚ while the anti-Victorian movement veered in the complete opposite direction. The anti-Victorians were much more adventurous with sex. There
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Oscar Wilde’s The Young King’ is the tale of a young man’s metamorphosis‚ through a dream quest‚ that opens his eyes to the heart rendering struggle of the poor‚ who are exploited by the rich and the powerful to satisfy their own selfish needs. The change that takes place in the Young King reflects his attainment of the virtue asked for in Christ’s message. The story begins with "the night before the day fixed for his coronation" and the young king‚ "being but sixteen years of age" sits alone in
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"The Importance of Being Earnest" was written by the famous Irish author‚ Oscar Wilde. The play represents Wildes late Victorian view of the aristocracy‚ marriage‚ wit‚ and social life during the early 1900’s. His characters are typical Victorian snobs who are arrogant‚ overly proper‚ formal‚ and concerned with money. Wilde portrays the women on two separate levels‚ Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax are young‚ sheltered‚ and without identity‚ while Lady Bracknell is the strong adult authority figure
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In witnessing the execution of a man who murdered his wife‚ Oscar Wilde wondered how anyone could have committed this action against a person who they hold affection towards. When he first started to understand his emotions‚ he expressed an unparalleled rage towards such selfish people. He grew angry due to societal standards allowing this man show his love when Oscar Wilde himself‚ being gay‚ could not. “In Reading Goal in Reading Town there is a pit of shame and in it lies a wretched man eaten
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artists on what art should be or do. Oscar Wilde argues in his preface to “The Picture of Dorian Gray” that art is beauty or a symbol‚ but beneath that is left to the interpretation of the spectator. In Gustave Courbet’s essay “Realist Manifesto” art is knowledge to draw from to inspire his own individuality and to create living art. Although both essays bear some superficial similarities‚ the difference between Wilde’s and Courbet’s definition of art is staggering. Wilde and Courbet recognized how critics
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often praised as the era of the woman‚ where the gender roles of Victorian society are completely reversed. 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
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