Oscar Wilde is credited for being a provocateur for change in nineteenth century England. Wilde provides his audience with the opportunity to witness the inner-workings of Victorian society and their rebellion against following the social norms. Oscar Wilde uses the fabricated identities of Jack and Algernon, the main characters of the play, to show the rebellious nature of the aristocracy. Wilde portrays the Victorian upper-class as rigid and the secret lives are necessary to provide the freedom to express who they really are. While the middle-class of England looks up to the upper-class Victorians with respect and envy, both Jack and Algernon dislike the propriety of it all.
To what extent does Lady Windermere’s Fan offer serious criticism of contemporary social and sexual conventions? In Lady Windermere’s Fan, Oscar Wilde bitingly satirizes and ridicules the morals of Victorian London High Society and focuses particularly on the aspects of marriage. The play is a juxtaposition both comical and serious subject matters. Wilde examines sexual morality and gender politics throughout the play, especially through both of the characters of Cecil Graham, a typical caricature of the upper class and Mrs Erlynne, a lost character who is no longer accepted into society due to her reputation. Wilde criticizes the society he lives in during the time he wrote the play and uses characters to emphasize the inequalities of double standards mainly between the gender roles and how London High Society during that particular era was hard to get in to but easy to become an outcast.
To go along with this, the tone of his speech conveys his pride and haughtiness towards the woman in the picture. This is clearly shown when he says, “Will’t please you sit and look at her?” I said “Frà Pandolf” by design, for never read “Strangers like you that pictured countenance, The depth and passion of its earnest glance,” When the Duke says this, it proves his arrogant and possessive attitude towards her, though she is dead. When he is listing her beautiful qualities and attributes, he is inadvertently taking credit for her them, as if to say that without him, she would not be as beautiful or wouldn’t be
Although his actions are very insane, they can be seen as rational to reader considering hedonism. Devotion to pleasure, hedonism, makes Dorian be deceitful about his true self by deflecting the attention of the public from the mad man to the beautiful and intelligent gentlemen. Dorian is, young, sensitive, and emotional, meaning that he is susceptible to manipulation. Lord Henry takes advantage of that opportunity and gives Dorian the yellow book; this book opens up the world of hedonism and aestheticism which eventually turns his young life into an eternal oblivion of misery. Dorian develops a fear of aging so he tries to live his life as if it was his last day on earth.
“The Duchess is pleased with a bough of cherries just as much as she was to her Husband” (Mitchell 75). The way that she felt made the Duke feel insulted that a man of his social status was compared to slaves and sunsets. The Duke is very jealous that his social status and he are on the same level as a white mule to his Duchess. The things that the Duchess loves anger the Duke because he thinks
The Victorian melodrama which reconnoitres a society heavily segregated as a result of social classes and aestheticism is a story told through the eyes of a man whose detest of the social order was driven by the snobbery of the high class. The depiction of the parallels and vicissitudes in regards to the thematic concerns of social structure and marriage in Parker’s film adaptation successfully plays tribute to the original play whilst appealing to the present day audience. The great social upheavals and turbulence among the Victorians emanated from the lavish lifestyles of the rich and the rise of immorality. Wilde depicts moral decay and the ignorance of the upper class through satire and the one-dimensional characterisation of his personas. Act 1 sees Lady Bracknell converse with Jack about his engagement with Gwendolen.
Because prejudice builds up as time goes on, it can be magnified if the situation is not clarified immediately. When Elizabeth and Mr. Wickham talk about Mr. Darcy, Mr. Wickham lies that "the world is blinded by his (Mr. Darcy's) fortune and consequences, or frightened by his high and imposing manners, and sees him only as he chooses to be seen" (Austen 59). Mr. Wickham is certainly an antagonist in this story, but he
Introduction: Post the Lippincott version - Wilde tried to defend novel with preface of English version. Supports the comment made as in the preface, Wilde directly states that "Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming" Victorian society is very hypocritical and felt that Dorian was a presentation of Wilde; they thought he was corrupt and he was facing trials. Paragraph - Dorian: Sells soul metaphorically upon seeing painting, realising his own beauty and Lord Henry's influence - "I would give my soul for that" Shows that Lord Henry's influence has made Dorian worship aesthetic items. "Then had come Lord Henry Wotton with his strange panegyric on youth, his terrible warning of its brevity". Dorian is no longer attracted by inner beauty but instead is excited and intrigued by exterior forms.
Jealousy in Othello results in the tragic ending like in the beginning of the play, Iago was jealoused of Cassio because he wanted to get Cassio’s position as a lieutenant, Rogerigo was jealoused of Othello because Desdemona loves Othello and not him and Othello was jealoused of Cassio because he thought that Cassio loves Desdemona more than him. Roderigo was jealoused of Othello because Desdemona loves Othello and not him. He was willing to do anything to win her love. It is the jealousy which moves him to do many evil things in the play. He gave a large amount of money to Iago to get Desdemona but he failed.
Superiority and overconfidence always seem to be closely associated with dominance and gender; and is amongst the dominant perspectives expressed by Shakespeare in the play, “Richard the Third”. The conflicting viewpoints of both sexes over superiority, is developed in Richard the third in the male point of view whereby Shakespeare reveals us to a male dominated world. “Why, I can smile...And murder while I smile!” It can be interpreted from the play that the: manipulative, malicious, power-hungry, Richard the third, did not have much regards for the life of women. Richard finds women inferior to men, has no respect for their emotions, and views them as tools. As far as the two major female characters of the play are concerned, Richard's attitude towards women becomes quite evident, and furthermore reflects his attitude towards life in a whole.