How could anyone in a clear state of mind desire marriage after being exposed to such a brilliantly devised sequence of bitter-sweet remarks on the institution of marriage? In essence, when the bubble fireworks are out, Wilde’s play reveals its thorns, and they are aimed directly at the institution of marriage. Despite the happy ending, The Importance of Being Earnest takes a perfectly satirical stance in regards to the institution of marriage. Oscar Wilde takes pleasure in deconstructing the pristine facade built around the concept of marriage by Victorian society, and he is fearless in attacking its conventions. Wilde’s play does not celebrate marriage as the ultimate alliance by love, instead preferring to expose its “unstylish” side stained by hypocrisy and shallowness.
This is what Wilde’s play pokes holes at through his use of satire. The question he raises is, essentially what do we marry for? To give us a bit of context, rewinding back into the Victorian era, it was really not that uncommon for people to marry solely for financial reasons. While this was the main reason for marriage, it also happened due to a sense of social obligation. People didn’t marry because they were in love.
Schulman is novelist, playwright, activist, journalist, and historian who was born in 1958. Schulman believes in what the future has to offer and how it will make an impact on our lives today. The Mere Future discusses facts on how the future is better compared to how it was until 2008. Her thoughts believe that “You have to notice the truth in order to be able to avoid it” (25). Furthermore, she also believes that straight people are the most [pathetic] people of all who do not know anything about themselves hence making the two creating characters of this novel homosexual.
This implies that he may be suppressing his feelings towards Othello. He might also be in denial about his sexuality- his reasons for plotting against Othello do not make much sense and are not realistic- claims Othello slept with his wife, but he’s not sure but will go with it anyway< weak argument. Hides his motive, goes against S.T Coleridge< malicious malignity. Iago does have a reason; he is in love with Othello and wants to posses him completely. He is also jealous of Cassio, perhaps he thought he would get the position of lieutenant as he felt he and
The rest of the play is humorous in all and highly advised for readers to also explore to fully visualize Wilde’s interpretation of the Victorian era. Ironically, the life Wilde chose to live was that of the very behaviors he satirizes in his play. Even though Wilde was married with a woman and had children with her, he was also a known homosexual and probably did some bunburying himself to conceal it (Nuruzzaman). It’d be correct to assume Wilde was religiously immoral as well, since most religions of the Victorian era banned homosexuality. Also, a quote from Wilde himself, “I can resist everything except temptation,” describes his sexual drive, since he was a ferocious fornicator (“Oscar Wilde” 1.)
The Picture of Dorian Gray-Male Relationship A novel by Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, has its motif coming partially from homosexuality. The author himself was a homosexual, and through the male relationships in the book, between Dorian and Basil and between Dorian and Lord Henry, he tries to show something about such relationships. It is difficult to find parts that directly and apparently show such theme due to the intolerant society of the time. However, along with Basil’s admiration towards Dorian Gray and Dorian’s adoration towards Lord Henry, we can see such relationship hidden inside. As a homosexual living in an intolerant society, Oscar Wilde maybe had an intention to justify his own preference and lifestyle.
In Shakespeare’s play, ‘King Lear’, we are shown an array of characters that are multi-dimensional and extremely complex. Shakespeare has the ability to reveal a human character with an exceptional use of language. The three characters that I believe have large roles and functions within the play are, understandably, King Lear himself, The Fool, and Kent. The Fool acts as Lear's conscience and trusted guide, yet he is also a critic of Lear, a truth teller. In effect this makes a true friend, however some believe it was the Fool's constant remarks that drove Lear to madness.
As the critic Peter Raby says ‘the play remains… a critique of the absurdity of all forms and conventions’. Wit is prevalent when Algernon makes adjustment to the well-known saying “Marriages are made in heaven” by stating that “Divorces are made in heaven.” It is apparent here that Algernon sees marriages as unruly by referring to divorces as heavenly. This is critiquing society as it was very fixated on the concept of marriage.As well as this,The saying that two is company and three is none undergoes a change and takes the following shape : “In married life three is company and two is none,” which has a naughty insinuation as Algernon is implicitly saying in a marriage you need a mistress if it is to last. One of Algernon’s wittiest statements is this : “The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her if she is pretty, and to someone else if she is plain.” All these observations have an epigrammatic quality which allows them to critique society. Since the play would be generally watched by the upper classes, Wilde implicitly mocked them through the use of excellent wits and epigrams.
As a character, Algernon is not too dissimilar to Oscar Wilde himself thus it could be said that Wilde expresses himself through the character of Algernon. This may be why Wilde’s comedy through Algernon is much more light-hearted, if he took his comedy to extreme lengths with Algernon, Wilde would have been essentially criticising himself. This is highlighted by the critic Stanton Thacker – “Ultimately, Wilde is subtly arguing his case for the “dandy way of life”, which for his characters seems the only way to liberate themselves from the chains society has placed on them.” Here Thacker depicts the idea that in Victorian society, individuals were bound to
Malvolio is used in Twelfth Night to personify the notion of Lent and order in the text and is the butt of the comedy in the sub-plot. The conspirators Sir Toby, Mary, Sir Andrew, Feste, and to an extent Fabien, are the characters who are the creators of the gulling of Malvolio. Whether or not the joke is thought to go too far is, in my opinion, dependent on the audience. For example, an Elizabethan audience could potentially find the play more humorous than a modern 21st Century audience. In the late 1600s, individuals to be considered 'mad' were thought to have been possessed by the devil or some other evil spirit, and so were mocked and considered dangerous and unapproachable (as suggested by Sir Toby in Act 3 Scene 4 “defy the devil”).