Gwendolen Fairfax Is A Confident And Intelligent Character
Name
English 103 AS14
February 25/ 2015
K.A. Woodward
In the play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, the protagonist Jack Worthing has fallen in love with a young woman by the name of Gwendolen Fairfax. Gwendolen is meant to represent the typical upper class aristocratic woman in Victorian England. Wilde uses her to paint a fairly accurate image of the upper class; however there are certain inaccuracies that are meant to highlight the flaws of affluent Victorian England. Gwendolen’s preoccupation with the insignificant and her shallowness are meant to represent the nature of the people she symbolizes. Wilde uses these flaws to mock the behaviour of the aristocrats. Gwendolen only manages to portray the characteristics of an upper class aristocratic woman to a limited extent due to the fact that her flaws, which include shallowness and almost sycophantic behaviour where her husband is concerned, are exaggerated by the author in order to satire the upper class.
Gwendolen Fairfax is a confident and intelligent character, and contrasts with Cecily to represent what a conservative woman should behave like in Victorian England nearly perfectly. Oscar Wilde ensures that the reader falls under the presumption the Gwendolen is a respectable Victorian woman with interests that fall in line with what would be expected from a Victorian woman. It is easy to imagine Gwendolen as a fairly pretty, fashionable young woman who spends the majority of her time at tea parties or lavish dinners with fellow aristocrats. She comes off as intelligent in the way she interacts with other people, most notably with Cecily. Her conversations with Cecily show that both these characters are different in some ways and similar in others. Tony Garland’s assessment of their verbal confrontation in Act II highlights the fact that they are similar in character in how they manage to equally reciprocate the other’s attitude and sharpness. During this part of the play “a well-mannered
English 103 AS14
February 25/ 2015
K.A. Woodward
In the play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, the protagonist Jack Worthing has fallen in love with a young woman by the name of Gwendolen Fairfax. Gwendolen is meant to represent the typical upper class aristocratic woman in Victorian England. Wilde uses her to paint a fairly accurate image of the upper class; however there are certain inaccuracies that are meant to highlight the flaws of affluent Victorian England. Gwendolen’s preoccupation with the insignificant and her shallowness are meant to represent the nature of the people she symbolizes. Wilde uses these flaws to mock the behaviour of the aristocrats. Gwendolen only manages to portray the characteristics of an upper class aristocratic woman to a limited extent due to the fact that her flaws, which include shallowness and almost sycophantic behaviour where her husband is concerned, are exaggerated by the author in order to satire the upper class.
Gwendolen Fairfax is a confident and intelligent character, and contrasts with Cecily to represent what a conservative woman should behave like in Victorian England nearly perfectly. Oscar Wilde ensures that the reader falls under the presumption the Gwendolen is a respectable Victorian woman with interests that fall in line with what would be expected from a Victorian woman. It is easy to imagine Gwendolen as a fairly pretty, fashionable young woman who spends the majority of her time at tea parties or lavish dinners with fellow aristocrats. She comes off as intelligent in the way she interacts with other people, most notably with Cecily. Her conversations with Cecily show that both these characters are different in some ways and similar in others. Tony Garland’s assessment of their verbal confrontation in Act II highlights the fact that they are similar in character in how they manage to equally reciprocate the other’s attitude and sharpness. During this part of the play “a well-mannered
Cited: Wilde, Oscar. “The Importance of Being Earnest”. Garland, Tony. “The Contest of Naming Between Ladies in THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST”. Explicator 70.4 (2012): 272-274. Print. Parker, David.” OSCAR WILDE 'S GREAT FARCE THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST”. Modern Language Quarterly 35.2 (1974): 173-186. Print. Poznar, Walter. “Life and Play in Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest”. Midwest Quarterly 30.4 (1989): 515-528. Print.