What good does always being earnest do you if you are not "Ernest"? Oscar Wilde’s play‚ "The Importance of Being Earnest"‚ explores exactly this notion‚ following two men who readily abandon their namesakes in order to win the affections of their respective fair ladies. The play opens in London with a conversation held between these two men‚ Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff. However‚ at the play’s origin‚ Algernon only knows his friend as "Ernest". This rapidly changes with the aid of a cigarette
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Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde was one of the poets who‘s lyrics refused the problems of morality and philosophy which troubled the population during the Victorian era in the nineteenth century‚ and he found images for his own moods‚ loves and experience. His work as a dramatist and his legendary name‚ have given his verses a significant reputation. (Evans‚ I.‚ 1976‚ p.114) Wilde’s pleasure in provocation and his examination of different moral perspectives are
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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 Miss Fairfax‚ power
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Barrett-Browning was moved to fight for change and address what she considered to be a violation of human rights. She has taken it upon herself to be the voice for children that go unheard and don’t have the means to speak for themselves. Elizabeth Barrett-Browning seeks to expose the extreme nature of child labour and the impact it had on the children during industrialisation‚ showing that
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Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway is a modernist novel‚ which shows new techniques to express a different point of view with regard to the notion of time. It is not without importance to note that the novel has no chapter headings. Nevertheless it is immediately obvious that the interest of the novel is not only in the form but also in the content. The action takes place in a single day of June in 1923 and what is interesting in the structure of the book is that simultaneously with the story of this
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in high positions of power abuse that power to achieve their desires. In the beginning of the poem‚ the Duke establishes his authoritative‚ yet cadenced voice. He begins to describe the painting‚ but also asks the envoy to “sit and look at her” (Browning 262). Although the Duke asks the envoy‚ it is obvious that the envoy has no choice but to listen to the Duke discuss
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This passage from Woolf provides greater insight to Irene’s conflict between her different identities‚ as a women and as a person of color. Woolf talks about how “the mind is always… bringing the world into different perspectives” (97)‚ and this is true for Irene‚ thought Clare can be seen as a stand in for the world in many ways. Throughout the book Clare causes Irene to question her own actions and beliefs as a woman of color. Clare represents the world of “passing” which Irene has chosen not to
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Minor details are often considered insignificant or irrelevant and as a 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
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dominated opposed to greed‚ exploitation and cynicism. Wilde’s the novel developed during this time. The 1890 date of publishing of The Picture implies that any kind of homoerotic relationships were very much forbidden. Therefore‚ the only novel of Oscar Wilde caused a public outcry in a pious Victorian England. The typical idealistic image of behavior and modesty inherent to old-time Victorian England was discredited in the novel. The radical ideas the novel contained evoked a conflict between moral
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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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