Wilde criticizes many aspects of the Victorian society and through this, forced readers to revalue their morals and…
In the nineteenth century, the aestheticism movement changed the way art critics viewed and valued art. The aesthetes, the advocates of aestheticism, believed, roughly, that art is meant to be created and viewed for nothing by the sake of art itself. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was a proponent of his movement towards the end of his life. The first portion of this two-part essay will convey Oscar Wilde’s views of aestheticism and the value of art. The second part will compare Wilde’s assessment of what art should be to Henry James’s (1843-1916) The Turn of the Screw.…
The satire that is portrayed in the play is very obvious, however today requires to match with the context of the times, Wilde’s satire is centered in the aristocratic lives of the Victorian social system, this is first recognised when Algernon first introduced, immediately posed as a hypocrite, eating cucumber sandwiches that he told Jack not to eat, Algernon is also narcissistic , when at the piano he states that “I don’t play accurately - any one can play accurately - but I play with wonderful expression.” This shows how The Importance of Being Earnest supports Penny Gay’s view by instantly portraying the character as a self-centered aristocrat, by this point in the play there has been one stage direction, showing that Wilde was more interested in what the character said rather than how the character acted, this can be further seen when Algernon says to Lane “I don’t know that I am much interested in your family life, Lane.” Further showing Algernon’s self centered attitudes, however this is quickly changed when he meets Cecily, calling her “the visible personification of absolute perfection.” Showing the hypocritical nature of the characters. Wilde uses this as a way of creating comedy by showing the corrupt morals of Algernon and infact Cecily, who will only marry a man named Ernest. The satire is more comedic in comparison to most comedies that involved shrouding the narcissism of the main character, such as in Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray where the Dorian,…
Conversations between characters in the play are the best indicators of the exact position that women hold in the community. Several issues of interest for instance how men and women feel about each other is clearly seen from the dialogue. Apart from quotes that are found in this play, other sources have been used to explain the same theme of women’s position in the society. The play is a clear indication of what happens in the real life settings. For example in 1890s in England, women did not hold same social status like men. Women were seen as inferior in the society. The life of men was valued more than women’s life. To support these inequalities between men and women, this paper has used examples of issues like lack of equal voting rights where women did not have a right to vote. Oscar Wilde focused on such issues to come up with his play. In the recent years, the position that women hold in society in England has risen. Women are currently allowed to do some things that they were not allowed to do in the past years. Currently, men and women are treated equally concerning different matters affecting their normal…
Although most of the stereotype views of women are now no longer held. There seems to be a clear parallel between the idea of the idealised Victorian and the mentality some people hold today; that an upper' class woman should not work, or do only charitable work eg Mrs Birling, but a girl from a lower' class should work for the rich e.g. Eva smith. Some people still in our society tend to hold this stereotyped view. These pre-judgements are still relevant to our time. Therefore the play relates to every person in the audience and through the confrontation of this stereotype the play remains…
Wilde's famous epigrams remain intact and are reasonably well spoken. But the extra visual accouterments have a profoundly distracting effect. They interrupt the rhythm and retard the momentum of brilliantly silly banter that could be described as incisive nonsense. When Lady Bracknell (Judi Dench), the play's ur-snob, declares, ''Ignorance is like a delicious exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone,'' she conjures a privileged, cucumber-sandwich world where a devotion to the superficial is a code of behavior and proof of social…
In the book A Woman of no Importance Oscar Wilde hints in several places through the negative attitude of the characters his feelings about the role of marriage in English upper class.…
