Sincere -- or earnest -- is, it appears, the worst thing that one can be in Victorian England. Being sincere means that one has to be true to who they are and must not try to deceive anyone. That is to say that being sincere could perhaps mean being boring, smug, or solemn. These are precisely the qualities that Wilde saw as the distinguishing elements of the Victorian character. Oscar Wilde's story about double lives in trying to conform to ideals of a culture have of course been attributed to his own dealings with being homosexual in Victorian society (Woods 1999). It can be surmised that Wilde himself knew much about having to...
Revising Wilde: Society and subversion in the plays of Oscar Wilde. New York:
Oscar Wilde "a man of genius makes no mistakes; his errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery." James Joyce Genius is based on many elements, human and circumstantial. Nothing enables genius to evolve from some internal inchoate spark into a staggering, illuminating flare as the capacity to be external to social norms. The public expects artists to move well beyond the quotidian in artistic form. The funny lines in a play
" (Eksteins, 1994) Eksteins writes that Britain had "in the last century...damned her great poets and writers, Byron had been chased out of the country, Shelley forbidden to raise his children, and Oscar Wilde sent to prison." (1994) Pearce (2003) states that Wilde "was a major symbol of the sexual anarchy that threatened the purposive and reproductive modes of the bourgeois family. Algy mocks the utilitarian nature of modern marriage thus:
Lady Bracknell "The Importance Being Earnest" Oscar Wilde title ' make laugh make mad?" Oscar Wilde wrote an amazing piece of satire of Victorian times, placing his characters at the intersection between social normality and personal normality. As some of the most important characters of "The Importance of Being Earnest" have a double life, he goes deep into societal norms and presents a world where individuals take the freedom to
Being Earnest A Critique of Wilde's the Importance of Being Earnest First performed in 1895, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest satirized manners and social customs of late Victorian England. Focusing on a pair of young men who live "double lives," the comedy brings to light an element of English society that was ripe for exposure. Wilde was a master satirist. With this play, he shows how cynical attitudes creep
She does not believe that she has a reputation worthy enough of being allowed entry into the upper echelons of Victorian society. Her perception of Cecily, and her prospects for marrying her nephew -- change dramatically, however, when Lady Bracknell ascertains how much money the young woman stands to inherit. The following quotation suitably demonstrates this point. A hundred and thirty thousand pounds! And in the Funds! Miss Cardew seems
Jack proceeds to let the audience know "…the vital importance of Being Earnest." Distortion, Moral Conduct, and Restoration Comedy Of course, deception and frivolity are part of a farce, and the way that Wilde has written the play characters switch identities as a way for the theme to be deliberately distorted. So this bothers critic Mary McCarthy, who complained that the play has the character of a "…ferocious idyll" and insists
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now