A Woman of No Importance Essay Example

Oscar Wilde was born in 1854 and in Dublin, Ireland. He was educated at Trinity College in Dublin and at Magdalen College, Oxford, and settled in London.Wilde began his literature career by writing poetry, but he achieved fame and success for his plays: Vera; or, The Nihilists (1880), Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1893) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). Wilde’s plays seem to have simple plots; however, the dialogue and the satire are the most effective elements of his plays. Because of this elements his plays can be accepted as comedy of manners. In Wilde’s plays there is social and moral criticism. We can find the origins of this fact in his being representative of aestheticism. “Aestheticism was a movement developed in 1880s, which was a reaction against the moral and religious pressures of Victorian Age.” A Woman of No Importance has been described as the “weakest of the plays Wilde wrote”. Because it begins really in the second act when we understand that there is a relationship between Lord Illingworth and Mrs. Arbuthnot through their conversation. As in Wilde’s other plays in A Woman of No Importance there is both social and moral ciriticism. Wilde satirizes the upper-class of Victorian society. The most important criticism is made by Wilde against class distinction. Members of upper-class are so conceited that they neglect all the other people else from themselves. They do this in a hypocritical way. Although they seem to be interested in problems of lower classes, they deal with in a insincere and superficial way. Lady Caroline shares her view about the poor: “ Lady Caroline - I am not all in favour of amusements for the poor, Jane. Blankets and coals are sufficient.” Members of upper-class think that they are more important everyone else because they have titles. In order to emphasize that criticism, the play is full of lords and ladies. They they do not