A way that Wilde challenges the typical Victorian society is by the way he presents women similarly to men. The female characters in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, Lady Bracknell in particular, are much more dominant than expected for the time and tend to take control over most situations. Within the Bracknell household, Lord Bracknell is known to be ‘under the thumb’ of the women and Gwendolen even remarks that “Outside the family circle, papa, I am glad to say, is entirely unknown. I think that is quite as it should be” (Act 2). Here, Gwendolen shows reversing the traditional roles of men and women. Gwendolen challenges the conventional idea that women should be the ones at home cooking, cleaning, and raising children. Wilde overtly shows that woman can occupy positions of power and usurp the traditional gender roles. He uses the comedic device of role reversal to highlight the importance of traditional roles in Victorian society. The humour comes from the ridiculousness of women being the dominant gender and taking charge of others, when it is well known this was not the case at the time.…
The play “The Importance of Being Earnest,” is one of the most perfect examples of satire in our culture. Although it is set in England, it makes fun of the upper class. The play uses dramatic irony to show how Oscar Wilde sees the upper class as too formal and snobbish. It is dramatic irony because the characters in the play obviously think that they are high class with their multiple houses and butlers even though the author thinks that the upper class is too snobbish.…
mention the reasons and ways in which Oscar Wilde has managed to make them liked and disliked by the audience. The beginning of the play is set at Mrs. Chilterns...…
Throughout his life Oscar Wilde had many strong influences exerted upon him. During his early childhood his mother influenced him and into college some of his professors and certain philosophers left a substantial impression upon him. Into adulthood these influences leaked out in his writing. These influences gave him ample ideas for writing The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde's study of the Hellenistic ideals of Epicurus, his coddled lifestyle as a child and his devotion to the movement of Aesthetics and Moral Ambiguity have produced one of the most astounding works of horror fiction.…
Cited: Wilde, Oscar. N.p.: n.p., n.d. The Importance of Being Earnest. Project Gutenberg, 29 Aug. 2006. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. .…
In the play of ‘A Woman of No Importance’ Oscar Wilde gradually and effectively introduces the characters of the play in a fashionably manner. The play is quite naturalistic so Wilde commences the opening of act one with a social conversation. The purpose of the play is to portray women’s attitudes and views on their current century. Each of the characters introduced in the play is unique from one another, they’re point of view on life in general is diverse.…
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 in this play are also guilty of the manipulative desires for marriage. Oscar Wilde's work is an aggression on Victorian Society because marriage was used as a social convenience. Oscar Wilde gives foreshadowing in the beginning of the play of what he has in mind about marriage. "Good Heavens! Is marriage so demoralizing as that?" (Wilde 1762) This essay will be proving the critique of marriage being used as a social tool.…
I think the some parts of the story defend the status of class structure in the nineteenth British society, but some other parts challenge the status of class structure. Some plots about Sir Walter, Lady Russell, Elizabeth, Mary and Mr. Elliot are defend the class structure. Sir Walter is vain, pretentious baronet. He has strong desire to maintain his status, which means he regards his class status as a very important part of his life. He looks down upon the naval officer; actually, I think he disdains all the people who are not as rich and high-profile as him. So when a sir tells him that one naval officer want to rent his Kellynch’s house, he is very angry. He says naval men are ignoble and ugly. Another example is Captain Wentworth comes to the concert, Sir Walter says Captain Wentworth is nobody. And Lady Russell says in amazement:“What on earth he doing in Bath?” It sounds that Captain shouldn’t be their noble people’s place. These two examples show how these noble men’s arrogance. So Sir Walter persuades Anne not to marry Captain Wentworth who is poor and humble, he thinks that Captain Wentworth doesn’t deserve Anne. Lady Russell holds the same idea with Sir Walter. They deeply believe Anne should a man who is rich, so when Mr. Elliot shows his love to Anne, Lady Russell tries to persuade Anne to marry Mr. Elliot. About Mr. Elliot, he is rich man but greedy. In order to inherit Sir Walter’s noble title, he wants to marry Elizabeth at first. By the way, he is love Anne. He is a traditional man; he defends the status of class structure. Elizabeth and Mary, they were deeply influenced by their farther, they are snobbish and silly. I think this people’s behaviors reflect the people’s life in that time.…